======= Date Modified 18 Feb 2009 14:45:34 =======
oooh, it's 4 hours since I posted on here last...

What have I done then???

Ummm, I've made a lot of notes for restructuring that annoying chapter, which is all good I think. It is creeping towards a decent bit of writing at last. I've had lunch, so now I am sleepy... I've weighed myself to find out why I can't get into some of my skirts without almost busting the zips. It seems that I've put on over half a stone since December, which is a lot when you're short, but luckily my width does not nearly match my height, so I'm not a completely round ball of fat yet.* It'll go when I've handed this thesis in, I know it will.

And I've done odd domestic stuff too, but now I feel a bit guilty so I'd better get off this forum and back to work. :-s

* I was thinking I didn't want to end up looking like a weeble, those toys shaped like rotund people that were around when I was young - they wobble but they don't fall down. Apparently. It's not very likely though!! *phew*

Just a quick check in - still have a ton of stuff to do before sending the work to my supervisors at 6pm. My internet has been down almost all day, which would be fine on any other day when I just mess around on there, but today I actually needed a whole load of statistics for my introduction :-s

Ruby, I don't think you should worry about not meeting all of your goals in the order you wanted to - so long as you're doing something towards the thesis that's all that matters, in my opinion. Sometimes I think it's better psychologically to pick the least worst task and just get on with it, rather than trying to prioritise everything and do what you think you 'should' be doing.

Armendaf, you inspired me to sit down last night and put all the chapters into done document called "thesis" (yay!) and work off that from now on. So once I've got all my references filled in, formatting standardised, etc etc ....

Lara - new notebook - always good! Bit like the new pencil case at the start of the new school year!

hope everyone has had a good day. See you tomorrow!

======= Date Modified 19 Feb 2009 01:34:59 =======
hehe thanks Heifer, yah new notebook :-)

Ruby - yes the british library is great! went there again today. i had a really good day today actually - one of those rare days that come once in a blue moon. it was a lovely day. not only for socialising but also for my studying.
i met up with a friend for lunch. then went to the british library and studied there for a couple of hours and i was so productive- i only took one break for 6 minutes. and i concentrated and studied this really good paper , i think the paper was the key, it was really well written and had so many useful information in it that are really relevant. one of the reviewers for my first paper mentioned that the author of the paper *SHOULD* read it. whilst writing my thesis, i didnt get time to read the journal so just quickly referred to it by reading the abstract lol. but for the viva i had always planned on studying it, and im glad i did cause its given me some ideas on a couple of viva questions.

i then met up with my best friend for dinner, and we had quite a few long discussions about science, and it was nice to talk about it with her, and she was giving me ideas for stuff i could look into to answer the most common viva qs - on how to take the project further, and we were bouncing ideas around. so felt great :) then went to see a chick flick. confessions of a shopaholic which we both really enjoyed.

so today has been a great day. both workwise and socialising. i'm going to stick with the once a week plan to go to the british library.and leave the house once a week. otherwise i get depressed.
====

i took a test yesterday on the way i study, and wow it was so true! basically my studying style, is to make notes and then notes of notes. which is so true. i cant just read something, i have to do something with the text.

the first two line describes me perfectly!

Kinaesthetic Style

· Copy notes over and over, apparently to make them neat or organised

· Must use white-out or start new page after several mistakes


· Prefers learning by doing

--
although descriptions of the above are from dyslexic pupils FOR dyslexic pupils to help pupils with strategies to overcome learning blocks.


http://www.greenfield.durham.sch.uk/a_multipleintelligences.htm

http://www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm (when you guys come to studying for your viva, you can test to see which is your personal learning style)

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Armendaf, ahhh i understand about no literture for the time being! you have me for company when you are going to re-read it!

Heifer - cool about you compiling all your documents and made your first important step to making a thesis document! yah!!

Ruby, you are doing so so so well!!! i know what you mean, its hard for other people to understand your real progress, sometimes alot of things are unfinished, so you cant say, i did this, but every little thing you do is getting you one step closer to finishing it. maybe you can start telling her in percentages of what you've done. i know i used to get depressed when my parents used to ask me what i did during the day and what i got done, usually it was bits and pieces.... you're doing great though Ruby, cause you're working on it everyday.

and LOL at weeble, that is so funny!! you made me laugh. i can totally sympathesise. i've put on so much weight since writing and then revising for my viva. i keep saying im gonna go on a diet , but never do. its hard to diet and study. i'm trying to exercise abit everyday though. but im definately podgier!

see you folks tommorow! :)

Hello there!

