dissertation stress

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All-nighters and self-doubt: learn from our dissertation disasters

Recent graduates recall their dissertation slip-ups and share their advice on supervisors, footnotes and steering clear of the pub

I t’s likely to be the greatest academic challenge you’ll face as a student. Speak to a finalist working in the library at the moment and you’ll see from their gaunt and despairing facial expression that writing a thesis is not a fun thing to do.

These students take us through their hair-raising experiences - and share their tips for success.

I got the flu, and had to pull three all-nighters in a row

The dissertation was “a long, arduous process” for William Lloyd, a recent journalism graduate at Kingston University. “I caught the flu for the second time in my life, a week before it was due. That wasn’t ideal because I’d not really organised my time properly.

“True to form, I had left half of it to write with a few days left. I got a small extension due to the illness but had travel back to uni from home and do three all-nighters in a row at the library in order to get it done. Bloody hell, it took its toll.

“Whatever happens, my advice is not to panic. It was quite fun, in a way.”

My supervisor told me I was ‘not a scholar’

Cat Soave, a recent English literature graduate from the University of York, says: “I immediately encountered problems with my dissertation supervisor. They decided that I couldn’t write about the topic I had spent three years of education working up to. Their rationale was that I was “not a scholar” and would be unable to do adequate research for my topic.

“I was incredibly disappointed, and had to begin my research from scratch. In later meetings, I didn’t feel confident enough to be very vocal for fear of further criticism. I ended up completing my dissertation with next to no help or direction.”

What can we draw from Cat’s experience? It’s important to build a good relationship with your supervisor or try to find a different one if it clearly isn’t going to work.

Avoid unnecessary tinkering

Alys Key, a third-year English literature and language student at the University of Oxford, says: “The biggest problem I had with my dissertation was the final stages of drafting. The more I read it, the more it seemed to have problems, even if I’d been happier at an earlier stage.

“I think the key is to set yourself a cut-off point, at least a day or two before the deadline, and just limit yourself to proofreading. Everything seems bad when you’ve read it 100 times, so you have to have a bit of faith.”

I should have looked for more interesting research material

“Looking back, I should have researched more broadly,” says Emma Guest, an English literature and film studies graduate from Worcester University.

“I wrote my dissertation on two films by Guillermo del Toro. When I was looking for secondary reading to support my essay, I mainly focused on finding books on the topic. I think some people don’t realise that there are more interesting forms of secondary reading out there – such as archived papers, documentaries, and so on.”

Different tutors wanted different things - and some didn’t care

For Rupert McCallum, 21, a third-year biological sciences student at the University of Portsmouth, formatting his essay became an obstacle. “Different tutors within the department wanted different things - and some didn’t care,” he says.

“My advice would be to read up early on how to format your essay in case it becomes a pain closer to the deadline. Then double check, especially if the department is sending mixed messages. Although some of it may seem silly, sometimes it’s best just to jump through the hoops.”

I found it was easy to get sidetracked

Jessica Shales studied Anglo Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge – a specialist subject that can be difficult to research. “I found it was quite easy to become sidetracked, and to start reading lots in detail about stuff that wasn’t directly related to my question. If I were to start again, I think I would want to keep my overall aim more clearly in mind,” she says.

“I would also start writing it later than I did. I think I panicked a bit and wanted to get something down on paper, and so my argument wasn’t properly formed when I started writing. I think I was a bit scared by the fact that the dissertation was longer than anything I’d written before.

“I suppose my advice is to do whatever you’d try to do in a shorter essay, which is to pose a question, use relevant evidence to discuss it, and arrive at a conclusion accordingly.”

There’s nothing quite so soul-destroying as losing a page reference

Kate Wallis, 21, who studies arts and siences at University College London (UCL), learned the hard way to reference as she went along. “And I mean really reference, with page numbers. I cannot emphasise this enough.

“There’s nothing quite so soul-destroying as a stack of 20 books next to you that you have to go through to work out which elusive page your trifling statistic came from,” she says. “It’s advice that probably applies to all essay writing , but the dissertation is where it really comes to the fore.”

Top tip: don’t drink and dissertate

Don’t follow the example of William Buck, 21, who studied history at Cardiff University. “A desire to be in the pub let me down a bit. I was out at a night club about five times a week,” he says.

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How To Deal With Dissertation Stress

There is something that many people avoid talking about when it comes to dissertations: dissertation stress. Few people are ready to admit that writing a dissertation is a very stressful process. And even fewer people admit that they are suffering from dissertation stress. Yes, we are all proud in our own way, but we need to realize when something is wrong. Otherwise, how could one take action to prevent stress?

As soon as you realize that you need to do some dissertation stress management, you are already on your way to achieving great things. Because getting rid of stress has only benefits. For instance, you will instantly feel more energized and more positive. You will have much more energy to work on the dissertation and do an even better job than before. Because let’s face it; stress will quickly force you to miss your deadlines. You need to deal with dissertation stress; now!

What Is Dissertation Stress?

Before we get to the things you can do to keep stress under control, let’s understand what stress with dissertation really is and how it manifests.

Stress appears when college students are under a lot of pressure to finish a difficult assignment, like a dissertation, in a very short time span. In addition, you will experience a buildup of stress when certain parts of your dissertation as not as they should be.

Perhaps your research doesn’t support your thesis, or perhaps your experiments are not working out. You probably don’t know how to recognize dissertation stress. It’s only normal, as you haven’t written any dissertations up to now. You don’t know how to deal with dissertation stress, but this will change by the end of this article. Here are some of the telltale signs of stress:

• You are always feeling down and don’t know why.
• You are feeling tired and can’t work at your full potential.
• You don’t have any desire to continue working on your dissertation.
• You are depressed and think negatively about your ability to finish the paper on time.
• You are inpatient and lose your temper easily.
• You can’t get a good night’s sleep and you wake up almost as tired as when you got to bed the last evening.

Causes Of Dissertation Stress

There are many causes for dissertation stress. For effective dissertation stress management, you need to learn about the main causes of this kind of stress. Here are the top 5 causes:

• The deadline is approaching fast and you are not even halfway finished with your dissertation.
• The topic is too complex and you are struggling to make any meaningful progress.
• There are too many things you need to work on and you can’t get enough sleep.
• You don’t know how to write the paper and can’t find any help anywhere.
• You’ve received bad feedback from your thesis supervisor and this is discouraging you.

Now that you know what is causing you stress, it’s time to work on the best dissertation stress management technique.

