How I did it: Hard work. Getting help from some of the greatest philosophy teachers in the world. Having the support of a fantastic friend and a wonderful wife. And, coming to realise in the end that I could do it, I only needed to focus and use my time well.

Lessons & tips:

1. Prioritise -- make every hour count.
2. Set achievable goals, decide what you're going to do and stick to it (too many people spend more time choosing their dissertation title than writing it!)
3. If your degree involves exams -- start looking at past papers from day one.
4. Find the books that help you -- they might not be the ones on the reading list.

Resources: For philosophy, the Stanford Encyclopedia is invaluable and its free:

http://plato.stanford.edu/

There are two books I found brilliant and helped me from beginning to end:

Mautner, Thomas (Ed) Dictionary of Philosophy (Penguin Reference £10.99)
Baggini, J and Fosl, P.S The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods (Blackwell £9.99)

Finally I am full of praise for Birkbeck College, Universtiy of London. It offers part-time degree courses for people who work full time with all the classes starting at 6pm. The average age on my course was about 40 so whatever age you are, you won't feel out of place.

 http://www.bbk.ac.uk

Jun 27, 2010, 12:57AM PDT | 0 comments | 2 cheers