Lara, it sounds like you've got the right balance between studying in different places and having a life, there'll be no stopping you now!!:-)

Heifer, I hope you managed to get what you wanted off to your supervisors yesterday. It's curious how computer things go wrong just when you really need them to work properly. It made me do a major backup of my work after reading your post, so thanks for that!

I'm still doing that chapter 4. I started writing it up properly yesterday at long last but got hungry, had dinner and fell asleep, so ended up having a really early night. I seem to be sleeping more at the moment, I never used to fall asleep after dinner, and I do sleep for about 8hrs a night I think. I keep waking up in the night though, and think I have anxious dreams that I don't normally have, so maybe it's just the stress and that's why I sleep more. Someone I emailed got back to me last night which is great, and I found a ref yesterday, so didn't need to email someone else either - one less thing to chase up. Whoopppeeee! It all helps.

Today I really have to get that chapter done, even if I think it's not great - it's too late for faffing about. See you later.(up)

======= Date Modified 20 Feb 2009 03:47:34 =======

Thanks Ruby :-) i love your comments, they always make me feel better about my life.

don't worry about feeling sleepy. i also used to fall asleep after dinner too , still do sometimes! i think its your body way of *making* you feel relaxed, cause right now you're on the edge , stressed all the time. i used to sleep alot aswell when i was writing up. heck i still take odd naps here and there now im studying for my viva. i think its the only time your brain can relax and escape from the tension and stress. besides you need sleep so your brain can make all those connections. so dont worry about falling asleep. you will get the work done. its better that you are rested. haha sometimes i think sleep is so nice, and nothing nicer than taking a nap.

i procrastinated all day today, and felt really tired and lazy for some reason! lol took a couple of hours nap in the evening. then woke up. but told myself i have to read chapter 6 and finish reading through it tonite. so i just finished reading it. so that just leaves chapter 7 conclusions chapter to read tommorow. and then i've finished my first reading of my thesis :)


i started reading through my thesis - feb 1st. so the whole- do abit everyday, is a good idea :) and does really work. you dont realise it.

"one day plus another has an accumulative effect" ...

well i'm signing off now. going to go to bed. see you folks tommorow! cant believe its friday already. this week has really flown by hasnt it?

Right! Friday! Well, I got the thesis sent off to my supervisors on Wednesday and our next meeting isn't until 4th March, so I'm trying to plot out a constructive way of using this time. I spent most of yesterday going through my references and bibliography - I thought I'd been reasonably good at keeping the bibliography up to date but then discovered 30 missing references in the first read-through :$

The first task is to write a conference paper based on a chapter of my thesis. So my goals for today are:
Plan the paper - know this roughly already
Do some cutting and pasting from the thesis
Start filling in the gaps with writing!

Lara & Ruby, hope you both make progress today despite the wave of tiredness and procrastination that seems to have hit. I'm intrigued by the learning style test that you took, Lara - might have a go at that soon.

Well, thank you!! Yours help me too!
:-)

Nothing much to report from yesterday really.... worked on that Chapter 4 all day which was ok if I grudgingly admit it, though it's still not done. I detest that section now.... :-s I really loathe it. :-s With a vengeance. :-s It is currently the bane of my life.:-s How can one little bit of writing have such an utterly depressing effect on a person????????????

Anyway, when I couldn't think anymore about my theoretical nightmare chapter, I got on with the equally tedious but less mentally demanding formatting type things. All that also thoroughly depressed me too, as there was so much of it. All those images.... having to be patient with Word when it jigs them all about.... I just can't imagine getting all this done in time. I'm still flipping between different sections, just to be doing SOMETHING. Anything. I'm so fed up with it right now, everyday it's the same things- get up, work on the thesis, go to sleep. I can usually cope with anything, but this is really grinding me down now. I hope I can manage to carry on with it because it's seriously overwhelming me at the moment.

Anyway, I'd better get on with it before I depress myself even more...

