Six years ago when I first started to study psychology I would never have believed that a 1,000 word essay was more difficult to write than a 2,000 word essay. After all, a 1,000 word essay is half as long, so they have to be twice as easy to write, yes?
This weekend I’ve managed to finish and submit my first assignment on my MSc. It was a 1,000 word essay and I had more than enough material for a 2,000 word essay. Trying to understand specifically what was required and therefore what I should leave out was rather difficult.
No. Not difficult. Impossible.
In the end, I finished with 996 words which I hope are relevant enough to ensure that I pass the assignment. It would be rather embarrassing, not to say deflating if they weren’t. In my experience, 1,000 word essays are probably twice, if not four times as difficult to write as 2,000 word essays. This certainly wasn’t the best essay I’ve ever written. I just hope that it wasn’t the worst.
But it’s finished and submitted a massive 42.5 hours ahead of the deadline, so I need to stop worrying about it. After all, I don’t have another essay to write until next year. But I do have another assignment to complete before 9th December. I’ve just had a quick look at it and listened to its accompanying podcast. The best thing that I can say about it at the moment is that at least it’s not an essay.
Four questions, with multiple parts, covering psychometric, experimental and qualitative design and analysis, plus a literature review. There’s a lot of reading and work required between now and deadline, that’s for sure.
But, the thing is, it looks really interesting. Definitely the kind of thing I’d hoped for when I signed up for the course. And I now have a nice, new copy of SPSS installed on my computer ready for me to have a play with. Happy days …