Our max is 80,000 words. I'll be happy to throw in the towel at 50,000.

awwww I am so happy I could help!! My pleasure!! well done!
i love your eureka moments!

My university regulations are fortunately very clear: min 80K, max 100K. I'll be relieved if I can make that lower limit. Definitely check with someone at your university (maybe in Registry) to see what that unclear regulation means.

Structuring is the hardest thing I find. Unless my chapter structure is very strong my supervisor rips my chapters to shreds and I end up starting from scratch again. Have had a very bad time with that in the past. Fortunately I'm making forward progress now. Structure does vary by discipline though. Science is much more logically top-down. I used to be a science student. Humanities (as I'm doing now) is a very different kettle of fish.

If you do cut material out do keep it for future in case you can turn it into part of a separate academic paper.

Good luck!

I wonder if my 80,000 words is a max...

I need clarification on this ASAP so that my revisions and edits are done with the right number of min/max words in mind. This could make a huge difference. Right now I have WAY too many words in draft form, but I knew that when I drafted...I am trying to edit a chapter I am so bored with I could scream. * and have**

I've taken the chapter down to its bare bones elements...and I think it says all that needs to be said, given the way I am approaching this...but its probably better to leave it for now and come back to it, since I am trying to comb a set of chapters into a coherent whole...and see if it needs any help. Plus by then I will have ( I HOPE) some answer on the min/max words and that will guide me. I have a lovely giant last chapter, with lots of good original work and I want to save as many words as I can for that...it may need to become two chapters...!

Well, the chapter structure irritation syndrome is responding to the anti-dote of chapter DESTRUCTION! Why, I am not trying to structure chapters at all--I am de-structuring them! :) Thought of in this way, the syndrome irritation decreases and actually the process becomes in its own weird way enjoyable and rewarding.