How To Deal With Dissertation Stress – Useful Advice

If you are stressed out, you will never be able to finish the paper on time. Your productivity will be low while you are under a lot of stress. This is why you must learn how to deal with dissertation stress. There are a few things you can do. First, put yourself in a positive mindset. You can do this, and you will be able to complete the assignment on time!

Next, work on a plan and organize your time and your project. Make sure you achieve every milestone that you set. When you pass a milestone, get a day off to spend with your family and friends.

And another important thing you need to do to help yourself with stress is to go to bed early and wake up early. Get a good night’s sleep every night. College students often feel down because they feel they are all alone in this. You are not! Why not get some help with data analysis for dissertation from a professional academic writer? Having someone who has your back is very important for your state of mind. You are no longer struggling to complete your project all by yourself.

Relax And Be Positive

Follow the advice above and you will easily get rid of the stress associated with writing a complex dissertation. This is the best dissertation stress help you can get. And remember, you must always be in a positive state of mind. Relax! You will finish the paper on time if your follow your plan and if you stay productive. Keep in mind that your productivity will increase when you get rid of stress. Be optimistic and stop think about the worst case scenarios. So many students have managed to write their dissertations on time; you will succeed too! We wish you good luck.

Get Thesis Help Today

Finally, there is always an option of getting outside help with your thesis. There might be certain thesis related tasks that you can easily relegate to somebody else, as it is an intimidating and substantial assignment. That is why we are here. We provide a custom thesis writing service and all essential thesis help, and our writers are top educated specialists in wide varieties of fields. So, to decrease your stress levels, you can always get in touch with us.

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3 tips for managing thesis writing stress

9 August 2019

Writing your thesis can be a stressful experience. Here, Dr Sonia Greenidge from UCL's Student Psychological and Counselling Services gives you her top tips to manage this stress.

The process of writing your thesis is a long one and the stress that can build up over this period of time can lead to writer's block and worryingly long periods of unproductiveness. Here are my top three tips to help you lower your stress levels allowing you to progress with your thesis.

Break it down

Rather than thinking that you have to dedicate lengthy periods each day to writing up, a helpful method to manage the stress of thesis writing is to break the day into small bite-sized pieces. Even if you dedicate a whole day to your write up, this should still be broken down into bite-sized periods.

Make sure that alongside your work times you also schedule in some break times. For example, work for 45 minutes and then break for 15 minutes, continue this until breaking for lunch for an hour then continue the 45-minute work and 15-minute break routine.

Be specific

Assign a specific task to do for each study period. Having a clear idea of what you are doing can alleviate the ‘so much to do, how am I going to do it?!’ stress. For example, plan to specifically ‘finish discussion paragraph on self-reflection’ not generally ‘write some more of the discussion’.

Assigning specific things to do in your break times can also help manage the stress that comes from feeling you have so much to do and so little time to do it all. Have a break for checking emails, a break for making calls, a break for making lunch etc. This way you still get all your 'life admin' done alongside getting that all important thesis written up!

Free writing

Experiencing writer’s block and feeling that you are not progressing as you would like to can be a huge trigger for stress. With free writing, you write whatever comes to mind on a topic without stopping to censor or make corrections.

Do this for a while until you feel yourself in the flow and then…keep going! You will probably have a lot of useful material from your free writing time that you can go back and tidy up later.

Dr Sonia Greenidge, UCL Student Psychological and Counselling Services (SPCS)

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Originally Published 8th June 2018

27th April 2021

10 steps to a stress free dissertation

Introduction.

The infamous dissertation essay is not only a significant part of your final grades, they also involve a lot of hard work and effort. Our ten tips have been collated through research and student experiences to help you have a stress-free time with your dissertation.

Ensure you have the right tutor

A dissertation will feel a lot more stress-free with the right help to hand. Your university is unlikely to provide you with someone substandard but if you think there is any chance who you’re working with isn’t right for you, speak up as soon as you can.

Try not to dwell on it

A good way of lowering your stress levels is to try not to speak about your dissertation too much when you’re not studying. While it’s understandably a high priority, you’ll benefit greatly from taking time away from it to recharge. Your friends and family will mean well, but are unlikely to know much about your subject so it’s best to keep it between you, your classmates and tutor.

Nail your dissertation plan

Having a well-thought out plan can really help to alleviate your stress levels. Try not to leave it to the last minute, and make use of the range of productivity apps for university students. Speak to your tutor about how to best plan your particular piece of work and find the medium that suits you – explore digital calendars or try a good old fashioned, hand drawn timetable.

Don’t compare your work

Comparison can lead to totally unnecessary stress, which is the last thing you need when you’re writing a dissertation. Everyone works at a different pace and to different strengths, so don’t be tempted to panic if it seems like a classmate has done ‘more’ than you. Focus on what you’re doing, and keep checking in with yourself and you tutors to monitor your progress.

Resist the temptation to start again

Unfortunately, it’s almost inevitable that you will have the odd day when you think your work is terrible and you’d be better off just starting again. This is likely the stress talking, so take a breather, recharge and step away before making any drastic decisions that could ultimately set you back.

Stick to some social commitments

It’s likely you’ll be at your desk more often than you’d like, but it’s still essential that you get out and enjoy some fresh air and social interaction. The better you plan (and stick to it) the less stress you’re likely to feel when the time does come to go out. And it’s worth remembering that you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy yourself after the task is done.

Be prepared to edit

There’s no worse feeling than unearthing a piece of research you found fascinating only to find it doesn’t really fit in. However, the reality is, not everything will be useful or necessary so it’s best to prepare yourself for some brutal editing. It’s best for your stress levels not to be too precious about your words or ideas, and if you’re in doubt, run it by your tutor.

Be prepared to print

If you’re concerned about the environmental impact of printing out a long document, there are steps you can take to help make it as stress-free as possible. Small things like sticking to black and white or grayscale colours or checking with the printer what type of paper they use can help to put your mind to rest. And of course, ensure that you’re printing the amount of copies that is absolutely necessary.

Be proud of yourself

Once it’s done, there really is no use in stressing so just enjoy the freedom and be proud of what you’ve achieved. If you did your best, followed your tutor’s advice and put everything you could into it, then the likelihood is that you will get the grade you deserve. Don’t forget to treat yourself when it’s all done.

At Collegiate, we’re dedicated to providing a truly first class student living experience. We strive to cover everything from mental health care tips to preparing for your exams across our blog pages. Whatever you need, we are here to help.

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Strategies for coping with dissertation stress.

