I went to one of these at the beginning of my studies, although in a hostel-type place, not a swanky hotel! I remember feeling exactly as you do but in truth, it was quite enjoyable. You probably will find that many of the people you meet at this residential weekend, you will meet at various conferences and/or classes throughout your studies. We had to give a short presentation of our still very raw proposals and get feedback from the various academics. Terrifying at the time but useful and given that feedback, constructive or otherwise, is a constant feature of doctoral work, it is good to get used to it from the get go.

It is also useful to hear other people's research, even if not in your field as I feel, it broadens your appreciation of the range of studies there is out there.

Try to enjoy it and don't do too much swimming on your own;-)

Many congrats Dr Frazzled; here's hoping things go well for Pineapple too (up)

======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2012 15:07:18 =======
Hi Human

I asked my sister (a university librarian) and her answer is:

"Scopus or Web of Knowledge does that for you – you can put in a search term to appear in the title or abstract and it brings up a list of journals with articles on that topic with all the citation details in it.

No source indexes every publication but the above 2 databases would be the most reputable and will give you a flavour of what is being cited in which journals

Otherwise, you are looking at a full-on systematic review type approach….."

Hope this helps but would be interested if anybody has any other way. You can put in date ranges into google scholar and use boolean search terms, click on the advanced search option and play around with that.

Hope this helps :-)

======= Date Modified 24 Aug 2012 23:34:29 =======
Hi Anglette

The British library would be a good place to start; you can register for free and access many of the theses lodged with it on an open access basis. I am not 100% certain if you have to be registered at an educational institution but here is the link to register
https://ethos.bl.uk/UserDetails.do - pdf etheses are delivered free to your inbox.

Also, why not dip into the online catalogues of a university. You don't have to be a current student to access a library website. Some academic institutions have some etheses available via the catalogue. There are quite a few etheses available [for free] at my university's library; I've just checked to be sure!

And of course, there's always Google :-) Some theses are available this way. Play around with your keywords and you might strike it lucky. As a starter put the words 'urban geography phd thesis' into Google. Regular Google rather than scholar appears to give better results as scholar seems to throw up a lot of journal articles.

Good luck(up)

I found out about four weeks after I submitted and the viva itself was another six weeks from that. The chair contacted me by email.

let it go Pineapple, you've done your absolute utmost and deserve a good outcome. Best of luck with the submission today(up)

you're pre viva so tbh I wouldn't get rid of anything just yet. Completely unlikely that you'll need anything but still...

After my viva I got rid of all printed earlier drafts and bit by bit deleted them from my pc as well - it felt weird but good at the same time! Now, eights months after my viva I am still looking at the hardcopies of lots and lots of articles but am reluctant to get rid of them. However, I do want the shelf space they occupy! I still have lots of notebooks etc which I should really get rid of, given that I hardly looked at them before I submitted and not at all since I finished!

My advice would be wait until after your viva:-)

So sorry Marasp, I tried the front door, the back door and the side door but no joy :-(.

I can 'see' it in the catalogue in hardcopy but not the e-version. However, it looks like it's also available via Oxford University Press Books if somebody can access that. I can only access the journals.

I hope somebody else manages to source it from you.

are you sure that it's only available via British Academy Publications? Possibly it might also be on another database. What's the title of the article? Pm if you prefer and I'll have a look.

======= Date Modified 01 Aug 2012 21:40:30 =======
your thread title gave me a fright, thought you hadn't managed to submit but great news that it's in :-)

I bought red ankle boots for my viva; glad to know I've a kindred spirit! enjoy the freedom until it all kicks off again in the lead up to your viva;-)

If you have already inserted page and section breaks, you need to click into 'insert page numbers' and start each section from the next consecutive number. Depending on whatever version of word you're working with, look for something like 'format page numbers'.

says who?:p

Today is your day Pam, wishing you the best. You can breathe again once you have submitted.

Best of luck to you and everyone on this thread (up)

Wishing you all the best Pineapple - after today you can say that 'you're submitting this month'!! Go for it (up)

======= Date Modified 29 Jul 2012 21:05:01 =======
Oh yes, what you describe sounds terrifying similar!

The last few days, were for me, the most stressful. My supervisor had "a quick look again" at my lit review two days before the agreed submission day. He used track changes and when I opened the thesis up it was like he had bled all over it it was so covered in red! I remember having to get up from my desk and do some deep breathing as I literally felt like I couldn't breathe for a few minutes. After that I panicked. Anywhere he had a wary comment I just highlighted the text and deleted it. I'm not actually sure my lit review even made sense when I submitted my thesis with the result that I had to re-visit it in some depth post viva.

Do what you can and then submit your thesis and know that it is your best effort at that point in time. Wishing you well(up)