Massive congratulations to you, Dr Sneaks! Passing with no corrections is a brilliant achievement! Now you're all done and dusted.

The viva is supposed to be a fair, balanced and intellectual discussion of some research, between a group of people who are supposed to have shared interests. The examiners are unlikely to rip your work to shreds. They'll put you at ease, most likely complement you on some things and perhaps ask for clarification on other points. Don't see it as some dramatic defence, more as a beaurocratic, box-ticking exercise. It really is just a discussion. I never had a mock and really didn't need it.

Remember too, some of your work has been published, you already work as a researcher and that's pretty good validation for passing your viva. Bilbo wrote some stuff on organising your thoughts and provided a broad overview of how to prepare - and I think it's more than sufficient. Just bear in mind though that you've sort of been preparing for over 3 years - that the work is yours through and through will clearly be evident to the examiners. You'll be fine!:-)

Try not to get too worked up about this. Just focus on the key areas, like contribution to knowledge, strengths and limitations, future work, what you liked and didn't like, what you found challenging, conrtibutions to knowledge. I've got some very short books on last minute preparations for the viva that I used - pm me if you would like me to send you any.

Chances are, they've already largely made up their minds (all good, I'm sure). One of the main aims of a viva is, afterall, to establish authenticity.8-)

In all seriousness, if I could have been anything I wanted, I'd have been none the wiser and would probably have still done a PhD. Chef does sound nice though. I've actually been getting into cookery programmes of late and honestly quite Master Chef. Not too sure about being a boat skipper; it can be very dangerous, so I'd recommend you read: http://www.amazon.com/Avoid-Huge-Ships-John-Trimmer/dp/0870334336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327443402&sr=8-1

I did recently watch Warrior (deserves a review on the dusty film review thread!) and that made me want to be a cage-fighting mixed martial artist - until I reminded myself that you can't just buy muscles from Argos and it's unlikely to be all Hollywood glamour. Gigolo...hmm...Richard Gear (that now strange hippy man) was one of those...but then I'd have to buy new shoes, a suit and buy more expensive deodorant than Lynx Africa, plus my bodywork needs a bit of maintenance and a respray - too expensive. So, yup, post-grad by default.

Apologies for the typos- temporary insomnia and fatigue coupled with having to be up again in a matter of 4 hours!

Hey woodengiraffe (love the name - I'm actually imagining a toy wooden giraffe as I write this!), try not to get too stressed about the perceived lack of solid writing you have so far. When I was starting my third year, I had only one chapter written - and even that needed re-writing. I also had to collect and analyse about a third of my data during my third year as well. You must have notes and papers, you have a head full of two years worth of thoughts that have been maturing and you more than have the ability to complete if you so wish (two masters degrees!).

A PhD doesn't require a genius but, as you know, it requires a lot of slogging. As health takes priority, if it is truly making you depressed then you know what to do. As for motivation, have you considered that has been a big investment of time and effort and also money (lost earnings and course costs)? This may be a spur for motivation. The difficulty concentrating that you refer to is typical of what I went through. Setting deadlines and feeling the 'pressure' helped me with this. Like you, my PhD sent me mad - but the relief I felt when I finally handed mine in was worth it. As for feeling that you're writing is poor, we're often our harshest critics. On top of this, writing is something that rarely ever comes out perfect first time. It's often this lump of rock that has little gems in, and it requires a lot of refinement to get it up to standard.

As for worrying about failing the eventual viva or receiving major correction, this is perfectly natural. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that any PhD student that hasn't thought about this is just plain cocky! In fact, my internal examiner hated my thesis - she even told me so in person, saying that if she was the external she'd have made me re-write it. Fortunately, the external really like it, had an argument with the internal at the time and ensured that I got only minor corrections. It's horses for courses at this level, and one man's apple is another's Brussel sprout. For this reason, externals and internals are (usually) chosen carefully to ensure that they can fully 'appreciate' your work.

Sorry if it seems like I'm playing devil's advocate. To weigh things up... You have the capacity, you must have a lot of the pieces (at least, more than you realise) and you're supervisor believes in you. But, you feel unmotivated, feel down about the process, don't like the solitude and worry about your ability. Ultimately, only you can choose. Know that you're not the only person that has faced difficulties such as this - you'll find loads of threads on this forum written by people who have faced a similar situation. Some people actually started their own thesis completion thread, setting targets and goals, using it for mutual motivation and encouragement. Other people set up threads to rationalise their decisions to leave their PhDs and receive support during the process. I wish you luck whatever decision you arrive at.