The dissertation is typically the largest independent research and writing project a doctoral candidate has ever undertaken. Completing the dissertation successfully is an enormous and exciting achievement, but before the pride of accomplishment is yours to relish, first come many months and even years of heavy demands on your intellect, time, and energy. Illustrating the effects of these demands, the attrition rate for doctoral programs can range from 40% to 60% (Cosgrove, 2019).

Furthermore, researchers have found that online doctoral programs can have even higher dropout rates (Ruud, Saclarides, George-Jackson, & Lubienski, 2018). Given these alarmingly high attrition rates, strategies that help to support your persistence through the hard times while completing your dissertation are very important to consider if you want to be one of the successful candidates in your program.

Keeping in mind the core, driving motivation for completing the dissertation can help with maintaining persistence for many doctoral candidates (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012). But, obtaining support from others is often a vital ingredient for promoting retention and degree completion (Berry, 2017; Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012). Cultivating relationships through which you can access such support is an important early step in preparing yourself to weather the challenges that lie ahead of you in the dissertation process.

In our blog, we focus often on the technical challenges of completing the dissertation, such as selecting a research problem, developing an aligned methodology, writing to scholarly standards, and conducting data analysis. But, in addition to mastering these technical elements, getting through to the finish line with your dissertation is also about managing stressors and keeping your life and mental health on track. Finding the right type of support to get through all of this is just as important as learning how to complete APA editing and conduct statistical analysis .

The research literature documents several specific types of stressors that are important to consider and plan for as you embark on your dissertation journey, and this article will review a few of these along with suggestions to help you think about ways to support yourself optimally when the going gets tough. In a general sense, the struggle to maintain balance across demands from school, work, and personal life is a common challenge that can lead to attrition in doctoral students (Martinez, Ordu, Della Sala, & McFarlane, 2013). Feeling as though you’re in over your head in terms of the research process is another commonly cited reason doctoral candidates have given for leaving (or thinking about leaving) their programs (Pyhältö, Toom, Stubb, & Lonka, 2012). Falling behind schedule and feeling unsupported by the dissertation committee have also been reported as common precursors to attrition (Barry, Woods, Warnecke, Stirling, & Martin, 2018; Hunter & Devine, 2016).

In the course of our dissertation consulting with doctoral candidates, we often hear from our clients these same feelings of being lost, unsupported, and stretched too thin. A good dissertation coach will help you through not only the technical difficulties but also the psychological challenges of completing the dissertation. So, to face these challenges head-on, we suggest that you recognize in advance the specific types of stressors you are likely to experience with your dissertation and then think about what might help you to get through these challenges successfully. With this understanding of the potential trials to come, you can then plan ahead so that you’re ready to handle these effectively should they arise.

Struggling to Maintain Your School-Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is a term drawn from the organizational psychology literature that refers to a state where we’re able to reasonably manage the demands of both work and our non-work lives. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have equal time for work and non-work activities, but that you feel that you’re able to “keep up” with both of these major spheres of adult life without collapsing from exhaustion or having a nervous breakdown. The same sort of balance is important for doctoral candidates, whether you are working full-time on your doctoral studies or juggling school, work, and even family all at once. This juggling act can be draining over an extended period, and in fact, doctoral candidates who were considering leaving their programs often reported that feelings of exhaustion and stress were at the root of these feelings (Pyhältö et al., 2012).

In the face heavy demands in multiple major life arenas, doctoral students expressed that it was important to make deliberate efforts to manage their time to maintain school-work-life balance (Martinez et al., 2013). Many of us are not accustomed to scheduling our personal time, but this type of forethought and planned structure will definitely help when taking on such a time-intensive project as a dissertation. Instead of simply planning to work on the dissertation “in your spare time,” it is important to schedule out blocks of time in advance to devote to research, writing, and editing to keep your dissertation moving forward. Our dissertation consulting clients have also shared that scheduling fun activities and relaxation time in advance can help with managing stress as well, as it ensures that you find the time for yourself in the midst of all this hard work.

In spite of these best-laid plans, however, doctoral candidates expressed that they often had to shift their priorities quickly to accommodate the unplanned needs that popped up in their lives while working on their dissertations (Martinez et al., 2013). One doctoral candidate referred to this as the “tyranny of the urgent” as she described her efforts to manage her constantly changing priorities (Martinez et al., 2013, p. 46). Urgent demands from work or personal life sometimes require that you work at a hectic pace or back-burner your dissertation.

Feeling Like You Just Don’t Get It

Another major area of stress for doctoral candidates is that, having never conducted a study of their own design before, many feel lost and confused as they sort through the collection of decisions they face when starting the prospectus and dissertation proposal. Identifying a research problem and gap in the literature can be daunting the first time you try it. Understanding the different applications of quantitative versus qualitative research methods can be very confusing at first, and aligning the problem with the right methodology can be extremely difficult when you’re just learning how.

On top of the sheer difficulty of learning how to conduct scholarly research, the self-directed nature of the dissertation process can definitely contribute to feelings of being in over your head. Doctoral candidates reported that, in contrast to the more structured coursework leading up to their research projects, the dissertation was largely unstructured and required that they make tough decisions and develop core competencies independently (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012). Deciding on a topic, planning an aligned methodology, and developing scholarly writing skills in self-directed manner (i.e., without any outside help) was often reported as the most challenging aspect of earning a doctoral degree (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012).

The self-directed nature of the dissertation adds a particular level of challenge, as you need to be able to independently locate and review resources to guide your development of your research topic and methodology. For example, if you are planning a qualitative research and analysis approach, you need to locate authoritative sources on qualitative research methods, read these, and then weave the ideas from these sources into your written rationale for use of your chosen method. Peers, committee members, and even a good old-fashioned Google search can often help you to identify relevant sources. Many doctoral candidates also turn to a professional dissertation coach for additional support to fully develop their understanding of the complex concepts and processes involved in conducting a study.

Once the proposal has been developed and approved, then doctoral candidates must move through the steps of collecting data and analyzing it, which is often the first time many have engaged in this process. Analyzing data can be extremely challenging for the novice researcher. Qualitative analysis can be overwhelming due to the sheer volume of data to be managed along with the need to master qualitative analysis software such as NVivo. Statistical analysis can also be a very confusing process from start to finish, as reflected by one doctoral candidate’s succinct summation, “I hate statistics!” (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012, p. 208).

