cont.....

"what if you miss a deadline ? ...get right back on...make a new easy realistic deadline and get back to work. dont waste time crying over lost opportunies, take advantages of new ones"

"sprinting for short stretches is fine and sometimes very productive, but you cant sprint for a whole marathon, and that is what a thesis is. ..consider using close-up markers like "by the time the kids get out of school...by this friday" and when you meet them, be sure to reward yourself".

----

so my advice is to first finish your analysis. once thats all done. then you can concentrate on getting your thesis written. i would consider writing zero/rough drafts, and not worrying about writing things perfectly. just write the ideas down, dont worry about grammer or anything else. know that you will and can improve on it later. just get something written down first. give yourself a task, i will write 5 rough pages on section X from chapter X.

the goal is to break up your thesis into small sections, and then work on a particular section. its like climbing a mountain, you take it one step at a time.
good luck ! we are all here for you and with you every step of the way!

======= Date Modified 25 Jan 2009 16:25:23 =======
Hey Ruby! thanks so much for the encouraging words about my reading yesterday :-) that really is nice to hear!

great to hear from you too!! sounds like you are working really hard today! well done on writing well today, that's really super and that you are crosing things off the list!! excellent ! i am confident you will get it done today. just go for the sprint, and when you hand in your chapter, be sure to reward yourself!!! maybe even take tommorow off and do something relaxing :) before you start working towards your next chapter. that will motivate you to get it finished today.

thats so great that your chapter is nearly done!! hurrah! :-)

problem with writing a big ol thesis is that even when you accomplish finishing a chaper, we dont let ourselves enjoy that moment and then start worrying about the next one. so please make sure you do reward yourself!

and wow your teaching subject sounds very interesting!! :-)

Hi Lara, thanks for the nice things you said about me too, you always cheer me up!

I've decided I'm starving so may as well have my dinner early, then get on with it again later. My mum's coming over tomorrow for lunch, I will probably be a zombie after tonight's session but at least she'll reassure herself I'm still alive and kicking. :-)

Good luck with this evening's reading!(up)

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how did your corrections go and did you manage to send it to your sup?

You are very welcome Ruby! :-) i'm glad they cheer you up :)

yah its good to eat when your that hungry, its difficult to concentrate on work. i hope tonights session went well and you have a nice lunch with your mum tommorow.

well i didnt get any reading done this evening! after my late lunch with the folks, i had cramps (that time of the month! which explains why i have been feeling so tired) so i just took the evening off with a dvd and hot water bottle and lots of chocolate lol
then i took a nap in the evening, and woke up at 10pm. and just been chilling ever since!

feel guilty and wide awake, so i've decided to read one more paper today and then as a reward watch an episode from one of my dvds, and hopefully fall asleep soon. otherwise my body clock will be all messed up.

see you tommorow.

hello clocking in late.
i only managed to read half a paper last night before falling asleep! - cure for insomniacs everywhere :p
then finished the rest of the paper today.

my aim for the rest of the day is to read 4 papers.

Hey Ruby how did the corrections go?

Hi Lara! I'm talking rubbish wherever I go today I think... oops! Got the abstract, intro and context sections done last night and sent them off about 2.30am when I realised I was in danger of starting to write crap. Said I would send the methodology chapter on today, though I am very tired but had better force myself, or I will start feeling like flaky is my middle name and that won't do. Coffee then start on it again. :-s Will I write incomprehensible rubbish or will it be ok? That's why I don't like doing late night sessions....

Good luck with your reading, 4 papers sounds ok, as long as you don't nod off :-)

See you later! (up)

LOL! Ruby, you're so funny, you make me laugh :-)

lol at flaky is my middle name.

well done on getting the abstract, intro and contents done !!!
yah i totally know what you mean when you work late one night, it has a knock on effect to the next day. hope you manage to get through the rest of methods chapters today! i'm sure it wont be rubbish! hope that cup of coffee woke you up.

well so far my reading has been absymal lol. i've only read 1 paper today, and a half, but the half paper is from last night and doesnt count towards todays quota! lol so i still have 3 papers left to read tonight. just had dinner, and going to chill for abit and then get cracking on the next paper. i did feel sleepy after i finished reading the paper and took a 30 minute nap lol.

i feel like pancakes and maple syrup for dessert! might make that abit later on for a treat.

chat to you later.

