by the way, what time does diagnosis murder come on and what channel?

2.15pm on BBC1, but don't expect too much- it's just a lunchtime diversion and my taste in telly is apparently dire, so I'm told lol but I don't mind!! I think I'll go out and get the shopping first as am flagging a bit now.

Hi Girls,

Quick report. I think I'm almost done with trimming down the chapter from all redundant information, and finally came up with a definite structure for the first half of it. There are some gaps to be filled, but not much (I think/hope) new writing to be done. The second half, though, is a different story.

Right now I'm taking a break to have some luch, and then I'll be heading to the office. Hopefully I'll be able to come back to do some more work on this chapter this evening.

Talk soon,

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http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=764

"no matter how long it takes" hehe

and

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=765
lol:-)

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my productivity, motivation and interest has drastically plummented now!!

so i am clocking out now, from the "day shift" and will resume later on tonight for the "night shift"

and feeling hungry, so going to have dinner now. and relax and watch some telly (lost in austen and the nine :-)), and then come back to it - later on tonight.

i am going to start writing my discussion in 1st draft format now. am bored of making notes from the papers i have read, and want to start putting the discussion together.

so far today i have done about 4 hours of 'productive work'. and written about 16 pages of notes from papers (hand written- getting tired of that format now, now i am itching to start writing on the computer and start putting this discussion together). so no more making notes from papers!!

i will just start writing my discussion now, and refer to the actual papers. have only managed to make notes from 4 papers, and its taking too long, so gotta cut corners now and get to the core of the work!

aiming to come back to the computer at 11pm. burn the ol midnight oil.

see you guys tonight if anyone else is working late tonight. i will keep ya company! (up)

How has your day been ?

======= Date Modified 03 Sep 2008 23:51:19 =======
Hello there,

Lara, sounds a pretty worthwhile day so far, well done, you're getting there if you're about to start the writing at the computer! That'll make you feel better.

Armendaf sounds like you're gradually fine-tuning your chapter rather successfully, good stuff!

Is it ok to have a mini-rant, please...?? I've had a hideous day, a techno-nightmare. I had 17 pages of images to do and a few things to photograph, but it's still not all ready to print off. Had problems with my camera, it kept thinking the memory card was write-protected and it wasn't, so had to charge up my old, less good, one and the drivers had got corrupted on my pc, couldn't find the original disk to reinstall it, or the manual, as I am very untidy these days (PhD debris everywhere). It took ages to download new ones and reinstall them, downloaded a manual in Danish by accident which wasn't much use..... I'd forgotten how annoying technical things are when they don't work properly and how much time it takes to sort them out. Even listening to happy music didn't help. I was SO sick of it all. It's ok now though *phew*

In case it sounds a bit silly to get annoyed about pics, they're central to my whole thesis, they're my original data and evidence, so the whole thing doesn't make any sense without them. I only took breaks today during the essential murder/mystery and The Bill slots to have something to eat and still haven't got the images finished yet. I'm just staring at pictures of things and can't tell anymore which is the best photo, so I'd better go to bed I think.

Hope you have a good night if you're working anyway, see you tomorrow.

Hi folks, dragged myself to my desk very very reluctantly! feeling tired and all i really would just like to do is just go to bed. but with the deadline looming, i feel that i can't afford to slack off. but i dont know about anyone else, but i find it hard to work on my thesis after dinner, when i've been working on it during the day.

i'm having serious doubts about my ability to complete this thesis by end of sept, each day that passes causes me anxiety.

what would you do if you only had a week left and you HAD to submit, but you still had chapters incomplete? would you ask for an extention or would you just cut chunks out instead and just get it printed and bound.

i'm thinking of asking the university for an extention. but i know they wont give it to me. but at such a late stage, i dont even have my entry forms signed. my supervisor wont sign my entry forms, so what is the point anyways? its not that i have any examiners to read my thesis even if i were to submit it end of sept.

i'm beginning to think maybe my sup was right, in thinking i was incapable of completing my thesis by the end of sept, so i can understand why he cant be bothered to sign my forms and arrange examiners for me.

i cant believe its thursday tommorow, the week almost gone, and i still havent finished my chapter 5, and i have 5 other chapters that are awaiting completion.

i wish i were those people that were able to meet deadlines and were able to work all day and till really late at night on their thesis. i know people who have jobs and have worked late in the night to get their thesis done, those people are really amazing.

my friends and family keep asking me,. 'if i'm on target' and i am getting more and more irate with that question.

no i am not on target, im so off target, the target is a dot, and then they ask me, if i can get it completed by the end of the month, and i honestly, do not know if i can. if i do the maths, my answer would be no. i wish i had the luxury to submit it, when i have completed my thesis. seriously what harm can it do the university, by a few months? its not like im using any of the uni facilities. i'm just a name in their registry. i mean wouldnt it be better for the university, to let a student submit, instead of terminating them and then having a "failed phd student" on their records? wouldnt that be more harm to their "league tables" or whatever.

i just feel that i dont want to give my thesis in , that i am not even sure is correct or up to standard, i dont want to waste an examiners time reading a thesis that is below standard. who am i kidding, my sup wont even arrange examiners for me. so who am i giving the thesis to then?

i dont know , just feeling low at the moment. i get like this every night. i really admire those people that just get on with their thesis and meet the deadline and work very hard. i wish i were like them. with their confidence and motivation. sorry to sound all moany. i hate that i am like this. trust me i see myself as a big failure. i keep thinking how dissapointed my family and friends will be in me if i fail to complete my thesis. no one understands how much time writing a thesis actually takes.