Many of you probably resonate with this perspective, and fortunately for you, being a professional statistician is not anywhere in the job description of the doctoral candidate. In fact, even seasoned researchers often turn to specialists when it comes to data analysis! So, if there is a faculty member at your university you can lean on for statistical consulting , or if you have a peer who has conducted qualitative analysis and can help light the way for you, reaching out to these sources of support can do wonders. In our provision of dissertation assistance, we also routinely offer guidance and assistance with both statistical analysis and qualitative analysis to doctoral candidates who need additional support to get through this very challenging segment of their studies.

Identifying and then leaning on appropriate sources of support will definitely help you to feel less “lost” with your dissertation, which will then help to alleviate stress and anxiety. Managing such distress will ultimately be very important for promoting your persistence through to degree completion. Illustrating this point, Pyhältö et al. (2012) found that doctoral candidates who were considering leaving their programs often cited high levels of anxiety and stress related to their dissertations.

The demands of the dissertation can make you feel as though you’re pushing up against your own limitations. Whether those limitations lie in areas like writing, completion of qualitative or statistical analysis, or even editing and formatting, without appropriate support, the anxiety and stress this induces has influenced many doctoral candidates to give up. So, with this in mind, we suggest that you plan ahead, find appropriate supports, and hang in there!

Falling Behind in Your Schedule

The demands of working on a project that is challenging both in terms of intellectual demands and sheer size can often lead to falling behind in the planned schedule for completing the dissertation. This can be very stressful for a number of reasons. Given that every term you are enrolled requires payment of tuition, the longer the dissertation process stretches out, the more you end up paying in full for the doctoral degree. The expense factor can be very stressful, and the feelings of failure to live up to your chair and committee’s expectations regarding academic progress certainly don’t help either. In extreme cases, falling behind in the dissertation schedule can result in candidates pushing up against the time limit imposed by the university program for completing the study. This can mean failure to obtain the degree or having to restart the process, bringing additional work, stress, and of course, cost.

Staying on a reasonable schedule is important for many reasons, but of particular importance is that mental health can actually suffer as the result of falling behind. Doctoral candidates who were behind schedule with their studies reported psychological stress, high anxiety, and even depression symptoms (Barry et al., 2018). When you’re facing a lengthy period of dissertation research that you know will be this challenging, it will definitely help to plan ahead so that you’re ready to take steps to effectively cope with threats to your psychological health. According the transactional model of stress and coping, coping strategies can be either problem-focused or emotion-focused (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Choosing the most effective type of coping strategy hinges upon sizing up the nature of the stressor that lies in front of you.

When the stressor you’re facing is something that you have control over, then problem-focused coping is ideal. Problem-focused coping refers to actions that help you to solve the underlying problem that is causing you stress. One such underlying problem that doctoral candidates reported often was finding the time to work on the dissertation (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012). In this case, a problem-focused coping approach would involve taking proactive steps to free up time to devote to your dissertation. You might schedule weekly play dates for the kids so that you have reliable, distraction-free time for research, writing, and editing. You might use a few vacation days from work to free up several hours of time to devote to writing your literature review or completing your statistical or qualitative analysis after data collection.

Even when you regularly devote time to working on your dissertation, another frustrating experience that can cause you to fall behind is failure to obtain approval on specific sections of the work. Many of our clients describe going through round after round of revisions and editing on specific areas of their proposals or dissertations, only to receive yet another collection of critical comments from their committees. In this situation, enlisting the aid of dissertation assistance professionals can be a great problem-focused strategy for troubleshooting aspects of the study that are becoming sticking points. Resolving these areas of setback more efficiently will help to get you back on track with your dissertation timeline, which will definitely relieve some stress.

As mentioned previously, problem-focused coping is optimal when the stressor you’re facing is one that you actually have some control over. But, what about those stressors that we cannot control? In these cases, emotion-focused coping is the way to go. Emotion-focused coping refers to actions you take that just help you to feel better, even though the underlying stressor might remain present.

Although problem-focused strategies to keep on schedule with the dissertation were endorsed by doctoral candidates, many also shared that taking time for their own enjoyment and relaxation was important for maintaining their well-being (Martinez et al., 2013). So, if you’ve taken all of the steps possible to stay on schedule but still fall a bit behind, try to work in some self-care and relaxation to boost your spirits. This might just give you the strength to keeping pushing forward!

Feeling Unsupported by Your Chair or Committee

Given the many challenges of completing the dissertation, your chair and committee are essential supports for guiding you through this process from start to finish. Developing a research topic and aligned methodology, writing a literature review, conducting your qualitative or statistical analysis, and interpreting your findings are all major steps in the dissertation process that require clear and constructive guidance from your committee members. When committees fail to guide and help you appropriately, the feelings of being lost and confused we discussed previously are only exacerbated. When committee guidance is unclear or sends you in different directions depending on which committee member is giving you feedback, the potential for falling behind schedule and/or throwing your life out of balance is heightened as well.

If you’re recognizing your own experiences here, you’re not alone. In fact, Spaulding and Rockinson-Szapkiw (2012) found that difficulties communicating productively with or meeting the divergent expectations of their different committee members were commonly reported problems among doctoral candidates. Doctoral candidates also shared a common frustration over having to rework their dissertations after they thought they had everything just right, all because their committee members kept changing their minds about what they wanted (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012).

In our dissertation consulting experience, we hear about these types of experiences so often, and having a teammate in the process who can help you cope with difficult committees can be enormously helpful. Importantly, Hunter and Devine (2016) found that doctoral candidates who reported lower perceived levels of supervisor and department support also reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion and intentions to leave their programs. So, whether you reach out to peers or professional dissertation consultants (or both), we hope that you seek out support if you’re faced with a committee that is running you ragged. Don’t give up!

Final Thoughts

The prestige of a doctoral degree comes with tons of hard work and dogged persistence. When describing the factors that boosted their persistence, doctoral candidates commonly reported that support systems had a very positive influence (Spaulding & Rockinson-Szapkiw, 2012). These support systems might vary from one doctoral candidate to the next, depending on the nature of your peer group and formal supports. Notably, online doctoral candidates agreed that supportive relationships with peers were important, but some with very busy work schedules expressed difficulty forming supportive social relationships with peers (Berry, 2017).

Considering all of the above findings, we can see that there is no “one size fits all” support system for getting through the dissertation. Some doctoral candidates rely heavily on peers in their cohorts to help them through the hard times, some have fabulous committees, and some call in the professionals when dissertation assistance is needed. A support system comprised of all of these can also be particularly helpful. But, the main lesson to keep in mind is that supporting yourself to manage the various stressors that arise during the dissertation will help give you the strength to persist through to the finish line. We’re here as your teammate should you need us, and to celebrate your successes along the way!

