Wow, Sneaks!!! Amazing. Big congratulations on getting it submitted. Don't worry about having lettering on the spine - I had it on mine too and there were no issues. You must feel so relieved. You definitely sound as stressed as I did when I was getting mine submitted. Well done :-)

Done it but...oh, I'll behave and shut up.

Emaa, send the author an e-mail and she should be kind enough to send you a copy of the paper. If you send it tonight, the chances are she'll probably send you a copy of it some time tomorrow.

Hey 404, when I did my corrections I wrote a letter detailing my responses to all of the little changes that my internal examiner recommended, along with my rationale for making some but not other changes. I then indicated the precise points in my thesis (in the letter, page numbers, etc) where I made these changes and highlighted the sections in my thesis. So sort of like Rick has said.

Not to be small minded or petty, but therapy for writing problems? How bourgeois is that? Best advice I can give is that if you have a bad day of writing, pack it in for the day and start again the next day.

Pity you have to travel to your external, Catlinbond. It's also a pity that Ladbrokes aren't doing odds on you passing because I'd put a month's wages on it, and I'm not a gambling man. You're a veteran of this forum, so you know everything there is to know about how to prepare for a viva and pass it. It's weird when you have a viva date, because it's kind of like a definitive end point. Good luck!

Hearty congrats.

Hazyjane makes a really important point! I'd also like to add that you have some pretty big words in your questionnaire that could also bias your responses.

I know I shouldn't say this, but try to enjoy it if possible. It's more an intellectual conversation between a small group of people about an area of research they are passionate about. Long day at work today, but key areas they'll ask you about include:

How your research came about - so know it's contextual place and how you formulated it.

Methodological questions.

You contributions to knowldge

Further research ideas.

Some questions will be challenging, some will require you to defend you position.

Vivas are rarely nasty events. There's a good chance you'll even start to enjoy it in the end ;-)

And for Pete's sake, remember: you're the expert and you know more about you research than anyone else.

Just one question: pardon?

Hi Delta, some really good advice below. I'll try and add my tuppence-worth though. You will shortly have a PhD. This makes you an independent researcher - and your expertise really goes beyond the social sciences. You're probably not doing this (so apologies if I now accidentally insult you), but do not pigeon -ole yourself. You have statistical expertise, knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research. You can most likely code, I know you've done psychometrics (you once PM'd me about something to do with it) - and that leaves you a strong candidate for a lot of jobs - stuff you may not have thought about...

Time to blue-sky and think out of the box...


Have you thought of market research? Some basic qual stuff and limited quant?


I know for a fact you'd be considered at some consultancies. At my place, we've just taken on a people who have master's degree in social sciences and we're pharmaceutics - it's because they have transferable research skills like you.

There are recruitment agencies out there for researchers - and there are research jobs (ease depending on how restricted you are travel-wise).

You know so much more than you realise compared to a graduate, and it does leave you in a strong position for a lot of research jobs - skills to pay the bills, as they say! Just remember, you trained as a researcher (which happened to be in the field of social sciences). You more than likely have very good data collection, analysis and report-writing skills. This makes you a highly versatile and skilled individual with a deep understanding of the research process, a capable gun for hire to the right bidder. The full package.

Best of luck, delta! (up)

A big, fat congratulations Dr Slowmo!

Am-m-m-m-azing! Truly fantabulous. I don't want to go too far, but I'm willing to bet that I've had an even more fun time with it than you. You've really outdone yourself this time, Davyt!

Now go and post this on a forum for graduates and not one for post-graduates.