Hi everyone!
It's good to read posts by others who are at the same stage, the final stage... I had a meeting with my sup today, and it has sunk in that I will be finishing in a few months time - I mean, it was obvious, as I have been planning for a spring deadline for a while now, but finally, it has sunk in on a different level (cant really explain). I still have lots to do, and I am clearly not finished yet, but it's all getting there. It's a bit like knitting a jumper, and you have done all the pieces, now you just need to sew the arms to the main body bit, add the decorative buttons on the front etc, i.e. it's all coming together in a way that you can actually see the end result. It's exciting! But also a bit scary..:$
I do feel a bit strange these days - on the one hand, the prospect of finishing (and all the euphoria with that) and on the other hand, the daily, inc. mundane tasks of e.g. sorting all references out, formatting bits here and there, rewording text, mentally wrangling over figures/arguments, seemingly never-ending issues with something etc. So, there is excitment, but also the pressure to get it all done. I am exhausted somehow... so it is good to have you guys and to read about how you are getting on..
(sprout)

I think it is fine to just use what he's inserted, provided you are happy with the comments. No need to bend over backwards, I'd say. (If he has made A LOT of comments - which does not sound that he did - then I might rephrase some comments just to make sound more like me..)

It is always great to get good feeback and we love our sups for it, right?! :-x, well done(up)

This sounds tough. I dont think actually having a meeting with both sups will work/help at this stage. You obviously want to submit asap, and really, as stupid as the situation is, this might mean that you just end up taking only one person's advice. I am nearing towards the end myself, and I know that not everything I have done has pleased ALL my supervisors, but hey, this is near impossible in some situations. I think you have to go with your instinct, all the suggestions for corrections are just that - suggestions, you do not have to implement them, and it is up to you to know what makes sense, and also what you still have time for. It is clearly annoying/disheartening when you dont get back feedback from a sup (for whatever reason), but again, you have a timeline to stick to, so if you do not get comments in a timely manner, you cannot take them into account. Apart from the tug of war situation with your sups, are you generally happy with your work? If that is the case, maybe you do not need all their detailed input?! I think it is perfectly alright to submit when you are ready to submit (but obviously if you have serious doubts about the work, waiting for sup input might be better!!) and yes, sometimes, sups wont like it. I have seen people submit their theses without the sups having read all of it and they all passed. That's just my two cents worth..

Good luck(sprout)

LOL, walminskipeasucker.. so true, i think some happiness can be gained from a bit of productivity delusion :p
No, I did consider the mytomatoes - approach, but no, no for me (now it's too late). But hats off to anyone who is making it work, solid 5 hours work sounds good to me!

It's atmospheric science. (you see, it's easy to collect a lot of data in this field, especially with all the automatic 24/7 logging that is going on these days, at least for some things :-)

I understand what the concerns could be about committment, and I think the key is to convince potential supervisors of your motivation and deep interest. Also, is there a possibility of linking your current work activities with research aims? In this way, you could help uni supervisors link up with industry, and that might be another incentive for them (sups) to take you on. You say you give technical/product advice - is there a way in which your PhD could link into the instrumentation side of things? I am just brainstorming here, just ideas, I dont know whether it's realistic.. maybe you get some more useful comments from other forumites...:-)

I would not say that your dream of a PhD should be over, your situation just means that your PhD project would have to fulfil certain requirements. I am doing a PhD in science, and although my own project has a practical component, I know of several people who have done no data collection of their own, but used other people's data and computer modelling. So, I would think it should be perfectly possible to find a project that you could do part time, that does not require you doing lab work and where you could work from home even. I reckon the best approach is to find a research group/department/university who do the kind of research you are interested in (because in the long run it helps if you love your topic) and then contact people/profs there and see whether they have a suitable project. I know from my previous job as an assistant to a prof that many topics and analyses of datasets are put on a backburner (especially big, fragmented datasets?) and would really need someone like you to work them up. I dont know anything about the Forensic Science world, but I would hazard a guess that it's not too dissimilar from other science areas?! Dont give up the dream just yet, I wish you best of luck finding a suitable project.:-)

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No real words of wisdom, but just a general point: I found that it has taken me years to become familiar with some mathematical aspects of my PhD, and fact is that there are still many areas that I still do not understand (or could derive myself). Best thing you can do is to just to try and absorb as much as you can, and not go mental when having to look up things again and again. Sometimes textbooks can be useful to get back to a more basic approach to the maths side of things, I found. The previous suggestion of writing things out, drawing diagrams/flowcharts etc is good, and has helped me go through equations bit by bit. Good luck(sprout)

