Firstly, don't think of undergrads as 'not as good' as you - not saying you are.. but I was up against undergrads / MSc students and I just thought that we had gone down different academic routes... Secondly, practise, practise, practise - do the entire presentation to a friend, time it... see how you did - ask for feedback. Don't cancel as what's the point? you're going to be asked to do other presentations or interviews in your lifetime so it's all good experience. Make sure you have good eye contact and between slides take a deep breath, compose yourself and carry on. Good luck

Sounds like a 'how long is a peice of string'? question - everyone is different and whilst some supervisors are really happy to be 'friends' with their students, others want to maintain a professional distance. You haven't done anything wrong as your personality sounds like man - talk to everyone, regardless of status or where they are in relation to you.. after all, what's wrong in a good natter?

Sadly, not all share our viewpoint, therefore learn the type of person your supervisor is and try to remain 'on topic'.

Many congrats... that's fab news

I've got mine on the 8th Feb and have the 7th off so that my supervisor can give me a mock viva... I've been 'revising' my thesis for the last 2 weekends, probably about 6-8 hours a day Saturday and Sunday and have had this Monday and Tuesday off to do more revision.

I can highly reccomend the book ' how to survive your viva' - it's been a godsend to me... some really helpful tips on how to answer questions, identify and defend weakness in your thesis and typical generic questions....

Many congratualtions Doctor

kronkodile - that's really, really comforting words... I've been given my viva date - 8th Feb and I'm trying desperately to read my thesis at night times and at weekends (I work full time) .. I've been dreaming all kinds of horrible dreams and every time I find a typo in my thesis I feel truly sick.

Best of luck in yours, MTB - I guess we wouldn't have got this far if we weren't at least remotely capable of getting one... have you read 'how to sruvive your viva?' I have found it quite good for generic questions.. 'What inspired you?' 'How did your research turn out differently?' 'What would you have done different if you had your time again?', 'Who are the main researchers in your area?'

I think my research started off about ' web standards' and ended up as ' project management in virtual organisations' so a total shift.. if I ever read my research grant application again it would be so amusing as my thesis was nothing like my research proposal and that's very normal. I would say.. don't be afraid to ask 'stupid' questions.. and don't fudge things.. if something isn't working, find out why, learn from it and move ahead confidently.. then put that in your thesis and show how your research has evolved and contributes novelly to the research domain.

When I first started, my supervisor farmed me out to a government organisation for 4 months and got me to do work for him.... so he got cash and I got.. erm, well.... This meant that the first 6 months or so when you 'flounder' around, not knowing what to do or what to read was condensed into about 2 months.... My supervisor wanted the work to continue but I told him at the end of Jan that I wouldn't be returning to the organisation and was going to concentrate on reading papers.

so your finding runs out.... get a job and write up whilst working either full time or part time?

This happened to me, after 3 years full time, my funding ran out so I started work and wrote up / edited for a whole year before submitting.

It's tough, granted... but it was necessary. I would look at it like this, you can't write up.. without getting your experiments done.. so try and focus on them and your literature review. Perhaps divide your day into two halves.. and spend the morning working out experiments and the afternoon working on the literature review.

Identify the main problem areas of your lit review if you haven't already and break them down into areas, have a clear structure and tackle it in chunks.

I don't think you HAVE to miss out on everything - I have been with my boyfriend 6 years, met him whilst doing my BSc, we managed to get through him doing his PhD and I'm just waiting for my viva... so, I had the relationship and sex through the PhD and went to the pub about 4-5 times a week. I'd actually say one of the main things I 'missed out on' was getting 3 years experience in IT so I could be on a higher salary than I am on now... my (almost) PhD hasn't helped me as I'm not in academia and am employed as a graduate.. so could have got the same job 4.5 years ago....

Pros and cons to both sides... however I wouldn't listen to scare stories and apply them necessarily to your situation.

If I can offer any advice, I would suggest you have a VERY clear structure before you start, plan each chapter and make sure each section has meaning.

My 2nd supervisor also said that you should be able to get a good idea of what the thesis is about, the problems you are solving and the results.. from simply reading the titles - so I'd suggest you sort out the titles and go from there.

It really is a 'how long is a peice of string' kind of question, however hopefully you'll not do what I did and 'write like a chav' for months, only to be told that your thesis reads like a Little Britain sketch (ok, so slightly exagerated.. but hey!)

I did one in computer science, my thesis didn't really have 'stats' or tests as it was more software engineering. I started writing up at the beinging of my 3rd year and 'finished' at the end of my 3rd year.

It was only then I got told that a lot of what I wrote was incoherent and rubbish (my 1st supervisor wasn't very 'hands on' so my 2nd took over). So I spent my 4th year working full time and editing / writing up in the evenings.

If I had been treated badly by my supervisor then I would have not kept quiet. Bullies thrive on their victims keeping quiet and I would rather take a bully down with me, than keeping shtum and watching others become miserable.

I'll be honest, when I first found this site.. I found it incredibly depressing and horrifying - all these stories about evil supervisors, people failing etc.. My PhD ride has been incredibly easy by a lot of posts standards... Relatively lovely (slightly unsupportive) suppervisor, easy 3 years with no issues.. My final writing up year was stressful as I was working full time and editing in my spare time.. but there were no problems with my supervision,

I had a few issues with other people in the department - Lecturers who treated PhD's like scum and who tried to make you do unpaid work for them. I simply told them to sod off..Some of my friends were worried about 'the ramifications on their career in academia', however I was more worried about being treated like crap and then it being harder to stand up for myself later on.

My Supervisor is pretty senior - head of school and a Professor.. however, he is always really, really busy... I would send him stuff and he would 'read' it... and it would come back with grammatical corrections only, nothing to do with content... I used to try and make sure it was as finished as it could be before sending it to him... after all, if you still have things to improve.. why send it before you have improved them? On the other hand, if I was unsure of the content or direction.. then I would email him before then and ask ' is this the kind of thing you were after?'

I did put a few choice lines in my papers before sending them to him ' Sheep only eat green grass' and ' Silence of the lambs is a great film' - both lines weren't commented upon and I was told ' It's great, submit it'