This thread has really struck a chord with me, too. Academia has always been challenging to develop a career in (as long as I've been interested in it, at least), and now it's almost impossible. I did everything right: good grades, glowing references, conferences, papers, abstracts... Little has come of it, as far as this country is concerned. I'm not the kind of person to put a damper on things, but it seems like universities are winding down somewhat...department closures, redundancies, supposed mergers, quite a few in financial difficulties... I know that if I was an established academic in this climate, I'd be staying put until I'm carried out of the doors in a stretcher.
I think that many of us are from the same generation and we were supposed to be the socially mobile cohort that had it all and could not fail: get good grades, do 'uni' and you're set for life. I consider it small recompense, that I'm not amongst the students paying up to £9, 000 per year for the privilege, let alone the £3, 000 per year prior to that. Sour grapes, I know.

It really is rather bleak at the moment, as far as I see it. I'm fortunate to have a job that relates to my PhD, but it's really underpaid for what it should be, with travel expenses making it almost unprofitable for me. The fact is, private sector employers can get away with it at the moment because there's such a surfeit of postgrads with MSc's and PhD's. In fact, my place of work can afford to be incredibly picky because of this.

I've probably mentioned this before, but (as I think Badhaircut pointed out) there are a lot of consultancies out there, particularly market research companies, that hire PhD grads with qual and/or quan skills. As I need to do, get yourself a profile on sites like Linkedin (sp?) and also register with specialist recruiters. The money may not often be very much, but it's a hull in which to weather the storm until things hopefully pick up for us.

I don't know really.... I've always wanted to do research (at least I thought I did), so I sort of just drifted into it. Don't get me wrong though, it is cool having a Dr title. BUT, I haven't ended up on the This Morning couch and I haven't managed to use it to launch a pop career. Suppose I could try and use it to get into the Big Brother house (but who watches that anyway???).

Silliness aside, I never actually use it - not in e-mails, not professionally (I really should) and never informally. I'm not really sure if anyone's interested (for me personally). The way I see it, I'm a Dr in disguise, a sort of low key Dr Who (like if Channel 5 made it). I am planning on using though - for letters of complaint, especially. I also do wonder whether it would come in handy for practising the dark arts of seduction - like painting a a Ford Fiesta Mark 1 black with go-faster stripes to make it more appealing.

You were fairly close there, Delta. I was thinking of 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', also by the Rolling Stones!

How very cheeky of you, Delta!

Sadly, I'm personally reminded of that Rolling Stones song...

Thank you all for you kind comments and words of wisdom. I'm going to do it. The wage is amazing, far in excess of what I currently earn. It's an amazing opportunity and I have to at least try (I can always come home if it doesn't work out). I'm not a hermit crab or someone with the etiquette of a slavering pitbull, so am sure I will make new friends. For once, I'm actually speechless. As Slizor commented, it really is time to go exploring! At least I have a few months here to get my affairs in order. Thank you.

I think I remember posting some time ago that I had applied for an academic position in Australia...I've been offered it. In some ways I'm excited, it's a nice university and it's a proper research and teaching post in my subject. I should be really excited and I know that I should definitely go for it - good money, nice country etc. But, in all honesty, I'm actually quite scared. I've never been abroad and it's the other side of the world. I won't know anyone and I won't have any friends. However, I'm now 30 and should be able to stand on my own two feet. There's not really anything going in this country and travelling to and from work 4 1/2 hours every day is starting really wear. What would you do? It won't be that bad will it? I have watched Neighbours and Home and Away and it does seem quite English to be honest. Would you go for it if you were me? I have no children (that I know about). No mortgage. Nothing that means I am committed to living in the UK. It is life changing though. :-(

I'm skiving at work so will have to be brief for now. I totally understand where you're coming from - all that effort, all that time spent on it and the personal high standards you have maintained throughout the research. It's often luck of the draw in a viva - I have personal experience of this. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but it could have been a lot worse. The fact that you have to do corrections really won't tarnish your PhD. Most people get corrections, including what are classed as majors - a - catchall term for anything ranging from restructuring of chapters to re-writing sections and further data collection and analysis. You never write on your CV: PhD - passed with major/minor corrections!

In summary, try not to be too disappointed. You've done extremely well and ought to be very proud of yourself. Congratulations, Dr Jimmynew!

Health/social sciences here, too. I'd go with having a over-arching research question because everything flows from that - subquestions, objectives and such. Don't worry about feeling so late in the game with getting the research question(s) established. I was actually in the end of my second year when I had mine. I even made my research question fit what I was doing (rather than vice versa), but no-one could tell in the end.