Hello!

Missspacey, I hope you're feeling better now, it's so annoying when you feel crap - it really messes up your timetable.

How complicated are your diagrams? I think people in my area use Illustrator, it's a vector drawing program that's part of Adobe creative suite and not cheap, but it would also probably be a big learning curve. Word's ok though, with the various drawing shapes and tools - is that too awful for what you need? I've tended to think any huge new learning curve at this point isn't worth it for myself, and if it looks ok it will do for submission, but it depends what your needs are, I guess.

I'm submitting on Feb 27th, so not long now. Luckily I can take annual leave the week before, which will help. Printing out on Wed 25th and off to Kallkwik, so can pick it all up the next day, or have one more day in case of disasters, as long as they're not huge disasters lol!

Lara, have a good time at the cinema, 3D horror sounds great! You definitely need more breaks now you've submitted, you've even got time to have colds now if you think about it, unpleasant though they are! I liked the sound of The Day the Earth Stood Still at the Imax but never got around to it in the end, I was feeling too twitchy about my timetable by then. Aaah well, there'll be another time!

I've had enough for now, so will clock off for dinner. I suppose today's been okayish, I've done up to and including section 4.4, so tomorrow will be 4.5 to 4.10. I did spend a while reading blogs though... :$ It would be nice if I'd worked a bit quicker, but ho hum, that's the way it goes sometimes. Que sera sera and all that, to quote Doris Day. Might do a bit more later, but otherwise, see you tomorrow! :-)

Hello there. I'm supposed to be doing some work, but I've just read on the internet that Lux Interior of The Cramps died a few days ago and I'm a bit shocked. How come Iggy Pop is doing TV adverts and Lux is dead? He was only 62. I've seen them several times over the years and I really liked their swampy rockabilly sound. I suppose I'm a bit sad as I grew up with their music and they were real influential musical one-offs as well. Unique. I suppose he's keeping that date with Elvis now....

Oh well. Now I suppose I'd better force myself to do some work on yesterday's Chapter 4, so section 4.5 it is then...

Hey Ruby,

Indeedy, you are on the final stretch! Good luck to you. Are you just polishing your thesis now, or still writing new material? I have my thesis in a full draft form now, so it looks finished, but in fact there are many HUGE gaps that still need to be written up.

Thanks for the tip on Illustrator - I'll have a look into that. Adobe usually offer a generous trial period on their software, so I may be able to do what needs to be done on that. Smartdraw seems like something that can be mastered in 10 minutes - it's virtually a click and drag drawing system. I'm a bit bothered that my thesis doesn't look very professional...

Tonight's aims:
Finish work on chapter one.

Watch the BAFTAs....Brangelina are attending!

======= Date Modified 09 Feb 2009 10:10:33 =======
======= Date Modified 09 Feb 2009 10:09:41 =======
Hi!

Missspacey, I'm still rewriting bits in a couple of chapters, which is making me a bit anxious at this stage. I'm aware my methodology is a big thing in my thesis and I've been moving bits from other chapters into this and it's a never ending task, or so it seems... I am still adding new bits of material too, waiting for people to get back to me with new information, finding better evidence for some points than I had in my draft, having to read new books that have come out.

Yesterday I thought I could simplify my methodology chapter in some ways and I really have gone a circular route with the theory on this one. It seems weird writing the methodology chapter after the actual research has been done, justifying them in retrospect, though I guess the actual ideas were always there, I'm just trying to make it more robust for the examiners. I decided to work on that one just to get it done as it's annoying having it hanging over me. I think I will feel SO much better when it's out of the way finally, then I'll be fine to get the rest done in time. Well I hope I will, hahaha... *nervous laugh*.... So I did that yesterday and watched the BAFTAs, so not the ultimate in high productivity days, but there you go. Today is the day THAT horrendous chapter will get finished. :-s

Missspacey, how did your chapter one go? Nice to see Kate get her BAFTA though!

Lara, how was your 3D film?

======= Date Modified 09 Feb 2009 13:55:41 =======
Hey Girls!!! wow i'm impressed you both have been working away on your thesis.

aww thanks Ruby for saying that about how i should take breaks now that i've submitted. that made me feel so much better :) 3D movie was so much fun! i had a really nice weekend, relaxing. i did read the 6 pages daily quota from my thesis, but thats all i did naughty me.

a late start for me today. feeling very hungry right now though, so will quickly read the 6 pages and then grab some lunch.

