Maybe avoiding the thread and using food, especially chocolate, are just part of the phd journey as I do it too! Although I'm having a a toffee muffin with my hot chocolate now yum.

Been food shopping and doing some bits around the house this morning. Only just sat down to do some work. It'll be a weird day for me as I have to go doctors later on and I work better when there are no distractions/interruptions.

Goals for today:
1) Admin
2) Reading at least a couple of papers - I just need to start somewhere!
3) Finish my intro for paper
4) Amend methods for the paper

Pineapple, you sound really down :(

I know you're having a hard time but you need to remember that if you've made all the revisions the examiners asked for, they CAN NOT fail you! That's what I'm bearing in mind myself... as long as I get everything done, then all will be ok (well, erm, I'll have to pass a second viva too but you don't need to worry about that ;-))

I know what you mean about the added pressure but on the other hand, at least now you know exactly what you have to do whereas on first submission, we just submit and hope for the best.

It sounds like everything is looking dark at the minute but these are just your perceptions, which means that, sorry for being so blunt, but these perceptions may not be true... your reputation may not have been affected as you might think... I've heard of someone who had to resubmit, passed and is doing really well professionally. Let's be honest, how many people get asked what the result of their viva was at job interviews??

When things are not going well, we as people tend to be very negative and everything (literally!) seems bad, but it's just how we see the world at that moment in time.

Life is a rollercoaster, we all have our ups and downs... you'll soon be on the way up again, just a matter of time 8-)

I hope you feel better soon(gift)

Some food for thought there! I'd never thought about the equality thing either. Good points made but it's a bit too late for me now ;-)

I don't feel I've had the most productive of days so far but have managed to get myself organised and read on a few bits so it's not been too bad really. I just had a quick look at my to do list for today. I'm going to tackle a couple of minor bits after I had my cuppa and that will leave me with one of my papers to review.

I'm hoping to be able to finish by 6pm today as it's been a long time since I've dedicated the whole day to study and I don't want to burn out.

You're sooo close! Literally! I know you're tired but it sounds like the bulk of the work has been done so it's mostly tidying things up. Plus, you don't need another viva which is great so this IS really the end 8-)

keep it up! (thanks for the good luck, I'll need it!)

Sorry, I only have access from 1998 :(

I hope you don't mind me joining you (again)... I've been meaning to do my amendments for a few weeks now but I haven't had the time and/or energy so far. So... I've had to quit my job, it was a 'normal' job anyway so I won't be missing much apart from the money lol

Anyway, I've been sat at the computer for over an hour now and haven't even got myself organised so that's my first goal of the day!

On a separate note, Batfink, you got engaged??? That's great news! Congratulations!!!

Hi Pineapple,

Sorry to hear you're having a rubbish time. I'm about to start my major amendments for resubmission and can definitely identify with some of your feelings there. Not passing my viva had a very negative impact on my self-esteem and confidence in my work. However, the main difference is that my viva report is virtually a (very long) list of things I need to change on the thesis, no positive feedback at all, whereas you had some lovely things said about your work! So try to hang on to these positive comments you've already received.

This may sound a bit harsh, but the reality is that, if the examiners didn't feel you deserved a phd, they'd have failed already.They obviously think your work is good enough for a phd and, as Ian mentioned, as long as you complete the required amendments, they can't fail you.

Not sure if you're doing this, but I've been asked to provide a short covering letter detailing all the amendments I have done to match their recommendations. Maybe worth you considering this? (I don't mean to give you more work when you're overwhelmed, but it may help you to recognise all the work you've done as well ;))

I've been away from the forum for a while and I forgot whether you'll have to face another viva or just resubmit following revisions?

Good luck!

Delta, I tried to pm you but wasn't able to, it keeps asking me to choose a user from the dropdown menu (??) or you may have your pm disabled.... have you got your pm disabled?

Thank you all for your kind words.

The reality is that without the changes I won’t get my phd so I might as well do as I’m told!

I won’t get into too much detail as I like my anonymity but suffice to say that, as I currently see it, most of the changes are either unnecessary/incongruent with the thesis/topic or don't add anything to the thesis itself.

I feel my unreasonable examiner wasn’t open to discuss any other ideas unless they agreed with theirs so this is their way of imposing their ideas on my work if that makes sense? I have a comprehensive list of all the amendments required so I should be ok I think. To be honest, I’ve been working on a paper instead so I’ve not had time to sit down and plan for the changes yet.

By the way, I’d love to call these required changes ‘corrections’ but as I don’t feel they add to my work, I just refuse to! I might give in once I get stuck in ;-)

Ady, all is well with me, the pregnancy and bump. In a way, it's nice that I have other things going on in life, it reminds me that although the phd is obviously very important, so are other things in life!

I'm working for the next few weeks (as in paid work) but once I'm done, I'll be here working with a vengeance so I can get it all resubmitted before baby is born. I may not be able to but I'll definitely try!

Just a quick update from me... unfortunately it's not good news. I got a resubmit AND viva with 12 months to do it.

For anyone who's not yet reached this stage, it's worth pointing out that, having read a few viva stories, both positive and not-so-positive ones, mine was definitely a not-so-positive experience where the supposedly 'discussion about my work' turned out to be a grilling. Whilst I'd obviously had anticipated having to defend my work and expected some challenging from them, I also expected a certain level of unbias from the examiners which did not occur. To be fair, one of the examiners was fine, but the other couldn't quite grasp one of my methods, wouldn't accept my reasoning for it and I got a resubmit as a result.

Main learning for others (too late for me): make sure your examiners are nice, that is, if you can. They're there to examine your work, look at what you set out to achieve, your methodology, results and how this informs theory, future research, etc. Obviously they need to look at it critically but they shouldn't impose their own methods/methodology when yours is perfectly reasonable. In summary, ideally, examiners should be nice and fair.

Many have mentioned examiners having their own agendas and unfortunately one of mine is/was one of these individuals. Not a clue of what their agenda is/was but I found out it was their fault it took so long for me to get a date. Apparently it took them 4 months to read my thesis and write the initial report. To be honest, it doesn't matter what their agenda is, all that matters is that I make the changes as recommended so I can pass :)

Will keep you posted. I'm not able to keep up with the forum at the minute but things should be settling down in the next few weeks when I'll finally be able to dive into work once again. In the meantime, take care of yourselves.

Well, that's what happened to me, examiners delayed something somehow. I have no idea what or why but I'm glad it's all coming to an end. Thanks for that! Hope you have a more productive day tomorrow!

It's back to work for me tomorrow so will only be revising at lunchtimes and eves again :-( maybe best this way so I have less opportunities to panick as I'll be too busy working ;-)

i knew we could count on you :-)

sorry to hear about the marking. Sounds like a drag... how many have you got left?

oh my, you two are quick! Sorry Natassia, I haven't got access to it... I'm sure Ady will help though. She's the queen of papers ;)

Viva is next week!! I'm working 9-5 and being pregnant is actually very tiring (I wish someone had warned me beforehand!) so I haven't got much time and preparations must be very intense or I'll be doomed!

I'm finding that having such a gap between submitting and having the viva means I've forgotten some stuff already, so having to re-learn all over again. Try to avoid this if you can :)

Hi Batfink! I'm glad I'm not the only one doing work today. It's such a nice day here, I'd much rather be outside in the sun but duties are calling.

I didn't know you were moving. Hope all goes well with the move :)