Any student can tell you that the exam season passes by in a blur. All I remembered myself doing was waking up, eating breakfast, walking to LSE, revising the whole day, walk back to my accommodation while thinking about which restaurants on Deliveroo I hadn’t tried yet. And then, right after exams, dissertation stress starts! Because our LLM dissertations are due on 2 August, I had to get the ball rolling straight away. I thought I would take you along on a “day in my life” while writing my dissertation to share some tips and prove that, yes, it’s possible to dedicate time to this 10,000-word project while enjoying London!

7:30am

My alarm rings early as I want to get a head start on the day and finish all my work before my plans for the evening. I shower, get dressed and eat breakfast. 

9am

I start the 45-minute walk to LSE from my accommodation. The weather is great in London around this time of year and I want to take advantage of it. Walking is a great physical activity when I don’t have enough time to go to the gym. 

10am to 1pm

I arrive and get settled in at the Marshall Building to start working. To stay on top of my dissertation tasks, I make a note to myself the night before (when I’ve finished working) about where I left off research-wise, the tasks left to complete and the updated thoughts on my hypothesis. This has been really handy in making sure I pick up the same train of thought the next day. Checking my to-do list from the night before also helps reassure me that I am on track with my schedule. I recommend anyone writing a dissertation to create a timeline by splitting the dissertation into several sections/chapters and choosing an approximate date to finish each chapter. Dividing this monumental essay into bite-sized chunks is easier to manage and less overwhelming. 

For the next few hours, I do some reading and research for one of the sections I feel is lacking. I’m basic and prefer using GoogleScholar to find relevant articles. For the dissertation and any other essays, it saves so much time to take notes as you read (at least the first few pages anyway, to deduce whether the article is actually helpful to your purposes). There is nothing more annoying than remembering a quote or piece of information, while I’m in the middle of my writing flow, and not being able to locate its source. At the same time, I add any article I write about to my working bibliography. Don’t save your bibliography until the last minute – having a list of resources is immensely helpful down the road. Many people have different ways of organising one: Zotero or EndNote are some great platforms, while I (once again) am basic and save everything on an Excel sheet.

1pm to 2pm

Lunchtime! I had to a café nearby to eat and decide to spend the rest of the day working there. A change of scenery is refreshing and reminds me that there actually is a life outside of this dissertation. 

2pm to 6pm

Work, work, work. Write, write, write. My coursemate joins me at the café and while we do spend some time catching up, we set “writing blocks” together and hold each other accountable. Having a friend around who’s also experiencing the same stress as you is a huge emotional and productivity support. We also exchange phones to minimise distractions, but that’s optional. 

6.30pm

I finish up the day’s work and write a reminder note for myself to read the next day. In the note, I specify any remaining articles that have to be read, how many paragraphs/points are yet to write in my section and any other miscellaneous tasks. 

6.30pm to late

Relax! Don’t burn yourself out. I spend the evening going to a dance class and having dinner with my family visiting from abroad. 

Ultimately, it’s still so important to recharge and take some time off during this intense time. If you’re not travelling domestically or abroad, relax for a few days and savour your time in the city. Engaging with your dissertation with a fresh mind will help you notice gaps that might not have been present before, or inspire some new connections. Good luck!