Ruby good luck with your methods chapter, you will feel heaps better once its done and dusted! you're deadline of 27th feb is very doable. you're nearly there!

miss spacey good luck with your deadline in may, plenty of time, you can do it! (up)

my aims:
1. read 6 pages from thesis.
2. read papers.
3. answer 1 viva question

Hi everyone,

I've been enviously reading this thread for a while now, feeling like too much of an undisciplined, all-round procrastinator to join in. So I've finally plucked up the courage... hope it's ok for me to gatecrash.

I'm in the third year of my phd and it's in a right old mess at the moment. My supervisors want to see everything I've done so far (chapters 2-7) on the 18th Feb so we can see what I've got and what is left to be done. At the moment I'm struggling to get my head around what I've actually written, which chapter the various ideas/bits of lit review are in etc. A particular problem for me right now is how much to 'standardise' the thesis - a bit like you were saying, Ruby, about retrospectively writing the methods chapter. To what extent should you let the development of ideas and approaches come through in the thesis, and to what extent should you write it as though you knew what you were going to do and say all along?

Anyway, my goal for this week is to beat my literature review into shape. I'm away Thurs and Fri for my brother's wedding and it's almost the end of Monday, so I have 2 days left on this...sigh!

======= Date Modified 09 Feb 2009 15:55:34 =======
Hi Heifer,

You should have popped over ages ago - procrastination is the name of the game so everyone is welcome, especially anyone in the latter stages!

I was a bit worried about what you said as well, about writing as if you knew what you were doing all along. I asked my sup as I felt vaguely fraudulent doing it almost back to front, and that it might be obvious in my writing to the examiners. She said it was normal and not to worry, as it's part of the research process. And to be honest about what you're doing too. That's true when I think about it, as it would be weird to end up with exactly the same detailed methodology and plan that you had at the start, research isn't like that, it shifts and evolves as you do it. Well, mine certainly has!!

Also, someone who had her viva recently said the examiners were really interested in the actual research process, what her research 'journey' had entailed, including all the bits that were dead ends and how they had to be re-thought along the way. I think it's worth being honest about it, that actually we might not know exactly what the end product will be, including the methodology details, until we get to the end. I'm nearly there and it's still becoming clearer as I write (or I hope it is or I'm seriously in trouble!!!). Annoying when you've got deadlines, but I get the feeling that's the way it goes, especially with an interdisciplinary project.

Good luck with your lit review!

I'd better get back to my methodology chapter if I want it finished by tonight.... sigh....:-s

Hi Heifer,

Re 'To what extent should you let the development of ideas and approaches come through in the thesis, and to what extent should you write it as though you knew what you were going to do and say all along?' I think it varies by discipline and also supervisor. I used to be a science (computing) PhD student and was much more expected to write about the process. Now over a decade later and I'm writing up a humanities PhD I've been advised very much against this by my supervisor, who says I should write about my findings rather than the journey. I've had to rewrite quite big chunks of my chapters to suit his requirements, but I agree that in my (now!) field this does seem to be the standard approach. This doesn't rule out my having a lengthy discussion about the journey with examiners in the viva.

Also good luck Rubyw with pushing to the final draft. I'm currently writing my conclusions chapter 7, and revising chapters 1-6 - all meant to be finished by March/April. But I have just over 2 years left (part-time) and know that I need to complete a bit more research to plug a gap. So I'm not aiming at the finishing post yet. But I wish you luck with yours.

Bilbo

======= Date Modified 09 Feb 2009 20:01:01 =======

hey Heifer! lovely to meet a fellow procratinator!!! the only thing i'm an expert at is procrastinating :p and never feel you cant join in because of the procrastination, becuase being a procrastinator is one of the requirements to sign up here! hehe

well i've been very very lazy today and have not done anything but read 6 pages, feel so sleepy and tired. lol im so lazy. gonna take a quick power nap in the hopes it wakes me up, and then going to do some reading. going to the british library tommorow, actually looking forward to have a change of scenary, and to "study" someplace different for a couple of hours.


good luck with the lit review!

Hello there, morning all. :-)

Thanks Bilbo, and very nice to see you on here!
Heifer, how did the lit review go?
Lara, maybe the studious ambience of the BL will spur you on!

