hello all Im finally back on the wagon! Think I posted here the other day but couldnt find it!! Hmmm brain has turned to nothing since having a baby. Anyway I am trying to gradually get back into the thesis writing when my bambino is asleep. But as tonight I am having friends round I have decided to do a bit as she naps. I'm going to start with easy stuff like entering all my lab results into excel etc. So going to plan tasks for the week as daily ones may not happen depending on baby!! Also going to try and sort out a days childcare a week so I can have a full day at it! Also need some part time work. Oh im doing to be busy!!!!
THis weeks plan:
Type up all food anaylsis data in excel

Thanks Armendaf!! good advice indeed, and yes you're right- i'm focusing on the papers that will help me understand what i did in my thesis :)

great to hear from you! looks like we're both in the same boat, as i dont think any examiners have been appointed for me either, hurrah!which is good because buys me more time to study and prepare and i have alot to prepare.

sounds like you have a very good tactic of preparing for your viva! i'm impressed by your plan of action, sounds very methodical and exactly what you need to do for viva prep.


my plan of action is to first get a good grounding on all the theories and principles that my whole research is based upon, right now i feel insecure and not confident, because i only vaguely understand it, i dont fully understand it and cannot articulate nor explain it. so want to really understand it.

thats a great idea about writing things down. i will do that, as i feel insecure having everything just in my head, but if i have notes written down, then i can keep reviewing them.

progress so far today - i finished reading the 2nd half of a large review article that i started reading last night.

my aims for the rest of today:
read 1 paper (the last of my collection of 9 papers i've been reading the past week).
make notes on all the papers i have read so far

hope you all are doing much better than I! i need to kick up the pace ..

Hey Celesmai!!! how wonderful to hear from you! so glad to have you back! and ahh i really admire your perserverance to get back to writing after having a baby. wow sounds like you're going to be so busy. good luck and thats a brilliant idea, start of slowly. take "baby" steps. just do a little bit at at time. your first plan of action, sounds like a great place to start :)

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oh dear today has been rather unproductive.

i read 1 and half papers today. oh well. but on the plus side, i've finished reading all 9 papers that were on my list that relate to one section of my thesis. now i am going to write notes on these papers which will help me understand the basic theory of my thesis. so tommorow is a fresh start and i can start making notes and making sense of it all.

so i'm happy that ive finished the 9 papers, even though took me a week! but like Ruby kindly said, it takes a week to get a routine going and get back to study mode, so i'm happy about that :) trying to think more positive these days and looking at half glass full instead of scorning myself for the lack of work, but focusing on what i actually did. positive reinforcement ...so not going to scorn myself anymore but try better each day...as long as one is consistent every little bit of reading counts...

reading consists of a multiple of steps and is a very active process, not passive at all- reading, understanding, making notes of the important parts, how it relates to your thesis, then being able to articulate in your own words the principles and ideas so you can converse about it in a viva. all takes time. and you cant rush the process.

well thats me clocking out for today. and tommorow i'm going to wake up early. going to try to have a more sensible approach, go to bed by 1am, and wake up by 9am. hopefully!!


hey Ruby hope you're okay with the methods chapter. and Armendaf, its great to have you back :) and Celesmai too

congratulations to Sarah on passing her viva last week!! just read the other thread :)

nite folks. thanks for listening.

Hello fellow comrades!!! i feel like im spamming the wall here.

clocking in for today. late start for me, and slept in again, ugh, will try again tommorow to wake up early lol

my aims for today.
make notes from 9 papers.

catch you guys later!

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I love that idea Lara - thanks, and so appropriate for my subject lol!!

Sounds like you're doing ok for Week One...9 papers is fine. Have you had a meeting with your sups since you submitted? I wondered whether it would spur you on more, even if it was just a chat by phone? Or give your time a bit more structure? For me, if I'm away from the uni and have no contact with my sups for ages, I almost forget the whole context of what I'm doing and am in danger of slowing down more than I might usually, so a reminder of them and that place prods me into action again. It sounds like you're in a slightly weird situation as you don't have a definite deadline to work towards, though maybe that's just my perception as I'm dreadful with no set deadlines, things can go on and on indefinitely without one. btw I'm only saying that as I don't want you to run out of time at a later stage and not do the best you can.

