Hi folks, sorry I've not been on this much, found out last night that I have to submit on Friday instead of Wednesday next week so it's been insane. Sue, what is the deal with your sup?! that's ridiculous that she wants to see a whole redraft again before even finishing the one she's got!! I seriously wonder what is wrong with these people at times. My sup has told me that he won't even be reading my final discussion chapter as he's too busy, and my other sup hasn't sent my any feedback on the last 3 chapters I sent him. It's either a famine or a feast, just nonsense. And I'm meant to submit 5 days earlier than I was told originally, me and another girl are in the same position, same sup. Pfff.

Have you started to recuperate yet AL?! How is the viva prep going, any word on your examiner yet? I hope it all gets sorted ok for you, at this stage I don't think we can take much more.

Congrats Sneaks :)

Today, I have a fun goal - start, draft, redraft, proof read, and complete my final discussion chapter, as my supervisor has informed me that I have to submit by Friday, and not next Wednesday. So that leaves today to do an entire chapter, 2 days for all the refs, appendices, proof reading and final formatting, and one day to print, get forms, sign forms, bind and submit.

So, best get cracking on eh?!

Well done Maxipat and Jojo, hope you both get a good nights sleep before the next onslaught. I'm almost finished corrections for Chapter 7, think I will try and get my appendix done next so I can get it out of the way, I don't trust my brain to start writing a new chapter tonight! Altho gotta get it done by tomorrow night really! Choo choo, on we go...

lol I still have to even start the discussion! I have *nothing* written for it. I'm going to phone the submissions office in the morning to see what the story is exactly, it's ridiculous that the date keeps changing. Can't believe it.

Sorry for kind of hijacking your thread Sneaks..

Ok.....actually rather numb at the moment.

I have just received an email from my sup saying that this Friday is my last submission date, not next Wednesday like he told me before. So, I still have a discussion chapter and overall abstract to write, appendices to do, references, and proofing. And I've just lost 5 days. I think I may be sick.

ha hoo, signing in for tonight...want to get corrections for chapter 7 done tonight so i can start chapter 8, my final ever chapter tomorrow, submission next wed! right!

Eyes are stinging already, but hopefully I'll pass through the tired phase into the over-tired and strangely alert phase soon enough!

You can do it Sneaks!! Sounds like you've got a good chunk done, just try not to panic and the rest will flow! Apart from my lit review and one tiny chapter I started writing mine 2 months ago and should be ok for finishing. You will have to accept that any semblance of a life willb e gone, you are allowed the occasional afternoon off if *absolutely* necessary otherwise it's thesis. And by thesis, I mean no procrastination. Turn off internet if you need to. There have been days on end I haven't left the house. Not good, in now way an ideal way to write up, but to submit on time I've had to. But you can do it!

lol, "get knotted" :-)

I may steal that one Stressed, like it very much!

lol a 5th star would be a good incentive indeed sneaks :)

And congrats Satchi, welcome!

Sooooo...anyone about tonight?! I was up last night but internet was down so I was all alonesome, but I'm online tonight! Also had some wine, as my parent had my uncle and someone else round for dinner, ate rather too much and talked WAAAY too much, but much crack on with some work tonight - references I think, given the wine! Was a very enlightening I think, not sure I ever want to get married now... :)

Oh I totally know how you feel!! I felt like this for a big part at the start of my PhD, but it faded and I got settled into a new way of things and I'm feeling a lot better about things now. I'll not go into a long post here as I think everything has been covered already. I just wanted to say don't negate your feelings or try to forget about them, just accept them for what they are. It's understandable to feel unsettled about how your life is especially in a PhD as you have no idea of how thing will pan out at the end of it. It could take longer then expected to submit, you could be left without a job at the end, you might have no long term prospects, all true. Also, you might enjoy it, get caught up in part of the project that leads to new ideas, meeting new people, new collaborators, new jobs, deciding you don't want to be in academia and starting on a different career path and might meet someone. You can totally have a life and a relationship doing a PhD, it may mean you have to devote some time to something other than work, but that's ok you know! You have no idea where life will take you, so the best thing you can do about it now is to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Go out to the postgrad things, join a club, or take an evening class, or a gym class, meet new people. It's terrifying at the start but it's doable, and you will be glad you did. I forced myself to get more involved in a club I was already kind of part of, and ended up living with a girl who has become one of my most trusted and treasured friends. I was so down a while after I started my PhD, felt like everyone was moving on and growing up and I was the eternal student, but it's not like that really. I have loads of friends now who are getting married and I know myself and my partner can't even think about those things for the next 2 years or so, but it's ok (it's frustrating, but it's ok) because I know things will happen eventually. And things will fall into place for you, just have faith in yourself and put yourself out there and you will meet people, and who knows, you might enjoy it :)

Plus, you will always have PGF to fall back on :) (up)

Hi Chris, I just want to echo what everyone else has said, and tell you, don;t worry about it. I totally would have felt the same way you are, so I can understand where you are coming from. But it's best not to dwell on these things, and concentrate on moving on, taking what you can from the experience and learning from it. It's better to have great content and concentrate on improving your delivery, than have crap content so that it doesn't matter if your delivery is good or not! It's probably a combination of relief that you are finished your PhD, being anxious from giving your first Dr talk, and sheer exhaustion from working late preparing it! Of course if life gets in the way and you aren't able to finish your talk well in advance there is nothing you can do about that, but you can practice your delivery in the meantime.

It's good to know exactly what your key points are, I don't like learning from rote cos then I find it difficult to think on my feet if I get lost or forget something. Stand in a corner and practice your talk, you will hear what your voice sounds like much better than if you speak to an open room, and you can see where you are losing breath, changing pitch or being too quiet. Practice breathing properly, and always stand straight with both feet evenly on the ground, it's amazing the difference that make to projection of your voice. If you tend to walk around when presenting, make sure you don't turn your back or turn away from the audience as you will muffle your voice. And just get used to talking about your subject out loud, with gesticulations and everything, practice in a lecture room at night when the uni is quiet and you'll be fine! (up)

Sorry Jepson, I only have the first journal from 1982 - 1987 for some reason, and can't get Visitor studies...

Hopefully someone will have it though! Good luck

WEll, I kept several lab books, one for papers and thoughts and ideas, so I could look back and follow my train of thought. Plus I found this easier to add to when I had a sudden idea or was in transit somewhere than a computer program. The other lab books were for each section of my reserach, one for each methodology or topic, and I wrote everything down that I did. The best advice I can give is to write down absolutely everything you decide to do and why you have chosen it, and to start writing mini discussions of your results as and when you get them. It won't take that much longer at the end of the day, and it helps immensely when it comes to writing up.
And every so often if you feel like you are forgetting what you are doing or why, just take a while step vback, and write down everything like free flow writing and you'll see it all come back and it will all come into context and you can see if you are missing out something that you should include, or doing something that you don't really need to.
But just take it one day and one topic at a time!