A Day in the Life of a Thesis Writer

Posted October 13, 2026 by Emmy Mahoney

Hello everyone! As I shared in my last post, this semester I am writing my history master’s thesis. With thesis-writing being my primary activity for the next couple of months, I thought I would share what a day in the life of a thesis writer can look like. 

On the days that I am not working, I wake up around 8:30 in the morning. I spend about a half an hour hanging out with my dogs and drinking a cup of tea. When I finish my first cup of caffeine, I can start to get ready for the day. This includes getting dressed and eating breakfast; today, I had some pumpkin bread and ate an apple. 

Around 9:30AM, I transition into working on my thesis. In terms of the thesis writing process, I have several different activities to choose from. This includes, reading archival or secondary source materials, continuing my work on my first draft, or editing my historiography, which I recently submitted to my thesis advisor for feedback. Today, I decided to continue working my way through a secondary source called, A Second Exodus: The American Movement to Free Soviet Jews, edited by Murray Friedman and Albert D. Chernin. 

After a couple of hours of reading and taking notes, I take a short break for lunch. Today’s lunch was leftover spaghetti and meatballs. Following lunch, I usually continue to read for a couple more hours, before taking my dogs for an hour-long walk with my mom. When we get back from the walk, I have my much-needed second cup of tea and break. Today, I spent my break decorating my bedroom for Halloween. 

Around 4:30 in the afternoon, I go back to my thesis. At this time today, I decided to shift from reading to editing my historiography, as I wanted to add some of my thoughts from the day’s reading. After about an hour and a half, I eat dinner with my parents. Tonight we ate barbecue chicken and white rice. After dinner, I like to spend an hour or so wrapping up the day. This usually looks like finding a good place to stop in my reading, writing down any miscellaneous thoughts or notes, and making a plan for the next day. I try my best to not do any thesis-related activities after 8:00PM, so I can rest, relax, and be ready for tomorrow.