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 00:23:48 =======
======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 00:12:49 =======

Hi Heifer, yeh the learning style test was cool ! i cracked open an old biology textbook of mine from my BSc years, and realised i still study the same way hehe. basically my learning style consists, of reading a text, and underlining keywords, or putting lines in the margin of interesting bits, then going through the text again, and making notes from it. and then going through the notes and making notes of those. so each time i'm doing "something" with the text.

i also have been studying in 45 minute sections. i learnt that 45 minutes is the maximum concentration time, after which your attention starts to fall, so its best to take a break and come back to it for another 45 minutes. its from a book called "how to make the most of your mind by tony buzan, i read it when i was a teenager.

basically the brain recalls first and last things best , and can be exploited for a learning strategy. quote "for eg, if you study for four hours without a break, you will be giving yourself only one primacy and one recency situation, allowing your recall to sag in the middle. breaking the four hours into more reasonable units, will provide a greater number of "first and last" situations and a consequent rise in recall.

these time units have to be long enough to enable the mind to build up a rhythm and short enough to prevent it from having too large a sag in the middle.

experience now indicates an ideal study time between 10 and 45 minutes, depending on such things, as difficulty of subject, and your level of interest.

organising learning periods in this way not only helps recall, but also leaves you far more rested at the end of the learning period, because in the breaks (which should normally be between 2- 5 minutes) your mind has had a chance both to rest and to sort out the information it has been taking in during the learning period" end quote

so i've been setting my timer for 45 minutes, and studying for a minimum of that time, and then the timer goes off, and sometimes i spend another 5-10minutes, finishing off whatever i was studying. however my breaks last much longer than 5 minutes! haha, its like a constant cycle, between recreation and studying, throughout the day and evening.
---

my progress today.
i finished reading my thesis today. read the conclusions chapter. it's so light! i hardly am saying anything fundamental or pow pow punchy enough. oh well. hence why i need to read alot more papers and think of ideas.

i made notes from a paper. and read up on a concept that the paper mentioned in a couple of textbooks that i had no clue of what it was before today.

i feel much more happier now that i am studying in my own style and not fighting against it. its like there's no point studying for 5 hours in a room, and not learning or remembering or understanding anything ,and just going through copious amounts of information, so better to study less each day, but everyday and try to understand it

i'm going to study for another 45 minutes now and then call it a night.

Hey Ruby! by the number of battle faces scattered throughout your message, i can feel your pain and frustration and tension. the only advice i can give you, is what got me through the last few weeks, and that was i wanted that feeling, that feeling, that i've finished my thesis, its in my hand and i'm submitting it. it was when TG handed it in that really spurned me on, and all i could think about was, that i want to be in the same position as her, of having it handed it in. so just keep focusing on that moment when its all done and you just have to get it printed. do the best you can.

and i know what you mean, it gets depressing, knowing that everyday is the same, but its not the same, because everyday is one step closer to you getting out of jail and getting your thesis finished. just think of it as jail time, and you might aswell work on your thesis, cause you cant do anything else

it is perfectly normal to feel overwelmed. so just focus on one thing and get it to a level where its satisfactory and move onto the next bit. if you really cant do something with a section, leave it for awhile, and come back to it later on.
and please make sure you are taking adequate breaks and treating yourself for some relaxation from time to time. its a marathon, not a sprint, so you need to look after your mind and body aswell.

we're with you every step of the way! just do your best, and leave it at that. it wont be perfect, its not meant to be perfect, just do as much as you can.

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 07:33:02 =======
Aw thanks Lara, wise words!!!:-) You are right, of course. I've been thinking about when it's finished, it's the best thing to keep in my mind at this stage. This time next week it'll be in. I will grit my teeth and get things properly finished in a printable state from now until Wed. Anyway, as you say, what else is there to do but just do it. Of course it'll be imperfect, but better to submit an imperfect thesis than an unfinished one (or none at all.... ooh, that doesn't bear thinking about).

I felt like I'd seriously had enough yesterday. I'd slept badly the night before and was so sick of it that I wanted to ignore the whole thing. I had some library and domestic stuff to do elsewhere, so I did that. I needed the book to get some pics for my thesis so it was all stuff that had to be done now anyway, but it gave me a break and I felt better afterwards. I started doing some image stuff last night but something weird happened and it started repaginating furiously then crashed, which gave me a shock, so I called it a day after that, in case I ended up messing up what I'd already done through tiredness.

I've been up for ages already (I was up with the blackbird, it's so nice to listen to.). Hehehe I'm the only user online! What a lonely trail I'm plodding at the moment but this time next week will be different! :-) Yes indeed....

Today: I must finish that chapter 4 I've been ignoring. The loathesome one.
After that, I want to get 2 more chapters into a final submittable state. Should be doable if I get on with it now....