Didn't finish that chapter yesterday, although I feel a bit pathetic for admitting it. I felt tired and got a headache that didn't go away, so had dinner and an early night. I felt a bit panicked by the date when I woke up, I don't know how the hell I'm going to get everything done for 2 weeks time. I feel a bit sick at the thought actually. I guess it's got to the point where I have to be strict with myself, and any sense of submitting a perfect thesis falls by the wayside, and being sensible about the time left takes over instead. oooohhh it's horrible. Well, as I've got to go to work after today I suppose anything crossed off the list as properly finished today will stop me getting too anxious.

So today's tasks: methodology chapter (yes I really will finish it this time!) and rewrite conclusions. Anything else would be a serious bonus in my current frame of mind, but those bits will do - beginning and end need to match up properly, so they can't be done at the last minute.

Back later and hopefully in a better mood than the stress-smiley! :-s

Morning!

Well, I did quite a bit of faffing around with the lit review yesterday, definitely more deleting than writing, but I guess that's still contributing to a better chapter in the end. Today I'm going to do some major cutting and pasting as I've come to the conclusion that the structure is all wrong. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this will be actual cutting and pasting, with a printout of my chapter and some scissors, as I find it really hard to get a sense of a long document when it's on screen.

Mr Heifer has gone off to his university to submit his thesis today. I'm so jealous, but it's motivating me to work harder.

This afternoon I've got a thrilling book called "Towards a new theory of organizations" to plough through!

Bilbo - I think I'm going to plan on telling the examiners about "the journey" in the viva, rather than in the thesis, too. I do have a couple of paragraphs in the introduction explaining how my main research question changed early on, but that's it. Good luck with the conclusion - two friends of mine who have just had vivas both got told to strengthen their conclusions by the examiners so don't do yourself down!

Lara - change of scenery sounds like a good idea, especially the British Library - what an inspiration! Just think, they might have one of your books in there some day :-)

Ruby - good luck with the methods chapter. Try not to be paralysed by the deadline; I know it's not easy but you HAVE got time to do it all, even if it's not perfect.

I did exactly the same thing with the scissors - cutting and pasting. It did work - eventually. There were always a few paragraphs that didn't quite fit. But I did learn to let go of some sentences that just sounded good, but were rewritten several times!

My plan this week is to try and follow the plan I made last week!

Hi Girls,

I'm back for a little while, at least :p

Welcome Heifer, sounds like you are in my area! Must of my thesis falls into the "organisation theory/studies" domain; I'd love to talk about it sometime.
Ruby, you are almost there. Just focus on finishing this chapter and you'll see that everything else follows. You are doing great.
Lara, it's great to read that you are consistently keeping at it. That's precisely what it takes, just keep on going like that and you'll see that by the time of the Viva you'll be so familiar with the material that you won't have any trouble at all.

Today I came to the university to see if there were any news for me. They have not appointed external examiner yet, so no Viva date yet. For the moment I'm OK with that since it gives me a bit longer to prepare, but I wouldn't like it to go like this for much longer.

So, what I'm doing at the moment is sorting out papers and books, re-reading here and there and basically just familiarising my self again with the whole thing. I really need to make a plan, but for the moment everything is in such a messy state, that I think I'm better off doing this until I can get rid of everything that I do not really need and then concentrate on the actual substance.

So, battle face :-s and get on with it

Talk soon 8-)

======= Date Modified 10 Feb 2009 14:29:41 =======
Hi guys!,

Oh my progress is going so slowly!! I've been on antibiotics for a nasty throat and chest infection, which has firmly put me in a general state of malaise. I recommend trying Berocca vitamin supplements they seem to pep me up. I'm sure the scientists amongst us may disagree about their efficacy...but they seem to give me more energy when working.

Today I'm going to do 6 hours solid work, and will be back later tonight to honestly tell if I did it or not. I still need to finish my work on chapter one!

Heifer, cutting and pasting your work is a really good idea! Some of the best authors, eg. Will Self, structure their novels by writing hundreds of post-it notes and then move them about still the ideas fit.

======= Date Modified 10 Feb 2009 21:46:18 =======

hehe they already do - sort of! they have one of my journal articles, but i've never actually checked it out - i've not actually looked at the actual journal and flipped to my article. i should do though next time i go, which will be on friday! i didnt go today, my plans got changed. i have done absolutely no work today at all!!! nothing - zip zata zilch. i've been a lazy so and so!

feel guilty so i'm about to do some studying now though. so bored of it all though, so so so boring. im being a spoilt brat. :p but im just bored of studying for the viva :$ i just need to get over myself and just do it