Hi Armendaf, your plan of action sounds really good, focus on the main weaknesses of the thesis and work on them. I'm still writing mine and I can sort of guess what the examiners might pick on as a weakness - still have time to justify it in the dreaded methodology chapter but I bet they'll still focus in on it.

I think I'll get on with some easy chapters today as am really tired from the last few days at work. One is finished, except for about 4 mini-corrections, and there is another one that's almost done. Maybe it's time to knock them out for good! Well that sounds a nice start to another working weekend. See you later. :-)

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Hey Ruby. good luck with your chapters. sounds like you've been working really hard. well done you.

thanks for the advice. i cant contact them just yet - not until i've studied my thesis and understood the basics. i will contact them in march. i need to gain confidence and arm myself with knowledge before i feel ready to contact them.

i just need to up my game and study harder. right now i dont understand or remember anything from my thesis. my sup told me to contact him only after i had studied my thesis. right now im a blank slate so no point in contacting them.

just had a long chat with my best friend, she has given me great advice about how to prepare for my viva. she knows me too well and said i am probably getting bogged down with one topic. so she's given me a one month deadline to prepare for my viva. told me to make a list of all the topics and subtopics of my thesis and then everyday study one subtopic. and not to make copious anounts of notes but to understand the general idea and make notes in my own words. so i feel abit better, as i was getting bogged down. going to make a proper plan and timetable .

going to list all the topics and subtopics of my phd. then make a 1 month timetable. and allocate one subtopic per day and study that topic that day. and at the same time keep in my mind "viva" questions.

my aims for today:
1. make list of topics
2. make 1 month timetable.
3. study one topic and make notes.

Hi Lara,

That all sounds really good, your friend's given very sensible advice! (up)

I've nearly had enough today, I'm in danger of adding new typos to chapters I'm allegedly correcting...:$ I am SO tired now. I dreamt my ceiling had big holes in it and some strange beady-eyed person had been living in the roof for ages, and was peering down at me. I woke up quite scared with one of those jerky awakenings when you jolt upright. I think it must have been a stress dream, as I don't usually have nightmares. Anyway, forget the imaginary weirdos in the roof, right now I think I will skim though all my chapters and see what's outstanding *without* attempting any so-called corrections, then mark that lot down on my draft TOC and make a new timetable tomorrow when I feel perkier. Ooh, that's the best plan I've come up with all day.

I'll sign out for now, but good luck with today's aims, they all sound immensely doable! :-)

Hello there, Saturday morning and I'd better get down it it. My sup wondered how my timetable's going, so I should send her an update later and it had better be positive!

I'll aim to get this methodology chapter done by the end of Sunday, then Mon/Tues for the following chapter. More would be nice of course, crossing things off my master-list is so satisfying, but I'll see how it goes. :-s

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Good luck with the methodology chapter Ruby!

i made a 1 month plan yesterday and i have to read and understand 6 pages of my thesis everyday, along with the papers i cite within those 6 pages. also i've made a bunch of blank "cards" where i can put questions and answers on them and quiz myself

my aims today:
1. make a list of potential viva questions to keep in mind as i am reading my thesis (qs inspired from Murrary's book)
2. read 6 pages from my thesis. (pages 1-6)
2. make notes from the 9 papers i read this past week.
3. make qs and and answer cards of important info i need to remember from todays topic i've chosen.

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update/progress so far:
aim 1 accomplished -i made a list of questions from various sources, which i will keep in mind as i am revising.

hours studied so far =approximately 5 hours: (i studied from 1pm - 4pm. and then 6.40pm - 9pm). i have written about 5 pages of notes. going to take a break now, and then come back to do more studying later on tonight.
--
how are you doing Ruby?

anyone else out there studying for their viva?

Hi Lara,

You've done loads!! VERY impressive!:-)

I've been dreadfully slow I'm afraid, read and marked up more corrections for the 'M' chapter until I realised the articles I'm reading to discuss in it were just going over my head, so I rewrote my abstract, had my dinner, then started chasing refs for another chapter to get it finished. It's so tedious - I must have found about 4 refs, the computer seems really slow today and it took me ages to find my athens login. I really need to be put out of this misery at the moment, I just want the next month to be over. I am so sick of it today. Maybe it's a combination of being tired and feeling slightly queasy, a bit of the old hormones thing and reading a work email which annoyed me slightly (why did I bother to look at it??!!). A rather frustrating day overall, I'm afraid, but sorry to moan.