Lara, I've been told about that 45 minute limit for concentration span. I find my mind wanders anyway around that point without me even checking the clock. It's the time limit I try to keep to for my BA teaching as well, before they start shuffling about and the glazed expressions and yawns set in. Part of this PhD thing for me has been finding out how I work, and you're right there's no point in fighting against your own learning style, you get nowhere and frustrated with yourself. Good luck with today's reading if that's today's plan!(up)

Hey Lara and Rubwy!!!!
How have u been!!! Seems like both of u have almost come to the last stages of ur wrriting up!!!! gud on u... Sorry I had dissapeared for a bit......
How is life??? :)

======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2009 13:32:32 =======
======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2009 13:31:59 =======
Hey Pari ! nice to hear from you :) how is your phd coming along?

Ruby, my thoughts are with you, as you finalise your final thesis, i'm so proud of you, working so hard! you really have been a soldier! good luck with the final submission.
yes you're right, its best to go with your own studying style. thanks :)

i'm going to madrid for the weekend for my birthday, i'm turning 31, so wanted to distract myself haha by leaving the country lol. so going with a bunch of friends. should be fun and will be nice to get away for a few days. i'm using the whole "its my birthday" excuse for a mini break. then back to studying again on tuesday. and then will study hard during march and prepare viva answers to all the viva questions. and then contact my sup in april. my 2nd sup is going away for the whole of march, so that hopefully buys me another month. i want to be on par before i contact them about my viva.

i've been trying to brush up on some spanish. i only know a few words haha. i went through a stage where i wanted to learn spanish. so i have all these books and cds. so just been going through it over the weekend.

my study plans for today are:
1. read some papers to get some ideas about the viva qs. - what would you do next.
2. make some notes for some viva questions.

i'm struggling with coming up with good answers for the viva questions. and i think it probably reflects my lack of background knowledge.

Hey Lara.....!!!!
Gr8 idea to go away for ur birthday..... I guess its the perfect time to take a break and recharge all ur energies!!!! It is soooo important to take a mental break... or else sometimes it is sooo easy for the PhD to bog one down ..isnt it??? Madrid.... sounds soooo interesting!!! are u going with a lot of ur friends???
One of my friends just finshed her viva a month ago... and she also had this huge list of questions that she didnt have answers for.... but then after preparing the questions she looked up at the answers and she was soooo brilliant on her viva day.... It is important to ask the right questions... coz all ur answers will stem from there... So yeah!!! girl... u r on the road to success.......
Yeah!!!my PhD has been going on well..... trying to make the most of the first year and having a lot of fun outside Uni.... hehehe!!! Naughty me I know!!!!;-) But, I have some gud results..... but now I have to sit and analyse the results and that is taking a lot of time and energy.. plus I also have to use some statistics for ananlysis.... and U wont belive how much I suck at stats!!!!
Gud luck with the Questions......!!
Rubwy.... how r u grl??

Hello there!

Just to say I submitted ok yesterday afternoon, thank goodness!!!! I had to print it out on Friday and take it to the binders, then picked it up yesterday lunchtime to deliver to Research HQ. That made it a few hours before my official deadline, which was cutting it a bit fine, I suppose. It's all been a bit strange. I was really pleased with myself on Friday, though I was instructed to go straight home to sleep after printing it, as I looked so pale and knackered and felt quite sick from lack of sleep. I was still pleased with myself on Saturday, but by Sunday I started wondering what mistakes I'd made on top of the ones I actually know about, what the examiners would pick up on etc. I dreamed that I accidentally switched my bag of theses on the bus with someone's Tesco bag of food shopping so I got to Research HQ to submit on Monday with no theses and it was too late to sort out, but that didn't happen in real life, luckily!

I feel a bit flat now, to be honest. People keep congratulating me, but it doesn't really feel like I've achieved anything at the moment as it's not completed yet. I've slept a huge amount in the last few days, as all the stress and days with only 4 hours sleep affects you eventually. It's quite weird knowing I can have normal weekends again like other people without always having the thesis niggling away in the back of my mind making me feel guilty.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to celebrating properly this week and forgetting about that thesis for a few weeks at least!! Is that possible or does it still haunt you, I wonder??

Lara, thank you so much for you for your encouragement in the last few weeks, it's really helped! :-) And Armedaf and Heifer too, it makes such a difference to know you're not completely isolated in this weird academic rite of passage. Apparently my viva should be around late April/May, so I'll be swotting up at the same time as you probably.

Hope Lara had a great birthday in Madrid and that work is going ok for everyone else! (up)

Congratulations Ruby!
Thats fab news.
Hope you have a nice rest now and forget about the thesis for a bit!
xx:-)