Dissertation

Time utilised badly, time wasted, time spent changing the songs on windows media player, time spent checking hotmail, twice in 5 minutes, time spent replying to emails, time spent writing new emails, time spent putting files in folders, time making coffee, time drinking coffee, time going to the toilet just before you actually need to, time changing the song again, time checking emails, replying again and, of course, time actually writing the dissertation.

Although this may seem like I'm wasting my time, it's actually the ritual that must be followed through each and every day in order to compose oneself before the days writing must begin. I need to make sure every possible distraction is exhausted before starting, just so I know there's nothing left to do, and therefore know that I HAVE to start typing or else fail.

My dissertation should be 15,000 words and is to be handed in at the end of the year (well, January 8th to be exact, but what with Christmas and New Year - I am looking to have it done by the 23rd December at the latest). It is on how banks can gain the trust of the consumer in order to persuade us to bank online. Due to the amount of bad publicity such as people being able to see other people's account details online etc, there are many people wavering on whether they want to commit to banking over the internet, especially with the fraudsters improving all the time with tactics such as "phishing".

My motivation is minimal at best…all I'm looking for is a pass, due to the idiotic way they mark it (there's no merit, simply fail, pass at 40% and distinction at 85%). Of course I will AIM for a distinction, but I have no delusions of grandeur and therefore know realistically that I will never achieve 85% (especially going from my previous essays on the course, all of which were around 55% - 70%).

I will keep ploughing through the endless articles, journals and other such nonsense needed for my Literary Review (which makes up about 7,000 words) and see how it goes…I will write an update in a few weeks, hopefully by then I will have written at least 10,000 words. We shall see…