• Barry, K. M., Woods, M., Warnecke, E., Stirling, C., & Martin, A. (2018). Psychological health of doctoral candidates, study-related challenges and perceived performance.  Higher Education Research & Development, 37 (3), 468-483. doi:10.1080/07294360.2018.1425979
• Berry, S. (2017). Student support networks in online doctoral programs: Exploring nested communities.  International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 12 , 33-48. Retrieved from https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=ed-facarticles
• Cosgrove, P. B. (2019). The nature of success in doctoral education: The roles of the student, the advisor, and goals. In  Self-Directed Learning Strategies in Adult Educational Contexts  (pp. 90-109). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
• Hunter, K. H., & Devine, K. (2016). Doctoral students’ emotional exhaustion and intentions to leave academia. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 11, 35-61. Retrieved from http://ijds.org/Volume11/IJDSv11p035-061Hunter2198.pdf
• Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping . New York, NY: Springer.
• Martinez, E., Ordu, C., Della Sala, M. R., & McFarlane, A. (2013). Striving to obtain a school-work-life balance: The full-time doctoral student.  International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 8, 39-59. Retrieved from http://informingscience.com/ijds/Volume8/IJDSv8p039-059Martinez0375.pdf
• Pyhältö, K., Toom, A., Stubb, J., & Lonka, K. (2012). Challenges of becoming a scholar: A study of doctoral students’ problems and well-being.  ISRN Education, 2012, 1-12. doi:10.5402/2012/934941
• Ruud, C. M., Saclarides, E. S., George-Jackson, C. E., & Lubienski, S. T. (2018). Tipping points: Doctoral students and consideration of departure. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 20 (3), 286–307. doi:10.1177/1521025116666082
• Spaulding, L. S., & Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. J. (2012). Hearing their voices: Factors doctoral candidates attribute to their persistence.  International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 7 (1), 199-219. Retrieved from http://informingscience.com/ijds/Volume7/IJDSv7p199-219Spaulding334.pdf

Debunking dissertation stress

Plan and organise

First things first, plan and organise your day. Create a to-do list of everything you want to achieve in the day and set reasonable deadlines for yourself. One thing that’s helping me in this dissertation period is having a set idea of how much I want to achieve by the end of the day. Though I’m still learning that it’s okay if things go out of schedule, starting your day with a clear plan will help chalk out events in the day and give you time to destress and refresh for the next big chunk of writing.

Videos and sessions

Another good idea would be to go back to the dissertation writing videos and sessions that were organised by the Business School to catch up on, if you feel stuck in writing. Moreover, at the start of this month, the Business School organised writing sessions and other events so if you happened to be a part of either of those, you may have gotten some materials to go through! These sessions are specially designed and organised by the Business School to help you improve your writing, revisit your dissertation structure and more.

Read and revisit but also reset

Don’t forget to celebrate small wins and meeting self-curated deadlines. More importantly, find time to rest your mind and reset your body to effectively work the next time you get to it. According to the effort-recovery model, rest breaks, which involve interrupting the job in order to recover, is a viable way to decrease fatigue associated with high work demands. This all the more emphasises the need to rest and take breaks to recharge and reset your mind. Spend time to read your points and revisit them the next day. For all you know the points you wrote with your sleep-deprived mind have a different meaning the next day!

Don’t compare your progress

It’s important to remember that everyone works differently, everyone’s speed is different and moreover, everyone’s deadlines and targets are different. So, don’t compare your progress with others! It’s so easy to get lost in the chaos of working non-stop because you probably came across a peer post a story of them working on social media. Does that make you feel less productive? Stop and remember, you’re working well according to your deadlines.

Support each other

With everyone working on interesting yet different topics, supporting each other through this season is the only thing able to keep everyone sane. Set realistic deadlines. Get some fresh air (check the weather app!), walk around George Square to catch the beginnings of the festivities and plan events to attend during the Fringe Festival and lastly, put your best work forward! Take a deep breath and continue working on your dissertation. All the best! We’ve got this!

Rhema Joseph is studying MSc International Human Resource Management (class of 2022).

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Dissertation stress: How to overcome it and reach out for help

Writer’s block ( noun ): a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece.

“Writer’s block” is a common phrase we use to describe that jammed up feeling that every writer experiences at some point; it’s that frustrating space where no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to get any words on paper.

Often, we blame writer’s block on a lack of inspiration or creativity, which may certainly be the case for a bestselling novelist coasting on the royalties of his last book as he sits behind his computer somewhere in the French countryside, struggling to figure out the plot of his next manuscript.

But for Ph.D. candidates working on their dissertations, the cause of writer’s block is less likely to be a lack of creative inspiration, and more likely to be stress .

How stress screws us up

Stress over deadlines.  Stress over the last round of incoherent babble your chair sent back as “feedback” on your proposal.  For online students, stress over the time delays in communication.  Stress over committee members with opposing ideas about how  your  study should look.  Stress over the tuition you have to keep paying each term just to stay enrolled in a program.  And that doesn’t even touch on outside stress related to work, family, and finances.

It’s no wonder that the brains of Ph.D. candidates freeze up.

Stress does some wacky things to our brains.  The physiological reaction to stress activates the “fight-or-flight” response and triggers the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) systems (Radley et al., 2015).  Glucocorticoids, which are produced during stress, help your body meet changing energy needs during stress (like being chased by a bear or sitting down to do your taxes).  These guys also influence responses from other body systems and actually help increase cognitive function, for brief periods .  In short, glucocorticoids can help you manage acute stress .  Yay!

But prolonged elevation to glucocorticoid levels from chronic stress is another story.  Left floating around in your system because of chronic stress responses to things like writing a dissertation, these babies can wreak havoc on your body and lead the development of all kinds of gnarly illnesses (you many have heard of some of them – cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes… and on…).

Chronic stress also jacks up our cognitive function.  Much of the research on chronic stress has been conducted in animal-based studies because of the challenges associated with inducing, isolating, and assessing chronic stressors in humans.  But research on rats shows that (surprise, surprise) chronic stress can seriously inhibit your ability to focus and think.

In short, we know that chronic stress can be a major impediment (or even the death knell) to completing a dissertation.  So what’s a stressed out doc student to do?  The answer is actually simpler than you may think, especially if you’re currently riding the stress train.  There are two steps.

• Take a break.
• Get some help.

