thanks for that Rick. Good luck with your work and let us know how it goes.

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It looks like I won't have much time to allocate to any trial/error when it comes to preparing my thesis for submission. Still writing up and already quite behind with everything. Your experience would help me and others in the similar situation great deal to save time.

Is there anything you wish you did while writing up instead of leaving to last few weeks? Have you discovered better ways of saving time with anything? Were you
criticised for anything on your thesis presentation at viva? How did you decide what to include in appendices and what to leave out? Etc etc.

Also, has anyone submitted their thesis in a slightly different format than uni's requirements?

Thanks a lot :-)

hey Amanda. It is not only common but very natural to end up with supervisors that have different opinions. They are not really there to tell you what to do or unite in giving the same advice. You need to take all that advice into consideration, filter out the irrelevant bits and make it work for you. If you identify strong points of each of your supervisor and go to them with specific questions you'd get more efficient results. Managing the advice you get is also part of the process. When you stick to one of those suggested styles and explain why, the other supervisors would accept and offer their help in other areas. Good luck.

another night, lots of words written... I hope the other nocturnals had a productive night. I'll need to get some power-sleep. Can somebody wake me up at 9 this morning please? :p

Thanks for these (up)

Dear Rosy. What an unfortunate chain of events for you. I can sympathise with some of those, and I wish you patience to put up with all. I know it's a cliché to say this, but true, that you've been through the worst now. It can only get better. Perhaps you can concentrate on the wedding, and try your best to truly enjoy it, so it would give you an enormous motivation. Good thing is you have a partner who can support you, and probably they've seen you go through all of this. So if you give up now without trying your best, it will all be for nothing.

Can there be any way to get some kind of extension? Given the unexpected circumstances people might be more understanding.

Also, come to the forum to share. Today it seems to be a bit quiet but I'm sure lots of people will support you here.

It's not the same situation I know, but someone I met at a conference once, and a very close friend of mine been to similar situation. The guy at the conference apparently asked someone else at another uni to become his external supervisor to sort things out in the last minute. And my friend (after having endless problems with her uni) pulled her submission from her uni and submitted her thesis to an Australian institute with the help of her supervisor. She now has her PhD, happily ever after. What I mean is, there can be solutions to most difficult situations. So hopefully there will be one to yours too. You can do loads in a month if you put your mind to it.

I myself in a weird situation with the thesis and it is my last chance to be able to submit... trying to keep the attitude and hard work together. Hearing other people's stories really do help. Make this your priority, and don't let anyone get in the way unit the deadline. I wish good luck to you (up)

oh your outfit has changed. I love it :-)

Thanks for the reply. So do you find yourself writing because of relaxation after watching some funny things, or because of annoyance (i.e. writing becomes a sanctuary from all that)?

BilboBaggins, has it changed anything to drop from 15 to 12? Do you go to bed thinking 'yeah, it's bed time' or because you feel sleepy? I did have 17-hours sleeps but only after 3-4 days of no sleep at all. It used to be ok but now I have to remind myself every night that I must sleep, because I started to see the signs of what lack of sleep can do to you. Maybe I need one of those giant cartoon hammers. :-)

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most typical hardship funds don't cover overseas (I am assuming you are overseas student, not sure same as international), but some universities have separate funds available for overseas students. Have you tried booking a one-to-one appointment with a consultant from your student finance department? There might also be some discretionary award system at your uni, or local authority. Sorry that I am not giving specific help, but these are usually good starting points. (also now that it's the last term of the academic year, there might be some money left in Access to Learning Fund, that they might agree to allocate some to you if you can make a good case).

how many hours do you guys sleep a day? I have always been a nocturnal, but used to be able to make up for my sleep easily. For the last 4 months though I only seem to have 3-4 hour max sleep every night if I'm lucky, and even when I can allow myself 8 hours sleep, I end up waking up on the dot every other hour for some reason. grrrrrrrrr. Beginning to think this can't be good.

Hey all.. I hope work is going well, and enjoying the beautiful spring weather (robin)

Well, things aren't going so smoothly in the write-up department and I'm looking for some good examples for inspiration. Please share your stories about how you achieved that many words in so little time, how you came up with that brilliant idea in the last minute, how you discovered the trick of making the methodology make sense and screamed Eureka!.

Thanks a lot...

Lol sneaks :-) good outfit Eska (up)
I'm too attached to mine, not sure if I can change now.

apparently they do and in some cases they congratulate you before starting the viva. I've never been to one but read that in UK PhD books. Good luck, and let us know how it goes (up)