Thank you for your comments and sorry for the delay but I took a couple days off :) Now the preparations start in full blast mode. Thanks again

Thank you...I will work on the I. Re the open presentations: in my uni it will be just my examiners, supervisors the chair and myself. So they should have read the thesis (hopefully)

I will be having my PhD viva in about 5 weeks and have been asked to prepare a presentation on my research. I have a couple of questions:

1. Should I use I or we when presenting? I did the work, but I generally use we to include supervisors as the group who did the work.

2. Would you include the acknowledgements (mainly funding bodies and the other institutions where I did work) at the end of the presentation?

3. Any more suggestions? I have tried to focus on the story of my thesis rather than go into results because the examiners should have seen the thesis and otherwise it would take too long.

Thanks

I just finished writing recently and have gone through some bad phases. The things which worked for me were to have a timeline of what I wanted to do so e.g. if I estimated I needed 3 days to write a chapter I would put 1 week in the schedule and worked back from the planned submission (give a month for each supervisor at least). This allowed me to be less stressed about having to write and I found it easier to write. Then I could write when I am really up to it and not feel guilty if I take a couple of days off (e.g. I had my family visit or something).

When I was really struggling with writing I found this page to be very very helpful:

http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/introductions.htm

Then I could just use sentences from the page and fill in the blanks with what my thesis is about. This made me feel better about the quality of my writing and also helped me get started with analysing data etc.

Also try and get some ppl to go through your thesis. My thesis was very interdisciplinary so I got friends from the different areas to read different sections. That way they had a max of 10 pages each to read. My mum was also nice enough to read my thesis...she does not know anything about my field of research but her English is better than mine so she checked my grammar etc.

But all I wish is good luck :)

Hello...A LOT is the very unhelpful answer I can give you. My supervisors only want to see the final version, so they will not really give me 4 drafts back...but I have done a large number of drafts myself and kept improving on them, sent my work to friends/family members etc to comment on etc. At least it is the first draft. By the end of it you will know what level they are expecting and (hopefully) can get to a stage where you need a smaller number of drafts. Good LUCK! :)

Thank you for all your comments. For my own project, I will definitely edit over and over again, proofread it, send it to friends for comments etc., prior to sending to my supervisors. My first supervisor wants the full first draft in 3 weeks, so editing/proofreading is what I am mainly doing at the moment. I just wanted to see what the situation with other people is and perhaps get some discussion going.

Hey...I got a 2.1 from a University in another country...nowhere near prestigious as Cambridge...then got a Merit on my MSc which I did whilst working full time. I managed to get a PhD position and am now in my third year. Yes you have to apply to a couple...and don't just depend on 1 position (I think that many would be meant for a particular person who the supervisor knows...so it does not necessary depend on you). Keep applying and u will get there...I eventually got offered 3 positions at the same time (after some months of applying). So it will be OK...if you keep at it you will get there

Yesterday I attended a thesis writing workshop at my University by one of the leading authors in the field. When asked (at the end of the day, when we were finishing about 30min early) about whether she had suggestions on thesis editing, her response was 'No'. She said that editing and proof reading is the supervisor's role and that the supervisor should be reviewing the thesis a large number of times to do this role. I am interested to know what your opinion on this is.

My supervisors want to see my thesis a maximum of 1 or 2 times each (I have 2 supervisors). However, the 'workshop leader' said that supervisors should see the thesis many times (much more than a couple are her words). I am not sure what system I prefer. However, if I were to know my supervisors were going to see my work a million and one times, I am not sure I would make such an effort in editing/proofreading my work to make sure that I give them as close to a finished product as possible, although I would like to be able to receive a number of drafts with comments and being able to send them my first draft and telling them to focus on the structure, then another to focus on the argument etc etc. I am seriously mixed up on this, and welcome any discussion.

I am currently writing up my thesis and got to writing my conclusions and further work. I am finding it quite hard to get this chapter written and would like to ask for some suggestions. I am thinking of splitting it into 2: research contributions and further work. In the research contributions, it feels like I am just repeating/summarising what I said in the separate chapter conclusions. In the further work, I know a couple of things that could be follow on projects...however how many 'further work sub-headings' can I have...I don't want it to be too little or too much. What is a good balance?

Thank you for any suggestions

You can prolong the 'decision time' by saying that you are interested in perhaps visiting them and organising a visit in a couple of weeks' time. That buys you some time. You can also accept the position, if you can see yourself doing it, and then if you get a 'better offer' tell them an 'offer you can't refuse' came up and, therefore, you are taking the other position.

I have been reading the Dunleavy authoring a Phd book (I am currently writing chapters/organising bits and pieces of what I have wrote before etc) and I have found that chapters should be around 10,000 words each and never less than 6000 words. What I have written to date is mainly in 3500-6000 words (1 chapter...the background and state of knowledge is 9000 words, because I am joining two areas and need to give quite a lot of background, my methods is around 3000 words, intro chapter is about 1000 words). I should also have 8 chapters in all (Intro, Lit Review, Methods, 3 results & discussion, 1 discussion, 1 conclusion) I am doing my PhD in environmental/analytical chemistry.

Anybody have any advice about how long a chapter should be, and whether this should be acceptable?

Thank you for telling me it seems like an upgrade...what not sure if it is a sort of reject. Will keep working at it (I have 1 week to do the changes and will be away for most of the week).

Basically, I recently submitted a full article to a journal. I received an email from the editor asking to convert it to an editorial (shorten it and reduce the references). I would like to ask if anyone has experienced this, and what does it mean to have an editorial. Would that be peer reviewed? Would people be able to access it?

Thank you

Is there a possibility to get out of your need for X? Look for training at another Uni (go to their websites, see what equipment they have...email, phone, talk to friends/strangers...beg if necessary)...contact the company...do the analysis by subcontracting another lab or so? If you really want them analyse look for other options to be self-reliant. Your supervisors would also be more likely to be more favourable to your 'complaints' if you show that you are trying different options, what the different options would cost (e.g. cost for subcontracting analysis or get external training) etc. I have been very unlucky with instrument breakdown. I have begged so many people for access, I now just filter samples at my institution and do analysis at 3 different places (one outside the country by subcontracting analysis, one in the same city, and one a 3.5hr drive away where I go and stay overnight). It is not ideal, but sometimes you just need to get things done.

Good luck