Take a break

I cannot stress this enough (no pun intended).  As someone who has a hard time taking a break when my brain is fizzling out, I understand feeling the need to “push through” when you’re hitting the wall.  “This dissertation isn’t going to write itself,” you tell yourself.  And while that’s true, neither are you as long as you’re burnt out.  In fact, continuing to stare at the same three sentences you wrote in your Word document five hours ago is going to do absolutely nothing to help you finish.

Instead, take a break.  Shut the laptop, go for a walk, have dinner with a friend – do something to take your mind completely off of your dissertation.  However, do not go to dinner with a friend and talk their ear off about your current writing crisis.  Don’t go for a walk and stew on those three sentences you can’t seem to move past.  Get away, think about something different.  Clear your head.

When you take a break, you come back refreshed.  Sometimes the idea you needed to help you move past your block will just magically appear.  But in order for that to happen, you have to allow yourself to get out of that state of stress and reactivity, take a breath, regroup, and then come at it again.

Just a quick note on taking a break: make sure you keep it short.  Step away for a few hours or days, but don’t let this break turn into a hiatus.  You’re not going on sabbatical here, you’re just giving your weary little brain the chance to take a break.  Give yourself permission to take a break to get it back together – don’t give yourself permission to walk away indefinitely.

The goal is for you to come down from that nasty stressful place and relax a bit so that when you do return to your computer, you feel better, you can focus, and you’re able to get some work done around here.

Get some help

Sometimes, you need a little help.  Maybe academic writing isn’t your strength.  If it isn’t, you’re probably awesome at math or science, or are excellent at communicating in conversation.  Look, we all have our strengths… and weaknesses.  It’s what makes the world go round!  So don’t feel bad about reaching out for help if you’re feeling in over your head with some aspects of your dissertation.  Perhaps you need some guidance navigating the feedback you’re receiving from your chair or methodologist.  Maybe you’re at the beginning stages and are struggling to form some damn research questions already.

We aren’t all aces at everything – and you’ll save yourself a lot of headache, frustration, and money if you get help in the areas where you’re not already a Rockstar.  In the dissertation arena, there are a few different types of help available to you.  They come in the form of:

This may seem self-explanatory, but a great academic editor can do a lot more than just make sure your periods and commas are in the right places.  They’re experts in APA and Microsoft Word, and can help make sure your document is perfectly formatted.  They can easily do all the mind-numbing stuff, like setting up an automatic table of contents, fixing your pagination, making sure all of your references are error-free, or conducting an audit of your citations and references to ensure you’re not missing anything.  A great editor may also help you handle the comments and feedback you’re receiving and is experienced enough to read between the lines when feedback isn’t very clear (ever had the pleasure of reading feedback and wondering how many jack and cokes your chair had beforehand?).

If you need some help polishing up your work or if you’re at the point where receiving feedback leaves you feeling overwhelmed and stressed, get an editor.

Just a word of caution about hiring editors and consultants – there are a lot of scammers out there who claim to be experts at academic writing and editing… but aren’t.  Check out my article on that, here .

Ahhhhhh, data analysis.  So, you’ve gone out and collected all your data and are excited to see what the analysis reveals.  High five!

But there’s one problem – you’re not an analyst.

Most online Ph.D. programs provide students with little-to-no training on data analysis, so the process of analyzing data can be understandably overwhelming.  This is where an analyst can come to the rescue.  Whether you’ve gone quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method, an analyst can swoop in and help you make sense of your data.  Quantitative analysts are experts with statistics and software packages such as SPSS and SAS.  Qualitative folks, on the other hand, are pros at textual and thematic analysis, and are able to use programs such as NVivo and ATLAS.ti.  If you’re staring at a mountain of transcribed interview data and are feeling overwhelmed with coding or theme development, it might be a good idea to bring a qualitative analyst on board.

Finally, if you’re struggling with the often-lonely dissertation journey, a dissertation coach might be the answer.  The coaching piece is so important that I’m going to write a separate post about it, but I’ll give you the short version here.  A dissertation coach can help you in a few critical areas:

• Keeping you on track
• Helping you interpret feedback and navigate the entire dissertation process
• Keeping you off the ledge

Think about it – people hire coaches to help them achieve just about any goal.  From getting into killer shape, to making business decisions, to rescuing failing relationships – coaches can help you zero in on your goal, create an action plan, help you execute that plan, and hold you accountable.

In an ideal situation, your dissertation chair should be acting as a coach.  Unfortunately, that is less often the case, especially in online doctoral programs where professors may be chairing as many as 20 students (that’s right… 20).  In these cases, chairs may lack the time to give you the detailed assistance you need.  This becomes evident when you start getting conflicting feedback on different submissions of a proposal chapter, or if the comments are incoherent, or if your chair asks you to do something that conflicts with your school’s templates and handbooks.

If you’ve found yourself in the above scenario, you know how incredibly frustrating it can be.  The process can also leave you feeling like you’re on an island by yourself.  If this is you, a coach might be an excellent investment.  Not only can a seasoned coach help reduce your stress, navigate feedback, plan or an anticipate each subsequent step in the dissertation process, but a coach can also save you a lot of money in the long-term.  While the costs associated with dissertation courses vary from school to school, none of them are cheap.  If it takes you 3 years to get through the dissertation on your own, the amount you spend toward the dissertation is 3 times as much as if you’d hired a coach to help get you through in 1 year.

Yes, coaches are an investment, but the right one will save you a boatload of money and stress.

In summary…

I know, I know. Enough already.  This is already one of the longest damn posts I’ve written for this site.  I just want to close with this – the dissertation process is understandably stressful, but it shouldn’t rob you of your sleep at night.  It is so important to keep your balance and perspective throughout the process.  Grant yourself some grace, take breaks, and reach out for help when you need it .

Radley, J., Morilak, D., Viau, V., & Campeau, S. (2015). Chronic stress and brain plasticity: Mechanisms underlying adaptive and maladaptive changes and implications for stress-related CNS disorders. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 58, 79–91. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.06.018

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Dissertation Stress: Don’t Ignore the Warning Signs

Writing a dissertation is a very lengthy and difficult process. The students working on a dissertation often become a victim of dissertation writing stress. Therefore, before the stress can worsen your dissertation, you need to identify the sign of dissertation writing stress and avoid them from occurring. The preventive methods suggested in this article will help you avoid the dissertation stress and its signs.

Writing a dissertation is not an easy task. You need to work right from the process of identifying the research topic, formulating the questions, selecting the right methodology, reviewing the literature, and analysing the results. With such a huge responsibility, the students often get stressed.

