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[shmooj]

Some insights from one who has walked the path whose gate you now approach .....

Make sure before you start that you have the following:

A place to study: this should be quiet and separate from distractions. If you have kids and study at home, let them know that you are engaged in one of the most difficult activities of your entire life.

A computer: this should have something equivalent to Office on it and should be yours on demand anytime and anyplace. Yes, in the library a laptop is invaluable. Writing quotes out by hand is no joke. If you can't touchtype learn NOW with some software. NOTE THIS: back up your data at least weekly and keep copies of these data in a separate place from your computer in case it is stolen along with your backup data or your house burns down. I kept my backups at work while my computer spent most of its time at home.

Family support: everyone goes through your MA with you. Make sure they know your deadlines, your boundaries for quiet and space and when you need to go wild with them to keep sane.

Access to a good academic library: this should have several major TESOL journals and a dedicated section of EFL books. There should be photocopying available and they should be happy to let you either visit regularly or even borrow. You will need a letter from your MA course (possibly translated into your local country's language) to present to get access to the best libraries. You cannot underestimate how much reading you need. I used three libraries that were very well stocked and still needed an insider at Cambridge University Library in the UK to keep me topped up.

Make sure the library is open when you are free. If you work days and the library is shut in the early evenings and weekends you will be in trouble. Make sure the library does not have holidays around the time you have deadlines.

You don't get if you don't ask. LIbrary services may be available to visitors such as interlibrary loans, net access, borrowing etc. You don't lose out by asking for these services.

Cash for books: There are some books you will absolutely have to have. Don't skimp on these. Buy more than you need rather than be left short. You may be able to find some books second-hand through Amazon but bear in mind that you may not be able to find academic books to purchase in your location. Thus, add postage and packing to the prices. You can go out for meals with your family when you pass your MA - for now, buy some books, journals or attend some conferences.

Okay, you've signed up and kerflump, the first batch of course material lands on your doorstep. Now what.

Dont be overwhelmed at the amount they have sent you: quite a lot of it will be fairly useless. NEver forget that reading the course material from cover to cover is NOT a requirement for getting the MA.

Before you start find out how to end: Immediately, the same day you get the materials, find out two things A) what you have to submit for that module and B) when. Put this date on the calendar of everyone who shares living space with you. Mark it indelibly in your mind.

Work backwards: Figuring out what you have to submit at the outset narrows the field. Now go through the course materials and read all you can about the area you have to submit papers in. Forget ALL the other stuff for now. NOW is the time to order books or papers you cannot lay your hands on physically where you are. Do NOT wait until halfway through the module. You should gather your sources within a few weeks of getting your materials. Begin to put together material for submission as soon as possible. See below. You can read the rest of the course material when you are sure you have made progress on your submissions.

If you are asked to discuss a field of study: Read very very widely and very very fast all that you can on it. Put every quote you find relevant into a huge text file. Write down every detail of every source you get. Non-referenced sources are useless at this level. This is not undergrad stuff. Keep ALL your references in a separate text file in the format your course material requires. For an approx 3000 word paper I used 30-40 refs. You should have at least five good refs per 1000 words as a (very) rough rule of thumb.

Now go through it and collate ones that reinforce each other using cut and paste. You will end up with several well referenced academic opinions grouped in a messy huge text file. Now, flesh this out with your own insights and discussion weaving this in and out of the references. Eventually, you will whittle it all down to the word limit and it will be nicely woven together.

If you are asked to do research and discuss your findings: Repeat the stuff for field of study above while designing your research project at the outset. Before starting the research period, work out how long you need to analyse and discuss results. Subtract this from today and you will end up with how long your project can run. Do not mess with this time limit even if tempted. You will not lose marks for saying your research has weaknesses if it is weak. You will lose all you have worked for and quite possibly your mind too if you try to justify your research as watertight when it is full of holes. Always declare weaknesses in your research project even if you think it is worthy of a Nobel Laureate.

Others: find anyone who is even faintly interested to proof read your stuff. Often your tutors are not allowed to read and comment on stuff nearing completion. Someone who has an MA would be a great ally but beware of draining them dry. It is YOUR MA not theirs!

Deferring: some/most courses allow you to defer if you need to. You should be very very sure you need to do this. Once you get out of the swing of things you can be sure it will be much tougher to get back in. If your course is three years without deferrals you should get your head down for three years. Do not fantasize about six months off!

If I have made the MA sound like very hard work I have done what I intended. It is not for the lazy, the procrastinator or those who are mildly curious about higher degrees. A good course will push you to the limit but it is worth every effort.

All the best!

Shmooj, MA TESOL/App.Lings.

[Gordon]

Thanks Shmooj, I think you scared everyone off with this post.

[shmooj]

As I said Gordon

[Egas]

Good post Schmooj. I hadn't read this before I posted my thread _ I almost never read the general forum, but thought it would be a good place to put my thread. I hope together with my thread, these will be of some benefit to anyone hoping to undertake a higher degree.

