miss spacey! that makes alot of sense!! i agree. the lab work and the data analysing is the most time consuming in science phds....

its very difficult to compare science phds with non science phds. like chalk and cheese really.

sounds like writing is a different kettle of fish, in humanties and law type phds. that makes alot of sense what you said.

you've really nailed it!

I'm with you Lara, most of my friends completed within three months and they had great theses, plenty publications as well!

I think providing you;

1)Have a detailed thesis plan agreed with your sup

2)Have all you data collected and analyzed

there should be no reason why a 3 month write up is unrealistic goal.

i think presuming that you were always motivated, had a deadline, no unexpected events happening and a cooperating supervisor, i would give a month for each chapter if you are writing from scratch so about 6 months. 3 months if you had read all relevant literature and knew your stuff. am inclined to agree with aloha's 9 months to a year. i think that allows for life to go on while writing up and accomodates unexpected life events, motivation changes and waiting around for your supervisor. my aim was 6 months, now i think it will be more like 9.

in the last three months i have found that even when i meet my deadlines, my supervisor keeps taking me back to stuff. my reaction to deadlines has also changed for one of being the person who always meets deadlines to going numb before deadlines and not being able to work at all til after the deadline - especially if it is my supervisor's deadline. am ok with my own deadlines. in terms of hour many hours you put in, i have found mine to be roughly the same throughout. only that i'll get down and write towards a deadline and therefore feel like am doing more than when i was reading.

am in humanities - if that makes a difference.

Yes, that's realistic. The closer you get to completing and the more scrupulous your supervisors are, the more you realise you have to do. The last thing you want to do is to re-write sections after examination.

I agree with Aloha. I started a writing-up timetable a considerable time ago. My supervisor feedback meant that I had to totally redraft 4 of my main chapter, and largely start from scratch again. That pushed my timetable back considerably. Sure if all goes well and your supervisor is 100% behind what you're doing then 3-4 months may be realistic (for a full-timer), but if not expect to allow considerable extra time.

And Jojo's experience also reflects mine. I'm humanities too which might make a difference, but redrafting can be required in all disciplines. This can take longer than unexpected, depending on how long a supervisor takes to give feedback and how severe that feedback is.

ANG, I'm with you too! what you said makes alot of sense.

i think the trouble is comparing writing up time between science and humanities based phds.

and like you said, some people are starting from scratch, others have rough sketches of the chapters, and others have papers already written, and so their core content would have already been approved by the supervisor. but of course, corrections will still need to be done.

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ANG, are you doing a science Phd? (sorry I've forgotten)

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Aloha, what type of Phd are you doing?

It is not as simple as whether you are writing up a science or a humanities PhD - it is a hugely complex undertaking and as such requires determination, attention to detail and a pragmatic approach.

Yes, and I already had a published paper and significant material that was ready to slot into chapters. Actually turning them into coherent chapters though is a totally different undertaking.

Aloha and Bilbo, you both are right. writing a thesis, is an enourmous task, no matter which discipline...and takes a hella of a long time.

in the words of the angel or whatever it was, says to John Constantine. in the film Constantine... "you're f***d" - lol that's how i feel. but right now, i'm so beyond caring.

reading the book Authoring a phd by Patrick Dunleavy, shows how difficult writing a big thesis really is. but we all just have to give it our best shot, and see what the examiners say, and worst case, in my personal situation, either i fail, or get told to rewrite it again, and have 18 months to do so.

Bilbo, that's right, turning papers into chapters is not as easy as my supervisor led me to believe!

Just to add my comment having done it - I wrote it up full time in 3 months - that was after the final data analysis was complete - but that was incredibly hard graft - however it is possible.

it really depends on the person - althougha Major part of it was my supervisor, she would take a draft any time and turn it round in a day - if you can get that you can get powered through it. that said even if they take a while there is always more that can be done i.e. hand in one chapter start on the next and just don't stop until its done.

So basically it is possible to write up in 3 months but don't expect it to be easy - on the plus side it gets it over quicker which is a major bonus

S

Come to think of it, it should only take 10 minutes to write a thesis from scratch. Yeah, all you have to do its write a couple thousand words a second! easy, in fact I've just written up three PhD's, walked the dog, had a cup of tea...and all before lunch! lol

So what do you say 'submit by September club' lets just finish them by this afternoon and go out and play!

@Lara yeah I'm a slave to the science