Need for Stress Management: Dissertation Writing Stress

The stress plays a very vital role in the success of PhD dissertation. Only those students succeed who are capable of dealing with their stress are successful with their dissertation. Therefore, the students need to focus on stress management for a successful dissertation.

Signs of Stress

The students working on their dissertation can experience two types of stress: emotional and behavioural.

1. Emotional Signs

• Loss of interest in the activities that you felt interesting
• Restless and anxious
• Angry, argumentative and irritable
• Concentration issues
• Mental Laziness
• Avoiding dealing with problems

2. Behavioural Signs

• Difficulty in accepting things
• Avoiding regular responsibilities
• Behaving Compulsively
• Poor self-caring
• Financial and legal issues
• Poor follow-through on task

Preventive Solutions

Now that you known the need and the signs of dissertation writing stress, it is essential that you deal with it to make your dissertation submission successful. The best way to deal with it is through preventive solutions rather than solving it after it occurs. The best preventive measures to avoid stress are

• Time Management

1. Meditation

Meditation is a proven method of avoiding stress. The best thing about it is that it helps you clear your mind of the unnecessary thoughts that become the factors of stress. Achieving a meditating state depends on from one person to another. Some might achieve it in a silent place while some might active it in a natural place. While you meditate yourself out of stress, you can get help from dissertation writers in UK from the best dissertation writing services. These dissertation services in UK can complete your dissertation with a very high quality.

2. Exercise

Exercise is one of the most important tips that everyone provides. It is a very important and priceless tool to manage one’s stress. Moreover, as students working on dissertation have to sit for a long time, they definitely need some exercise to keep themselves physically active. Regular exercise increases the endorphin count in our body. This endorphin is responsible to energise you and elevate your mood. Moreover, doing exercise regularly reduces your cholesterol, which is one of the key chemical ingredients driving stress.

During your exercise, if the fitness freak within you awakens and you need to spend more time on fitness, you can get dissertation writing help from cheap dissertation writing services. These services will provide you dissertation services in UK at very reasonable prices without disrupting the quality.

Along with regular exercise, a well-structured diet plan is essential. The saying “you are what you eat” perfectly applies in this case.

When you eat junk food, your body will behave like a junk. While, feeding on a healthy diet will keep your body fit, active and healthy.  The best ways to stay focused on your dissertation and avoid stress is to snack on fruits and vegetables and avoid deep-fried foods.  In addition, some bottle of vitamins can keep you energized for your dissertation.  While some might suggest caffeinated beverages, you should always to consume a small amount of caffeine.

Sleep is important element in human life that is difficult to ignore. Being a student working on a dissertation, you should sleep for around seven hours a day to remain active and avoid stress. Moreover, you need to ensure that you sleep regularly at the same time to maintain the circadian rhythm of your body. Keep in mind that oversleep is equally harmful as lack of sleep.

Have you wondered why to waste your time while sleeping? In that case, you must get help from dissertation writing services in UK who can provide you with best dissertation writing service in UK .

Stress might be a huge blocker for your dissertation and it is essential that you do not ignore the warning signs. However, why wait for the signs to appear? You can take the precautionary steps discussed in this article to avoid stress and their signs. On the other hand, if need dissertation help from someone, you can reach out to Uniresearchers , one of the dissertation writing services in UK. It provides dissertation writing help to all the students looking for cheap dissertation writing services.

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Cognitive Appraisal of Dissertation Stress Among Undergraduate Students

• Published: 18 May 2017
• Volume 56 , pages 259–266, ( 2006 )

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• Tracey J. Devonport 1 &
• Andrew M. Lane 1  

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The present study examined changes in primary and secondary appraisal, and coping strategies utilized in the final weeks leading to dissertation submission. Sixty volunteer Sports Studies dissertation students (male: n = 29; female: n = 31) completed an adapted Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale (CAHS: Kessler, 1998), and Brief COPE (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) on 4 occasions over the 6 weeks before dissertation submission. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant main effect for gender, with no main effect for changes over time and no significant interaction effect. Results demonstrated that males perceived the dissertation to be significantly more threatening and less challenging than females. With regard to coping, males used more active coping, positive reframing, planning, and acceptance of the stressor, with lower scores for self-blame, venting of emotions, and behavioral disengagement. The results suggest that, for this student population, the dissertation did not become increasingly stressful in the period before submission. Clear relationships were also evidenced between primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, and coping. Future research should seek to identify factors that moderate the influence of situational stressors on coping responses among undergraduate students.

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Devonport, T.J., Lane, A.M. Cognitive Appraisal of Dissertation Stress Among Undergraduate Students. Psychol Rec 56 , 259–266 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395549

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science dissertation writing guides

5 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About Coping with Dissertation Stress

Just like any other academic task, writing a good dissertation isn’t an easy task. The task itself is overwhelming, and there is no doubt that students often make mistakes during the writing process. These mistakes can cause distress among students, better known as dissertation stress, since no student wants to fail or re-do the paper again.

However, the good news is that with proper strategies and measures, it is easy to manage and control dissertation stress by understanding the elements leading to such stress when writing a dissertation and avoiding mistakes early enough. Keep reading this guide to have useful insights on stress management dissertation.

What makes up a good dissertation?

Before we discuss how to manage stress of dissertation, let’s, first of all, understand the elements that make up a compelling dissertation. These elements include the following:

• It follows the set writing guidelines or requirements
• Outlines the objectives in a clear manner
• Has a clear structure – well organized
• A good dissertation is made up of strong points supporting the thesis (well-researched)
• Demonstrates originality
• It should be well-referenced (citations according to the requirements)

These are among the many other elements that will make your dissertation stand out.

How to handle dissertation stress

Sometimes, dissertation stress quotes and other stressors when writing a dissertation are inevitable. However, with the following approaches, you can handle such stress like a pro and bring out the best dissertation:

• Start early to beat the deadline
• Understand the assignment first
• Take breaks
• Keep your research materials and books organized
• Create a plan to follow
• Ask for dissertation stress help when you feel overwhelmed

5 Mistakes to Avoid when writing a dissertation

Some dissertation writers often make the following mistakes during the writing process, which make it a bit complicated to finish the project appropriately. Therefore, avoid these mistakes for a smooth writing process.

• Starting late

Even when you feel you are a pro, a dissertation is a big project that requires adequate time to prepare, gather resources, do research, and write. When you start early, you will have enough time to organize yourself and write the paper without feeling stressed.

