Thanks for the reassuring comments everyone. The current word count does exclude references fortunately. There's still much to write anyway. I think I'm at a bit of a low ebb with things at the moment. There's bits and pieces of my thesis all over the place now, the methods chapter has turned into a mess and some of the chapters just don't seem as relevant or flow into one another very well.
However, some of the recent threads on this forum show me what is possible when people find themselves in worse situations, so I'll just press on with it.

I'm up working on my methodology chapter. I'll try and sort out all the problems with it before sleep.

======= Date Modified 14 49 2010 21:49:31 =======
I've had a bit of a shock today. I have to re-write several chapters again and I've found out that my thesis isn't long enough (even though there's still 2 chapters). I've done the word count and it's at 62, 000 words. I've read through all the chapters I've done so far and I hate them. They're all crap. All that work I've put into it and it just seems so rubbish. It feels like I've done an awful lot of research - but there's so few words. On top of that, my supervisors have always gone on at me about how I need to make sure it isn't too long, that they're worried I'm going to overload the externals, that I need to cut my chapters down. The truth is it's too short. Secretly, I also feel that I don't really understand anything anyway. What a deflating climax so near to the submission deadline. And my theoretical framework...what they hell was I on? I don't take drugs but I must have had a dodgy cup of tea when I wrote the thing because it would currently be infinitely better if I just had a blank page with the words Theoretical Framework written on in fancy felt tip bubble writing:-(

Hi Chrisrolinski, I'm sorry to hear you've had a bad experience with your talk. I can only echo the advice that others have given, regarding getting a good night's sleep before hand and taking up any training that's on offer. I don't know if this is helpful at all but I take a different approach to any talks and presentations I've given and it has worked quite well for me. Sorry if the advice seems like something from the School of the Bleeding Obvious.
I make notes concerning everything I'm going to say and memorise it parrot fashion. Then, like others have said, I just practice speaking it aloud with my presentation slides pinned to the wall. So by the end I can recite everything on the slides, and everything extra concerning each slide, verbatim. So, even though I'm really as thick as two short planks, come the presentation I real of everything, including statistics, without ever looking at the slide screen. It comes across as polished because I can concentrate on my voice and intonation as I deliver the presentation.

I've done no work,
Instead I watched The Last Exorcism,
That'll teach me to shirk,
Because the film lacked entertaining rhythm.

I believe I've learnt a lesson,
I should just do my work,
The longer I delay my mission,
The more I'll go berserk.

The film wasn't that good anyway,
Some girl got possessed and went mad,
I shouldn't use films as a getaway,
And now I type, feeling guilty and bad.

But tomorrow is another day,
I'm going to do lots of work,
But then that's what I always say,
Another day, another day, it's just my way.

My original literature review was 97 pages long, but as a thesis is not much over 200 pages (excluding the appendices) and there's going to be 11 other chapters in mine, I think it's going to be about 10, 000 words.

'Choo choo', sounds the Midnight Train,
'Urgh, not again' cries my brain,
'All aboard' calls the conductor,
And off we go again, to a town called Mind Asunder.

Will the train be empty,
Or will the carriages be filled aplenty,
Who else will be travelling this late at night?
Trying to work and stay awake with all their might?

Hi Cornflower, I have a book on Matlab for beginners and experienced users. I'll e-mail it to you if you PM me.

Hi Cornflower, I have a book on Matlab for beginners and experienced users. I'll e-mail it to you if you PM me.

Yuk, yuk, yuk! Algaequeen, you owe me £3-50 for the chippy tea you've just made me chuck up with your saccharine speech. More seriously, well done on achieving 4 stardom. Hate to burst your bubble though because it's not quite such an achievement any more. Like MC Hammer and British Knights trainers, it's well out of fashion. Similar to the A level and GCSE debate, I think we've witnessed star inflation, so don't go putting it on your CV.
Back in my day, you had to be really exceptional to get 4 stars. I remember the days when everyone used to be so jealous of me well. I got offered my own column in the Times - writing about stuff - and was even approached to present at the grand opening of my local Spar. Alas, not any more with all you 4 star upstarts!

Eurrgh, rest time now. Another day at the grindstone awaits in several hours.

Don't see the rejection of your work by a few journals as a sign of the quality of your PhD. Your PhD is first and foremost a training exercise in becoming an independent researcher. Sometimes it can be luck of the draw with reviewers. I've come across some right nasty ones in my time. I actually inadvertently offended a reviewer of one of my papers by suggesting that people over 55 were 'older adults'. She gave me a scathing review, regarding the term, saying that she's over 55 and is offended by the fact that she is considered 'older'! Suffice it to say that I didn't quite make the grade for my intended journal! The fact that the editor of the last journal you submitted to recommended that you submit to another journal means that it's definitely of publishable quality. And to be co-author on two papers that are external to your PhD is a really big achievement. So consider sending it off to the other journal - I've published in one without an impact factor and my paper is [ego alert] a highly accessed one. Good luck with your viva - you'll be fine! :-)

Hi Nottie, if it's any consolation, I've had a paper rejected from a few journals. What reasons have they given you for rejection? Is it related to the rigour of your study, or have they given you other reasons, like it doesn't fit in with the 'mission' of the journal? Try not to get to worked up about it and see if you can submit it elsewhere. Try newer journals or those that are seen as less prestigious. Something I did as well when submitting my article was append a letter relating my research to existing studies in my target journal, showing how it would fit in. Best wishes.

Has anybody else had a PM from Vivian. I hope not because I'd hate to think she's a two-timer!

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