My doctoral dissertation, a lesson in the length of writing

I’ve found that I tend to write my thoughts out in a…longer fashion than many. When I was doing my Honors Thesis as a Junior, I found that my 24-page essay was a bit longer than my friends’.

Then, three yers later, I completed my Master’s Thesis. I had less peers to compare this paper to (in my program, only one other student chose not to make a “creative project” instead of a thesis), but I was told later that 119 pages is far longer than the norm.

Finally came my doctoral dissertation, this single written work that was supposed to prove to the world that I was worthy of being called “Doctor.” A study, during the COVID-19 pandemic, trying to understand more about how online media alters the way people were playing Dungeons & Dragons online.

The entire process of writing it, I felt that I never had enough meaningful content to add, but I found myself in a daily cycle of finding more words that I needed my committee to hear; a slow but constant build up, like sand piling up on a beach. At long last I was finished and after rewrites, I learned that my 250-page dissertation was the longest in my graduating class. Pride came later, but overwhelming exhaustion was my reaction at the time.

I think the real lesson in all of this was, if I was as smart as I thought I was, I should’ve waited to write like this until I was being paid by-the-word.

You, however, can benefit from my foolishness by reading the entirety of epic-length study by clicking here.