• Selecting a wrong dissertation topic

The basis of a good dissertation is a good topic. In case you pick a weak topic, then your whole dissertation will be weak. Besides, you can exhaust all the ideas while in the middle of the research, thus feeling the pressure. Therefore, always select a researchable and interesting topic in your field of study.

• Writing a weak thesis statement

A thesis statement plays a big role in the details you include in your dissertation. All the points and details you describe in the dissertation should align with the thesis statement. If you include ideas that contradict the thesis statement, you are likely to lose track of your writing process, thus causing dissertation stress.

• Failure to create a dissertation outline

The number one secrete to writing a perfect dissertation on time is creating an outline that will guide you when writing the sections of the main dissertation draft for submission. Therefore as you plan the writing process, always include time for creating a detailed outline to escape dissertation stress.

• Not proofreading well

A dissertation being a big project requires adequate attention to detail. That is why proofreading after the writing process is essential. However, you can proofread but still get it wrong. Mistakes such as grammar errors, typos, plagiarism, and improper formatting can cost you a lot. That is why it is a good move to seek expert help when it comes to proofreading a dissertation paper.

How well are you prepared to write your upcoming dissertation? This guide gives you some insights into the mistakes you should take note of and avoid in advance.

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Ms. Notte, an expert on Russian foreign and security policy, wrote from Berlin.

In the wake of the terrorist attack at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall last Friday, which killed at least 143 people, Russia is in mourning. The country’s leaders, on the other hand, are doing something else: They’re plotting.

The target is clear. Despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack, the Russian leadership has repeatedly blamed Ukraine and its Western backers. Even when President Vladimir Putin grudgingly acknowledged on Monday that the attack was carried out by “radical Islamists,” he suggested they were operating at somebody else’s behest. For now, the Kremlin is keeping its options open: Its spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said that it was “ too early ” to discuss Russia’s response. Yet the cacophony of unsubstantiated Kyiv-blaming, accompanied by fresh strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, is a clear sign of intent.

From Mr. Putin’s perspective, escalation in Ukraine — involving an intensification of attacks on Ukrainian troops across the front lines with the aim of claiming as much territory as possible, along with increased aerial bombardment on Ukraine’s cities to wear down the population — makes a lot of sense. It would show ordinary Russians that those who harm them will be punished, divert attention from the security establishment’s failure to prevent the attack and perhaps even generate greater support for the war.

But even without the Crocus City Hall attack, Mr. Putin was primed to step up his assault on Ukraine. After his landslide victory in this month’s rubber-stamp presidential election, Mr. Putin is more secure than ever in his position and free to focus fully on the war effort. Militarily, Russian forces now hold material and manpower advantages over Ukraine. The timing is good, too: With Western military support for Kyiv mired in uncertainty, the next few months offer Moscow a window of opportunity for new offensives.

Perhaps most important, the geopolitical conditions are strikingly in Mr. Putin’s favor. Since invading Ukraine two years ago, Russia has reoriented its entire foreign policy to serve its war aims. It has put its economy on a solid non-Western foundation and secured sanction-proof supply chains, largely insulating itself from future Western pressure. It has also ensured a steady provision of weapons from Iran and North Korea. These dictatorships, unlike Western states, can send substantial amounts of arms abroad without having to worry about bureaucratic impediments and public opinion.

Russian officials have worked tirelessly to integrate non-Western states into structures of allegiance, reducing the risk that these partners might pressure Moscow to scale back the war. At the center of these diplomatically ambitious efforts is the club of emerging nations known as BRICS, which recently expanded its ranks. Russia has busily lobbied an ever-growing cohort of countries belonging to what it likes to call the “global majority” — from Algeria to Zimbabwe — to collaborate with the bloc. As chair of the group this year, a politically hyperactive Russia is convening around 250 events , culminating in a summit in October.

After February 2022, Russia was quick to convince non-Western audiences that in Ukraine it is fighting a proxy war with the United States. If the view that the West drove Russia to war was already popular in the developing world two years ago, every piece of Western military equipment sent to Ukraine has only entrenched it further. The hope that heavyweights like Brazil, China or India might urge Mr. Putin to back down in Ukraine has long since dissipated, given the continued friendly relations between them. War in Ukraine, which will never be normal to the people of Ukraine, has been normalized in much of the world.

What’s more, Mr. Putin has paired his non-Western charm offensive with heightened confrontation with the West. Under his watch, Russia has cultivated problems and pressure points for Western countries that make it harder for them to stay laser-focused in their support of Ukraine. The Kremlin has rebuffed U.S. offers to resume nuclear arms-control talks, for example, and reduced efforts to help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Moscow’s categorical unwillingness to address shared dangers, from the risk of nuclear war to climate change , places yet more stress on an already frail international order.

The Russian government has also become more brazen in inciting anti-Western forces across the globe. It has cozied up to North Korea, supported the military dictatorships in Africa’s Sahel region south of the Sahara and encouraged Iran and its network of proxies. Wherever there’s a threat to Western interests, Russian military support or political patronage is not far behind. Taken together, Moscow’s machinations fuel a feeling of growing instability worldwide. In this atmosphere, war in Ukraine registers as just one among many problems.

Ukraine’s Western backers are hardly blameless for this state of affairs. Support for Israel’s unconscionable military campaign in Gaza, for one, has tarnished the West’s image and destroyed any remaining chance, however small, that it could muster more backing for Ukraine’s defense in the rest of the world. The West has not been deaf to the accusations of hypocrisy and double standards over Gaza and immense suffering elsewhere. It simply, through a combination of inertia and impassivity, does not wish to change course.

Two years into the largest attack on a European country since World War II, European capitals are still struggling to respond decisively. They are too sluggish in sending ammunition to Ukraine and continue to be divided on how to hold the line against Russia. In the United States, Donald Trump’s coronation as Republican presidential nominee threatens to weigh down the Biden administration as the November election approaches and partisan deadlock is preventing Congress from passing sorely needed funding for Ukraine. The West’s ability to get its act together has never looked more tenuous.

Difficult months lie ahead for Ukraine. If anything, the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow — which brutally upended Mr. Putin’s claims to provide for Russia’s security — is likely to make matters worse. With the initiative on the battlefield and much of the world looking elsewhere, Russia may soon start to make good on its advantage. On Wednesday, Russia struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs for the first time since 2022. It could be a premonition of things to come.

Hanna Notte ( @HannaNotte ) is the director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif.

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