I'm a humanities/sci mutant hybrid and definitely no first person. My own personal dislike is having to use a very dry style - no humour.

I've also moved on to vista and would like to hear about any problems with Endnote (it's been a PITA in general so far).

After 12 years in the business sector it does feel to me as though there is a lot more freedom. There are constraints: I can only do what I can get funding for. But that doesn't seem too strange to me. Most professions have a lot of negative issues - manyof them are the same issues: work life balance, politics, favouritism, comercial pressure and parts that are just plain boring. I don't think academia is the best or the worst.

Some of my data comes from an online questionnaire. My ethics approval will appear in my thesis - it's a requirement. I would look into that carefully. Most questionnaires need some kind of consent form whether on paper or online.

Good for you Lara. In my experience supervisors who have not paid sufficient attention until it is too late can be very defensive and reluctant to take any responsibility. It should not be possible for a supervisor to not know how far along you are with your thesis by now -but alas, I have seen it often. It's very poor supervision though. And all this stuff about the papers needing so much work - that should have been discussed before now. It's really not good enough to say he just 'assumed' you didn't feel like submitting.

So glad to hear your mum is supportive too. Just give it your best shot. The only reason I'm not quite 100% telling you to fight on is that I don't want you to make yourself depressed or ill over it.

One way or another, this too shall pass. I was kicked out of my first PhD attempt after a year and it really did feel like the end of the world. But life really does go on and you really do learn from your mistakes. Chin up

Well I think you both have valid points. He should have been more concerned about your actual thesis before now and now just assumed you were getting on with it. A lot of supervisors are exactly like this however. On the other hand, it's important to take personal responsibility for your thesis and not depend on external motivation.

You have to decide whether you want to fight or not. Could you get a masters instead? It isn't the end of the world if you fail. People regularly spend their lives in jobs they hate and are not suited for -it's only a failure if you never do anything about it. If you don't want to use your PhD that certainly takes the pressure off trying to submit. If you do want to submit you need to present to your supervisors the arguments you have given here - only more clearly and objectively.

Ah yes - I recall a few gin and tonics drunk out of beakers...

Are there labs that don't keep alcohol in the fridge?

The freedom and lack of routine are very important to me. The sense of community in shared interests that he talks about sounds very attractive - but I haven't experienced that so far.

There is a style of thesis which is becoming more common - to publish a series of papers with a short intro and summary. It's especially appropriate in the sciences. I've been advised to follow that style. I have a copy of a dutch thesis in a close field which is exactly like this. Some chapters are the actual papers and some are adapted for her thesis and this is stated at the start of each chapter.

For various reasons I will have to adapt my chapters from the thesis - partly because there just isn't time to do it the other way around. I will be using a book chapter I wrote - but my supervisor advised me to re-write it, not use it as it is. It will need adapting and updating anyway. But in the end, this format should be a big help in cutting it up into papers.

No-one will make a deal about it but in theory you should change it because you don't own the copyright - the journal does. So technically, your friend has a point. I'm in the same boat though and I certainly will be recycling as much as possible!

Wise words. I didn't do that! I have a mountain of literature and very few notes except on one part which is fairly complete.

Sometimes it works backwards too. You know what you want to say and search for a suitable ref to pop in.

I am in my 5th year but first year of writing up as I intermitted for one year then came off the register for another (so 2 years after my daughter was born). I almost intermitted retrospectively in my first year after my mother died - so perhaps you can also intermit retrospectively (or get off the register retrospectively?). There's always someone in my dept who gets to 6 years (one such just had her viva at last). 4 is about average but 5 is not rare either.

This is not at all how I planned it and I badly misjudged my data collection and that has really eaten into my time. It happens. Be a shame not to wrap this baby up and put it to bed now. You had very bad advice to remain on the register as an RA - I wonder if that could be reversed.

You have to feel really motivated by your project to keep at it for 3+ years. I switched faculties from undergrad to postgrad, but there is some overlap in my actual project. If you want to do a project in a new field you might want to consider whether your supervisor has any expertise in that field or you can can get expert feedback from someone. Can you lay out some potential project ideas and ask your supervisor for feedback? That's what I did and he liked one that was really just an idle specualtion I had at the time after reading soemthing in a journal.

Getting into a new field is a steep learning curve but the big plus is that it is new and interesting and helps keep you motivated.

What year are you in? It's usually possible to run over but have you used up your extra time already? It will be tight but doable I think. I just started writing up to submit Xmas. I am still doing a lot of analysis as I go too. But I only have 3 days/week childcare and limited extra time. I think 3 months really flat out is the minimum for writing up.

If it really is THE deadline - you might need to compromise a bit and do just what you absolutely have to to submit. I am already thinking I will have to scrap one of my chpaters because there just won't be time.