oh no i've not only caught the cold bug, but also the procrastination bug! all i wanna do is sit on my butt with a big warm fuzzy blanket and watch my dvds and drink something warm and soothing.

but i have the corrections to do! and this tricky paragraph that i have to write that i have no clue about.

okay time to take drastic actions and get the drill sergeant involved! and also use the good ol card trick and to break down my goals into teeny tiny ones.

my goals:

1. find all relevant information regarding paragraph B
2. write a zero draft of paragraph B

Well i'm officially back and joining you guys! :-)

My goals for today are: getting started on the minor amendments to my thesis, I will first tackle the 2 paragraphs i have to add to my thesis.

1. find all my final chapter word documents, and pray that they are compatible with 2007. or maybe edit the final PDF instead. maybe easier.might have to buy the full version of adobe.

2. zero draft of paragraph A
3. zero draft of paragraph B

4. first draft of paragraph A
5. first draft of paragraph B

6 final draft of paragraph A
7 final draft of paragraph A

8. final read and check through paragraph A and B
9. email internal examiner paragraph A and B tommorow.

Wow I am blown away by all of you!! I haven’t been online since last week, been resting and relaxing. Thank you so much for the warm messages, it really means so much to me. Each and every single message, I will cherish forever! Infact, i will print them out and keep it! Thank you! You all are so wonderful, warm hearted and generous.

A HUGE thank you to all of you, especially to:

Smilodon, missspacey, Danzig, eska, nhr115, emmie, liminalplace, bulbs, Natassia, Sheena, chrisrolinski, Sue2604, Ogriv, MH, walminskipeas, heifer, Keep_Calm, guitarman, Fig, bluejogger, Stephen, sarahk5275, JanineG and tsipat.

I'd like to dedicate my PhD to every underdog out there, every PhD student, that ever doubted themselves, or were told they couldn't get it done. This is for you guys especially!!!

I’m sorry i cant respond to each message individually, but I will do when I get free. As right now am abit pressed for time, as I have to start work on minor corrections (according to the examiner he says it should take no longer than a day, but i reckon will take me abit more than that, as there are about 61 typing errors and errors of sense, and i have to add 2 paragraphs to my introduction). I hope i dont run into any problems as I cant even remember how I did any of TOC or making a pdf, and now i'm using microsoft 2007! lol

Each message put a big smile on my face! And the much needed boost to get my head down and finish this thesis once and for all!

Also i will be sticking around this forum even after I finally submit and I'm done and dusted with my PhD. I know alot of people leave the forum once they are done. But if its okay, I would love to stick around as I would love to help out in any way i can for those students, who are just starting out, or writing their thesis, or preparing their viva. If anyone wants to contact me personally, feel free to pm me and if I can help in anyway I will be happy to do so. :-)

And when I am done with my thesis I will create a seperate thread, listing the viva questions I used to study from and other tips and pointers :-)

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**************part 4 - my viva - the outcome *************
so basically it was a nice discussion, time really did fly by so quickly. said some nice and encouarging complimentary things about my thesis and my research.

The external examiner said something very positive and complimentary about something i had written about my theory or thoughts about X , which i cant remember now lol. and i was so flattered. They asked my opinion about how it would apply in another case, and what the future holds in this type of research. and if distinguished researcher (in my field) was sitting infront of me, what would i say to him, and how my research affects his well established model. some of the questions were challenging, and i enjoyed discussing them and coming up with the answer.

bottom line - you wont know what questions they will ask you. but if you know your thesis, you know the logic behind everything you did, and you know your background, and the history of it, and you have read the current literature, you will be fine! even after you submit your thesis, keep up to date with the reading!! up until your viva.
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they both closed their own copies of my thesis and asked me to give them abit of time and come back at 12.30, it was 12.10 at the time. so my viva was about 1 and half hours. and said my sup is probably anxious to see me.

i walked out, i was already on cloud 9 as i just had such an enjoyable viva and i really enjoyed the discussion. My sup was shocked to see me already out of my viva. his face was priceless. they asked me how it went, and i said, the examiners were really nice and i really enjoyed it. and they told me to come back at 12.30

so i went back up and i walked in , they both were standing, and said to me ... i cant remember the exact words but something like


" congratulations you have passed your Phd" and then something like, you are now Dr Lara (they actually said Dr *my real surname*).

shook my hand and gave me a polite hug. I was sooooooooooooo happy. and i was like OMG thank you so much!! I was like those contestants on game shows haha. it was the best moment of my entire life.


my sup said, well deserved, and gave me a hug too. by then i was just on cloud 9 and i couldnt believe it.