my advise for those that have plenty of time, seriously the sooner you can start working on your thesis and writing, the better. you dont want to be faced with a deadline. hindsight as they say is 20.20

Thanks so much Ruby, you're so nice to say that about me , i really appreciate it. you're right, maybe we're just tired and just need some sleep and things will be better in the morning. sorry to hear about your day, i can sympathesise about techy stuff getting in the way, it is very frustrating and even more so when you think about the time that gets wasted on it. i hope you have a good night sleep!

i might go to bed too, i cant seem to motivate myself to do any writing. maybe i just need a fresh rested brain to start working on my discussion. just feeling abit depressed at the moment

:$ maybe i will feel better in the morning. i just feel guilty not working in the evenings..but after dinner, i just feel tired to do. but then i think what if i had to submit tommorow, then i would be up all night. but then i think, sure i could do that one or two days, but not for the long haul. so i should look at this as a marathon and not a sprint. i gotta keep the momentum going for a couple of weeks yet.

Hi Lara,

Just a quick note in case you are working late. I hope things are moving forward. I'm guessing Rubyw and TG might have gone to bed by now since we haven't heard from them in a while; but if they haven't, I'm sure they'll drop a message soon to keep you company.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to bed, otherwise I won't be able to go to work early tomorrow. Besides the progress I made before lunch time, I couldn't do anything else, so I'll try to have an early start tomorrow to get as many things done as possible.... Including writing the thesis :p

So, go on girls, lets keep it up we are almost there (up)

Talk tomorrow,

Seems like everyone posted while I was writing my message... typical ;-)

I too find almost impossible to work after dinner. I have this ritual by which I take a shower, have dinner and relax for a bit and if I don't start by 9pm, I end up going to bed after midnight... just like right now. Even though I try to do something before go to bed, like at least read a paper of quickly go through a paragraph or something like that, most of the time I just can't and prefer to finish watching whatever is on on the telly. Sometimes you just have to completely unwind.

Perhaps if you went to bed a bit earlier and got up earlier as well to try to make the most of the morning... It's very difficult, depends on when you are more comfortable working... just try to find your rhythm and be happy with it... when you have to rest, you have to rest. Eventually you'll have pull out the odd all-nighter, and when that time comes, you better not be knackered.

Rubyw - I'm very glad to hear that you sorted out your photos, I understand the importance of that kind of data since I too work with qualitative data. In my case it's recordings of interviews. If I lost them, I'd be in a huge trouble. At least you sorted it out now and you do not have to come back to it tomorrow.

i have to have finished my degree by next week friday - waaaah! i'm still finishing off my last chapter, i've got to take the train tomorrow at 5, has to be ready by then and printed out!!!
tomorrow evening i've gotta start preparing my last exam, that's one week preparation time, i'm so freaked right now :-(
if i don't get my degree by next friday with good results (UCL is conditional, waaah!) then i'm going to DIE.
OMG i hate all these late night shifts.

======= Date Modified 04 Sep 2008 12:14:20 =======
Hi all,

Lara, I don't sound alarmist, but as your supervisor's the only person who can really reassure you, I think you should speak to them asap about your worries, or one of the other research administrators responsible for PhDs if you can't get hold of your supervisor right now. If they think you're worrying over nothing and reassure you, then that would be great and you can carry on with the current submission plan, hopefully with their advice on how to make the best use of the time you've got left. However, if they also express concerns about you being ready in time, then that's also ok if you can sort out an official extension. Don't leave it any longer though, you'll just work yourself into a state and sink down into in a well of misery.

My only experience is at my own uni, but they really do all they can to help students get through. They don't want failures as it's not great for the reputations of the college or the staff involved, especially if you've got virtually all of the work done. They know PhDs are huge projects and really stressful, and sometimes it's not humanly possible to get things done in time, hence the use of extensions in some cases. You really need to speak to someone though, to see what your options are.

I know what you mean about people asking if you're 'on target' too, really irritating. Can't bear people who've not done a PhD who keep asking if I've finished yet, or when I'm finishing, as it always sounds to me like they're saying "hhhm not finished yet? What's taking you so long, it's only a thesis...so what have you been doing all these years?" Or maybe that's just my PhD paranoia setting in lol.

Hope you're feeling a bit better today and had a good sleep, as being tired makes an already stressful situation a million times worse. Speak to your supervisor (or 2nd choice, another research person) today and let us know how you get on.

Take care of yourself, and see you later.

Hi everyone,

Everbody is doing so well and working so hard, i am really confident everyone will get there. I am a bit ashamed as i didn't do too much last night (had a bit of a headache). Today my headache is still quite bad so i am going to try to do easy things like the figure and table list, then try some reading. Swantje: Good luck with your chapter and hope next Friday goes well. Armendaf: Hope you have a good day today and it's brilliant you got so much done last night, you are virtually there. Rubyw: Sorry to hear your day wasn't great yesterday but hope today is better. I understand how annoying it must be when there are techy issues but you did so well to address the problems. That is really great and by sorting them out now you won't have to worry later on. Well done for getting so much done and have a great day today.
Lara: Don't worry about finding it hard to work after dinner!! I do too!! I think it is because after a nice dinner the body naturally winds down, but a good dinner is very important though. Try not to worry, you will get this thesis done, you still have plently of time and you will not fail. You have come so far and if there was even a hint you might fail you would have been told this long before now. They is just no way you will not get there. Try to stay positive because you are doing so well. Would it help if you divided the days left among the chapters? Maybe a couple of days on each? Anyway don't worry because you are nearly there.
Hope everyone has a good day, will have a break at 2.15 for good old Dick!!
Speak later!!!!