I think I will call it a day now, but tomorrow will be better I'm sure. Good luck with your next stint - sounds like you're on a roll today, make the most of it!(up)

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Awww thanks Ruby! you're so kind to say that. that really put a big smile on my face :-)

aww dont be so hard on yourself. you must be exhausted, you've been working so hard and i know what you're going through, it seems like the misery will never end, its really hard to keep going back to it when all you wanna do is curl up in a ball and go into hibernation and sleep and escape. you're doing great! good thing you sorted out those references.

sorry to hear your computer is being slow - i'm gonna go in "mommy mode" and say - do make sure all your stuff is backed up. maybe you can try defragmenting your computer.

and you're right, being tired definately does not help. i hope you get a good night sleep tonight- so you can be bright eyed and bushy tailed tommorow.

oh i know what you mean about those work emails - the wrong email can put you in totally the wrong mood. i remember when i was writing up my thesis., i wouldnt check my email during the day, but only after i had finished for the day - in the evening, that way if there was an email that peeved me off, i wouldnt have the added guilt of it taking my attention and concentration away from my thesis.

and yes tommorow is a brand new fresh day and you can get back on the horse.

i dont think you're being slow. i think when you're in that state, you may feel you are making little progress, but every little thing you do, adds to the big picture.

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well i'm back for a quick study session before bedtime. i thought i would read the "6 pages" from my thesis that i have to do everyday. and then get ready for bed. i'm determined to wake up at 10am tommorow! lol i say that everyday dont i.

see you tommorow , i want to do some studying in the morning, before the sunday lunch with my family. we're having cheeseburgers, yum. i cant wait! i love burgers hehe. my mom is making home made lamb burgers, and then i will assemble the burgers either burger king or macdonal stylee. sunday is the only day we eat unhealthy :p but i know after sunday lunch, i'm usually quite lethargic , so wont get much studying done in the afternoon, and so as a reward for morning study session i will watch a dvd film - well that's the plan! :-)

ps dont apolagise, you're not moaning, you're sharing negative feelings, better out then in i say!! i once read that psychologically the very act of writing out the negative feelings, helps to let them go, and helps to make you feel better. so carry on sharing! i know what you're going through.

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EDIT.

okay me clocking out for today. just finished reading 6 pages of my thesis. (pages 1-6)

Thanks Lara, you're spot on with all your comments. This is the only place where people actually get why it's so difficult sometimes.

Yeah I shouldn't have looked at that work email, must have been procrastination of the worst kind lol! There are some very grumpy people around at the moment. The sooner that RAE money gets allocated the better and we'll all know where we stand.

I don't feel very perky today either, but that's too bad really, it has to get done somehow. I think I'll start with easy stuff - chasing more refs, updating the bibliography and doing my best to get more sections crossed off my masterlist. Then if my brain's ready to grapple with that methodology theory by lunchtime I'll get on with that. If not, I'll have to adapt my plan for the day. Oh yes and I will do a big backup too - good idea. Thanks so much for your comments btw, these things are indeed better in than out! (up)

Have a good time at your burger-fest! :-)

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Hey Ruby! you're welcome :-) glad to help in any small way i can.

well i didnt do any studying today! whooooops. woke up late, then got distracted with a bunch of stuff and then had a lovely lunch , then just hung out with my family, my brother came today for sunday lunch.

how beautiful was the snow! it was magical, i felt like i was in narnia :-) its still snowing abit. i cant seem to stop looking outside my window. its like being in another world :)

anyways, tommorow is a fresh new day so back to studying mode! so i will study tommorow. but so that today isnt a total bust. i'm going to read 6 pages from my thesis before i clock out.
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edit.
just read pages 7-12 of my thesis. realised really need to understand and get the argument cemented in my head of these particular thesis pages that discuss several different opposing theories. so will do that tommorow when i'm more alert. but good that i read it tonight to re-acquant myself. i know i spelt it wrong. too tired to correct it.