the internal then said, we just want you to do some minor corrections and officially you're given 3 months, but i would like you to get them done within 1 month, and so we can send the thesis off to senate house and wrap this up pretty quickly. and i will email your supervisor the list of corrections, as i dont have your email address, and you can then just send me the pdf file of the corrected version. he said he will email my sup the corrections by the end of the week. he seems very eager to get it wrapped up quickly. :-) i was by then happy to do anything! and i said, yes of course.


the external examiner then gave me back one copy of my thesis and said, i've made some notes on it and then she held the other copy and said "do you mind if i keep this ?" i was beyond flattered, and said, yes of course, thank you.

after that they left and my sup took them out to lunch and my other 2 sups took me out for a celebratory lunch which my 2nd sup paid for , bless her.

but before then, i called home and my mom was so happy and so was my dad. then i quickly text all my friends with just 1 line text said " i passsed my phd viva :-)"


then after lunch. i met up with collegue, and we talked about it all. then met some friends for dinner later on. and it was the happiest day of my life. it felt so surreal. and i kept saying. am i dreaming? and my 3rd sup was joking and said, yah imagine that, you have a dream that you did well on your viva only to wake up and realise your viva is tommorow, so he then pinched me to tell me, im not dreaming.

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******** part 3 - my viva ******************

The first question was by Dr H (external examiner)

"tell us abit about the background of your research, what led you to do your project"

luckily i had practiced this question as it was on my list of 63 viva questions (which I will be positing here later on for you all).

so i answered that. and then it was a really nice discussion about my thesis, about limitations, the external and internal asked my own opinion about what i thought about X Y Z, and they were genuinely interested in what i thought.

I was treated with respect and they really listened. I can't believe it , but i actually REALLY enjoyed my viva!! It was an amazing discussion.

There were some tough questions but managed to answer them, and the examiners help you out abit if you're struggling.

My sup said dont panic, if you dont know the exact answer, either say you dont know, and they will tell you, its okay! you wont be expected to know EVERYTHING.

Some of the questions I answered well and even I was suprised! lol It's true what they say, things you thought you didn't know , come spiralling out of your mouth, when triggered.

Each piece of information you read, even if you only read it for a 1 minute, gets stored in your brain, ready to be accessed. Trust yourself that you do know it. And take your time to answer a question.

And if you have forgotten the answer - admit it, like there was a question and I had just read the piece of information last night, but at that specific moment, it flew out of my head, and i admitted it. and it was fine - not a big deal.

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*************** Part 2 - the day of my viva *************

My viva was at 10.30am. I got to the building at 9.15am. I wanted plenty of time, to get a coffee and calm myself down. I found my 2nd sup and told her I was here, and she showed me where the room was, and said, "see its not so scary" everyone was being really supportive and wishing me good luck. I got a skinny hazelnut latte and sat down and listened to my ipod (specifically listened to this podcast of jillian Michaels (she's a personal trainer) radioshow, helped keep my mind off my viva and I find her such an inspiration). I was nervous, but kept breathing.

10.20am. I go up to the room, and its glass doors, and my two examiners smile at me and tell me they need 10 minutes, so I sit down outside and by then my 2 sups come up to wish me luck and support me.

10.30am They call me in. I had a huge rucksack with me, with my thesis, 1 folder containing a summary of my entire thesis (I summarised each page of my thesis, into a few key highlighted sentences) another folder contained summary viva questions for each chapter and another document of viva questions and answers, a couple of the examiners papers, some random papers, another folder contained 8 papers that cited my first paper, and a bunch of other random papers. I had no intention of opening these folders or even using them, I just had to have them with ME ! on a physical level!! It was like a comfort blanket haha. I just wanted them with me. lol

Both examiners are very nice and friendly, and welcome me in, and even before I have sat down, the external examiner reassures me and says something on the lines of, I want you to enjoy your viva, and something positive about my thesis which i cant remember, but basically giving me the impression that they liked my thesis, liked my research and that it will just be a discussion, and not to worry.


(I felt abit relaxed when she said that because before i must have looked white as a ghost, and i felt abit shaky (probably due to the coffee aswell! haha but i still wanted to do my best and still defended my thesis as if my life depended on it lol )

So I sat down, and started taking out all my folders, Dr H (exterminal examiner) looked at me with a kind look and suprised and jokingly said "oh you've come prepared" and I sheepishly said , uh yeh I just wanted them with me, I probably wont even look at them, and she nodded reassuringly and said "like a comfort security blanket" and i said yes exactly :-)


So I sat down (my supervisor kindly had laid out pieces of melon slices and fruit and croissants and a large bottle of water) I had my own bottle of water (very important, take a bottle of water, as you will need to drink in between answering questions! so drink when the examiner is asking you a question!).