======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2009 00:42:48 =======
I want to go to bed now, but not sure if I should allow myself, or to just carry on .... I'm very sleepy and I think my brain's none too perky right now, but I still haven't finished this damn methodology chapter..... aaargh, I am starting to really hate it. It's only just over 7000 words, but I keep moving bits about and putting in new refs that I need, so it keeps growing and it all takes SO long to do. And my sup mentioned she hadn't had it yet. Yes, that is true, she hasn't, because I still haven't finished it.... well, I can't do any more tonight, my eyes are sore and I can't think, so I'll have to email her and start again tomorrow.... it's SO annoying. I feel pathetic for not finishing it actually, but I have done my best today. The extra annoying thing is that I think it would be a good basis for an article for a certain journal, but I just want to get it done right now so I can get back to the normal corrections, which are wildly interesting in comparison to this. Hard to believe I know, but it's true.

So how's your reading going then Lara...? Better than my meth. ch.? Oh well, see you tomorrow anyway! :-)

Hello. Well, I'm back again for another action-packed day of theory and methodology, though it feels like I haven't been gone from this chair at all, it's so horribly familiar now.... I know the back of the chair won't really merge with my spine but it feels like the chair and the computer are becoming extensions of my body. Inseparable, we are!

Harry Hill always ends the first half of TV Burp with a surreal match between 2 unlikely contestants, and I was thinking if it was a contest between me and the methodology chapter, who would win? Me??? Or the methodology chapter???? There's only one way to find out.... fight....!!! Not to promote fighting of course, but I feel like this flipping section is beating me at the moment.... grrrrr..... but I would really hate to lose out in a tussle with a gigantic wodge of paper so I'll have to finish it somehow. Maybe print out last night's work and see how it's looking.

It's the private view tonight of that exhibition that my modest contribution is part of, but I'll be working. What a sad state of affairs! The worrying thing is that my mum thought I 'looked well' yesterday, so does that mean a silly workload and complete isolation agree with me??? VERY weird..... dear me! Haha, unless she expected a gibbering wreck, so it's all relative - phew!

Will probably be back later....:-s

======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2009 15:41:16 =======
======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2009 15:40:03 =======
======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2009 15:37:41 =======
hey Ruby! well your methods chapter is miles ahead of my reading!!! i got distracted yesterday, and so yesterday just managed to read 2 papers. very poor!

today havent done any reading, just about to start reading a paper, then will take a break for a late lunch.

well done for you to keep sticking with the methods chapter, you will get there in the end!!

shame you cant go to the exhibition :( the sacrifices we must make eh!

im impressed by your preserverance though,

battle face agogo :-s

i'm not moving until i've finished reading this long review article - 11 pages.

my plans for tommorow got cancelled :( but part of me didnt feel like going out tommorow and socialising, one reason, feel abit tired cause of the time of the month and another reason i want to continue my reading and get into a real routine and gear up my momentum. the reward is so much sweeter when you feel like you REALLY earned it, and right now i dont feel like i have.

so i want to study hard till next weds, and then reward myself by taking a day off.

i soooooooooooooo need to kick up the pace of my reading and studying. so then i can reward myself by taking next weds off :-) and no more sleeping in late! i am going to start setting my alarm and get strict with myself.
==

my aims for today:
read 3 papers.
make notes on the papers i have read so far (9 papers) haha i've already forgotten the papers i read a few days ago! lol my brain is a sieve haha

okay managed to finish reading one paper cant read anymore as i am very hungry so taking a break for food and will come back later for more reading!

hope you're doing okay there Ruby!!