[Scott in HK]

I want to preface this by mentioning a few things....

I fear by posting this I might a) appear to suggesting I am really smart or b) that my uni is inferior to others....and I am not saying either....

What I am going to say is that I am not finding my M'Ed as difficult as other posters have made their courses out to be...

Now there are differences...it is an M'Ed (i already have a good foundation in educational issues and i am taking courses that relate directly to my teaching and interests...i think this makes a great difference)...I am doing it part time....I am doing all coursework...I think a thesis, of course, would have really upped the pressure...

I take two courses a semester...the reading load is quite hard but I have extra hours at work that I use to read and do research....the assignments are usually 3-4000 word essays....a very manageable size...once the research is done and notes made it takes me two or three days to get the first draft done...off to a proofreader....

i am a terrible technical writer...i get caught in the love of my own writing and prefer a turn of the phrase to proper grammar. I had a long arguement once about how sentence fragments fill a very important need in writing.

so that is four or five assignments for two courses a semester....it can easily be done while working...although i agree having an easy job really helps...

so those who are thinking about taking a masters course....it is not always as difficult as other posters have set it out to be...it of course can be...but it doesn't have to be....

[Egas]

Well, Scott, obviously your experience is a little different from mine. But now that you have mentioned it, I recall a chap telling me how he did his Masters in two years. He knocked of work at 12 midday on Fridays, and did about five hours work on Friday aftrernoon before haeding to the pub at six. He always wrote something up for his professor during that time. AND THAT'S ALL HE EVER DID! So I suspect that at least some Masters by coursework are a completely different kettle of fish from a PhD. Makes me feel a little envious, as my honors degree, which is considered lower than a masters, obviously required much more work than some current Masters degrees do - not to mention the much tougher entry requirements and much tougher competition when you get in. Of course I am not trying to put down Masters degrees in general as I know many people worked dam* hard for theirs.

[shenyanggerry]

Egas, about that chap that did a master's in two years on five hours a week. Sometimes people lie.

[naturegirl321]

Wow, 30 to 40 reference books for each paper?! Is it really that difficult?!

Shmooj, Where did you get your Master's and what was it in?
Was it the traditional, study on-campus, full-time, write a thesis Master's?

I'm hoping to do mine by distance, part-time, in education-TEFL.

[shmooj]

[rayman]

Some good advice. Although if finances are an issue, which for most students, they are, then I would put forth that purchase of prescribed texts are not an absolute necessity. Though having access to them, via the library is required. Simply borrow the book 2 or 3 weeks before the essay/report etc. is due and complete the work then. So often, fellow students have puchased texts only to discover they were barely used. If I were to purchase all prescribed texts from 2 degrees and a Masters, it would total about 60 books. I bought about one quarter of those and got by fine. The books I did buy were one's I knew would come in handy throughout my career (if you could call it that).

The other advice from schmooj regarding focussing purely on the assignments and what they are asking, is IMHO the best advice any student could receive. Many people will disagree with this approach, but I only ever focussed on the assignments and only gathered/read information directly related to the assignment questions. All other readings (such as weekly readings which are often issued) were disregarded. Also, read the assignment questions extremely carefully. Break it down into it's fragmented parts and in your assignment, refer clearly and specifically to each of these parts. Very often, someone will be put a great deal of effort into an essay but veer off an a tangent and write something which was not requested. This raises another important point - understand and adhere to the expected written structure. For example, an essay of 3000 words, would have approximately; Intro (300-500 words), Body (2000-2400), Conclusion (300-500). Learn how to reference properly. Different universities adopt different standards (usually Harvard or APA).

Regarding the 30-40 references per essay. This can be achieved using 5-8 GOOD textbooks and a Google search. You can use various references from one text, yet place the individual journals/textbooks in your reference list. Who's to say you didn't read the referenced item? You just have to be careful not do this in excess. Google search key terms in your assignment question in addition to "journal" or "Nunan" or Halliday" etc. Yo'll usually come up with blurbs on the information you need, you can simply use this (not word for word of course) and reference it as the original text it came from.

From my experience, and from speaking to some others, most MA coursework programs are easier than BA's. In my opinion, those that find them most difficult to complete are older students. This may have something to do with; being absent from the tertiary system (from a learner's pespective) for a longer period of time, being overly eager (information overload), lacking adequate computer and information literacy (though I'm sure not a problem for anyone reading this) and probably most notably, family and other committments. Of course, this is a mass generalisation and I hope I haven't touched too many nerves. Just giving my personal experiences.

[naturegirl321]

[BenJ]

Schmooj,

I have just applied to begin my Masters through a uni in Australia. I live fairly close to you relatively and am very interested in where exactly it is that you found such a comprehensive library?

[Gordon]

Rayman,
You also gave some good advice. You said

[Gordon]

BenJ,
Which university in Oz are you going to study with?

[shmooj]