Thanks guys! will check up on prev.posts on free websites and survey monkey as well

What are your experiences on data collection by web surveys and online questionnaires? pitfalls and tips are most welcome. what products did you use?

Coming to the end of my 3rd year and have about 4000 words. dissapointed although, I aim for a summer write up phase with less distractions from uni work. Mine is social sciences and the max is 80,000, a long way, but growing in confidence that I will make it by next June

since I finally got word 2007 on my computer, started to use fancy options such as putting a table of contents and updating it. But it took almost 2 hours forme to finally master it as some of the headlines in my review were not recognised and had to format styling of those headlines all over. However, it looks good now hope I can continue to update it and use formatting style as I write from now on. Better get back to writing as I haven't written a word yet, task is to finish second draft of chapter-1 by sunday.

Good luck with u r viva. could be finihsed by now. Waiting to know how it went.

Thanka a lot to all who joined the post. Esp.sj04-I learned a lot abt using endnote & its hissy fits. Now I've decided to dive in & use it on writing my thesis. but still worried abt using seperate doc's as when putting them together(several ref.lists), it might be a major disaster. Anyone out there who had a go at doing seperate chapters and joined them at the last stage or can't we just keep the chapters seperate even till the end and print it.? Then I guess ref.list is the problem. Am I just a worrier than a doer, maybe..

Shani & Lara-Thanks a lot. One more question-since I have done draft-1 of chapter-1, if I do any corrections in future and use CWYW for that, dont suppose it will make any problems? I'm thinking of tying each chapter as seperate doc's rather than one thesis doc. any ideas?

All endnote users pls help! I've used endnote web so far in my write-up but it was difficult sometimes as I could not get accesss to web in libraries. Now, I have made a brave decision (moneywise I'm on a tight budget) to buy endnote student version. So, what is the best way to start on Cite and write function(didnt use be4). I've done chapter-1 already and have a full reference list. I think you only have to put a number when writing and then it automatically formats? I'm using Harvard ref.system.

wow! this is hot stuff. Both jojo and Lara are making this write-up sounds more motivating and exciting. Keep it up guys. We'll be looking up to you.

I'm in soc.sci.& wrote a first draft that was about 9500 wrds. I was told to aim for 10-15,000. Doing the corrections and making it into the second draft is so painful, I haven't been able to do that for a while (was busy with other things). writing is so hard to start sometimes better get a start

you have another member who feels exactly the same. Have tried so hard to keep myself busy but except writing. I do sometimes gets real buzz and write for few days but then comes months of empty page fillings with references etc. Some of the things that worked for me in the past(need new strategies now) was to keep a writing diary and update it everyday. This way you at lest write an hour or so and collect stuff over a week. The other was to go to a library and sit with my computer and notes, without internet this was working as well. keep telling myself I should sit and write but all I will do is write in this forum! (sometimes that also worked to get me started on the computer

I'm usually a victim of this. I make deadlines with great interest and then fall on them. So, now I have learned to make a check deadline and email my supervisor a week before the deadline to say if I will be ready or not. There has never been a big issue if I missed a draft chapter deadline but I do tell my supervisor when I think I won't be able to make it, or if insists then give the rough draft and continue to work on it even after. That way there is no chance of slipping out of the work I have to do. Just talk and explain that you underestimated your task time line and maybe give a brief summary of where you are and what you will be ending this on.

Yes! I agree with most of the comments & would stress on the "start writing now" concept. There is no time sooner, even if you think of deleting the written sections later in your PhD, the practice of writing is an essential skill you must develop and keep on doing. Coming to the final year, I see this as a major point in completing the thesis on time. The only minor point is that maybe you could excuse yourself until you are into 6-9 months, if you dont have a specific project title or experiments, but if you have that could only be subjected to minor changes then start now on writing, not taking notes.

Don't have a specific answer to this but if the super is good and the uni is not so good there is always the chance of networking and you are allowed to use lib.resources from other uni's. I'm more drawn towards a understanding super as that can be a crucial point. Think about it, whatever research you do, you only get a phd for a small contribution and there is always conferences, collaborating with other researchers even during PhD. If you are ever down and lost, then a good super is important.

sm888, I think its a bit harsh to say that quitting is a failure. As a continuing student, I feel that its just putting an end to something you did not want to commit to. All opinions are valuable whether of quitting or continuing as they provide us with other's experience.