I've had enough for today!!! I've been working on that chapter, then started flagging later in the afternoon. I got to the point where all I was doing was updating my bibliography, so it seemed a good idea to call it a day. It's still not done but couldn't have really done anymore, not with all the theory in it. It's a bit annoying I didn't finish it as I won't be able to work on it for a few days, but maybe it'll simmer away and make more sense when I come back to it. Well, I hope so!

One paper's ok Lara - no point in doing loads for the sake of it, you have to digest it all mentally don't you!! Quality not quantity and all that!! :-)

Anyway, I'm having a break for the next few hours, so see you soon. (up)

Good idea Ruby!! take a break. dont worry about finishing it, you will get it finished when its READY to be finished! chapters are a living entity that sometimes need to grow on their own lol.

aww thanks for your encouragement, i like what you said!! digest mentally and quality and not quantity, i like how you think!!! :-) well now i just feel so much better, thank you Ruby.

i took a massive break! with dinner and watching grey's anatomy. so going to read one more paper before i take another break. catch ya later Ruby!

Hi girls,

Sorry I haven't been around much, but catching up on work has taken me much longer than I thought it would. I think I'm OK now, and I could probably (really) put some time into my Viva preparations from now on (fingers crossed).

Last week I went over to the university to ask about my Viva, and they told me that examiners have not yet been appointed, so it will still take some time before I have any news about that. I told them that I was in no hurry, but I keep thinking to myself that I really need to make some progress on preparing since I do not want to run out of time as I did before the submission.

I have been reading the forum, and I remember Lara asking about my strategy for the Viva. I never answered; sorry about that Lara. Something that I thought I should do, is to point out myself all the shortcomings of my thesis before (or as) the examiners do. The whole purpose of the PhD, in my understanding, is to make you a researcher; or at least an apprentice researcher. So, I need to convince the examiners that I understand the research process and that I can conduct further research at an acceptable standard of quality. Part of it, hopefully, would be evident in the thesis as it is; but surely, since it is my first attempt at it, I failed to report everything that I should have in the thesis. And actually, since the moment I was preparing the document for printing, I've been having these thoughts about all the things I should have included in the thesis that I didn't, and all the arguments that would have been clearer if I had written them in a different way. So, what I'm planning to do is to make my Viva, a complement of my thesis. I will try to show the examiners that I'm aware of the shortcomings of my thesis and that, it is not a matter of having done the wrong research, but of not having reported it properly. Does this make any sense?

The first thing, for instance, I want to tackle is my analysis chapter. I know that I made an analysis, that in the paper, doesn't look systematic and rigorous, but it is. So, I want to bring in to the Viva evidence of the process I followed for my analysis so they can see it. Obviously I'm thinking this will be part of the corrections they'll suggest.

The other chapter I think I need to correct is the methodology. I'm guessing now, that my description of the research design might have not been the best, so I also need to bring in further evidence of the way I went about designing it and my reasons.

Another important thing is that, since I do not want to make the same mistake I did while working on the thesis, this revisions need to be done in writing. It is not enough to have them in my mind, they have to be written/readable somewhere. So, I'd like to make sure that I have some sort of data display, or even some revised sections from the thesis. I'm hoping that way it would look as I have somehow started the corrections already.

...I just realised that last post was getting very long and I clicked the post button before I'd loose all I've written. I hate it when you've been writing and all of the sudden nothing turns up in the post. Anyway :p

I'm glad to read that you girls are making much more progress than I am.

Ruby, it sounds like that methodology chapter is keeping you busy. I'm sure you are only saturated. Perhaps if you leave it for some time to do something else, and then come back to it just to wrap it up... what do you think?

Lara, looks like you are reading a lot for your Viva, just make sure that you are actually preparing on things that will bring better understanding of what you did in the thesis. For example, that mind map you mentioned you were working on just to get your own ideas a bit clearer, it would be great to have it as a handout for your examiners so you can explain to them the whole structure of your thesis.

Keep it up girls, you are doing great!

Talk soon :-)