Finding it extremely difficult to get through with my Masters thesis. Stuck with a mediocre thesis

Question

I am very close to finishing my masters and am finding it extremely difficult to get through with my thesis. Although my topic is relevant and interesting, nobody, including my supervisor is able to guide me well. All my thesis reviews until now have gone really bad because they think I am not doing anything fancy.

I have discussed this with my guide and am not receiving any help. I feel my guide is not much experienced in this area of research. I am currently in the middle of my thesis where I cannot change my topic. I feel stuck and demotivated. I feel all the effort that I am putting in is going down the drain.

I feel sad and miserable all the time. All those students who didn't perform well earlier are putting up their best work now and are appreciated while I am stuck here with my unappealing work. I really want to take some time off this work but cant due to the tight schedule of my reviews. I already had serious anxiety issues and this is making it worse.

I really want to know if any of you faced similar issues and how you overcame it. Any suggestions on how to recover are welcome.

Answer 1

First, I suggest that you talk to a professional counselor about your frustration and how to cope with it. If you don't do that you could wind up in worse shape than you are.

However, "mediocre thesis" is probably a misstatement. You are stuck and you aren't getting the feedback that will help you advance. Your advisor isn't providing it and may not be able to. However, there might be other faculty that you can speak with that will have some ideas.

Many students at about your position find themselves in a bit of a burnout situation, having worked hard for a long time without a break. I went through that and also once worked with an unhelpful advisor. I had to change institutions to break the cycle, but, had I been braver, I could have shortened my process by insisting on a change of advisors. Later I found that things like regular (aerobic) exercise helped me maintain a more sensible work flow.

For the thesis work itself, you need someone, probably a faculty member who can get you through whatever technical block you are facing. You say the topic is relevant and interesting. But you may be missing some important insight. Doing the same things over and over may not lead you to that. It may be a small thing or not, but try to get some assistance. If you can't change advisors, and they can't help, look elsewhere.

But first, deal with the emotional/personal issues.