I would just do a little footnote (with whatever detail that you see fit - maybe depends on how well known the work is) at the bottom of the acknowledgements page. No, would not include it in main references.
Have fun - sounds you are dangerously close to submission?!(up)

I am in a similar situation at the moment - writing/rewriting a draft paper and I have just been looking at it for too long... Unfortunately I have found no good alternative than to just not read it for a while in order to seeing things more clearly. What I am going to do later today is to have a tea break and then imagine and pretend that this is the first time I am reading it. I will be checking that the structure is logical, all info is absolutely necessary (I am bad with redundant or not absolute essential material) and my discussion & conclusions are supported by the data. I am trying to be strict, but it is obviously hard when looking at one's own work. Anyway, best of luck with it (and the upgrade!)..(sprout)

Yes, this is all quite sad really. I understand that the government needs to address the issue of the massive debt. And all have to suffer, okay, fair enough, but clearly it is terribly shortsighted to cut funding to unis/students/research. I am with you on this one, walminski!
I am also worried about my further career opportunities, not necessarily in getting a postdoc in "something I can do" initially after the PhD, but later on when building and trying to sustain a career in research - as if it wasn't already tough enough. So, going abroad is definitely on the agenda and I will have to consider it for longer-term, too. Shame, as I like it in the UK (originally not from here)....

Hi everyone and a happy new year - it is the THESIS year! Sue, I am impressed that you are working daytime, and do PhD work in the evening, hats off to that, it must be tough, especially now, coming to an end of the PhD. I am trying to get back in the swing of things, but my progress (especially today!) has been slow. I am trying to ramp up the internal urgency to get stuff done, but something in me is all serene - what is happening? :p Anyone feels the same?

Anyway, guys, this is just to say "hi" and thanks Sue for this thread which should help us all get there in a few months time! Hopefully.

My goals:

1. submit thesis (spring time!)
2. pass viva (and hopefully only minor corrections! please!!(sprout))
3. have a nice relaxing break (short holiday will do)
4. start new job (already kind of lined up)
5. lose some weight/get fit
6. more fun activities with boyfriend
7. visiting far away friends and more socialising
8. go to dentist
9. fix my bike
10. wean myself off postgraduateforum
11. ok, basically catch up on all things I have been putting off as to not distract myself away from PhD

12. Maybe "being realistic" should in there somewhere.. (robin)

Oh Sue, may it indeed be a productive 2010! Yes, please.

Oh, this whole xmas card thing gets me really confused, every year. Some people, whom I am not even close with, give me cards and I dont prepare cards most years, so I look like a fool - only receiving never giving, not really in the xmas spirit, right?!
Last year, one of my sups gave me (and others of course) a xmas card, a quite nice one, and I dont really know what to do. There are so many other things to sort out before xmas that I cant be thinking about xmas cards! Ahh - I cant cope! (sprout):$

I had a similar situation at one point, and I must say I did not deal with it terribly well. I was mega stressed at the time and told him to "f*** off", which I regretted saying to his face (deep down), but actually it worked wonders. He left me alone, which is what I wanted.
I can only echo what others have said: lDont let someone like this get you down, you are better than that. I think it is key to try and stay professional as much as possible (which I wasnt all the time, see example above :p), dont try and talk with him socially, just do your work, avoiding his input/help as much as possible. However when things get clearly bad, being direct and telling him that his comments are offensive help you maintain your integrity. Yes, maybe talking your supervisor could help when things are getting hairy.
When I had my bad spell with this terrible lab mate, I realised that my response to him told me a lot about myself, and I tried to learn as much as possible from the incident. I hope you can work it out and concentrate on your work, rather than wasting your energy on a bully like him. (robin)

I have found planning beyond 6 months hard and useless at times (see comment below), but at the few months scale things are manageable. I have a monthly calendar in 3 months sections, cut out from a yearly calendar. It is a piece of paper that sits on my desk and I see it and look at it all the time. I write down deadlines and plan out the following weeks (maybe 2-4 at a time) as much as possible, writing down what I will do daily. Most of the time this has worked well, because I am aiming to achieve the daily target. When I started with this system, I was overly optimistic of what I could achieve, now I am much better at it, after revising plans and targets a lot!
For the bigger scale, written out plans have helped me sometimes, but they have sometimes changed drastically and rewriting them seemed like a failure, but I am over the "OMG I am moving goalposts"-thing now ( I Just want to finish now:p)