Good luck for Monday Lara. Definitely try to relax on Sunday, and chill out. But all the best for the big day itself. Fingers crossed for you.

I use EndNote, and entered everything that I read as I read. Some of the things I had copies of (photocopies, or PDFs, or the original books), others I just entered them because I read them and wanted a record of that. I don't generate my bibliography automatically, but found the EndNote database incredibly handy last night for going through and adding dozens more references to my bibliography in addition to those already in there due to being in footnotes etc. I'd forgotten quite a lot of the stuff I'd read, but thankfully EndNote had remembered it for me, together with summaries. You can even make notes in the EndNote entries, summarising your thoughts on a paper/book, noting why it is relevant etc.

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Me checking in again. Been spending the last few hours going through my EndNote database and adding to my bibliography those books/articles etc. I think were also important to forming my methodology/approach/context but aren't referenced directly in my footnotes. Has increased the bibliography quite a bit, and is a fairer reflection of what I've read through.

Slight avoidance activity, from getting on with plugging a few gaps in my thesis and tackling the final final scary rewrites. But it's got to be done sometime, so might as well be now. Think I might even tackle the acknowledgements soon. Can't quite believe I'm nearly there. Well 6+ months away, but part-time, so it's not that long. Calm thoughts!

Any other night-time workers?

EDIT: Ok acknowledgements written now. Guess I'll have to get on with the proper stuff next time. But it's nice to see that bit done. 8-)

Do you have a list of what you've been reading? Have you actively been taking notes on things? (that's not essential btw but helps). Any ideas about the rough shape that your literature review might take, even a mind-map breaking down the subject?

I wouldn't worry unduly. The early months - and indeed often the first year - are about finding your place in the subject. You'll need to agree with your supervisor what to produce when, but you should certainly be able to come up with a summary of what you've been doing. It would also be good if you could discuss your views of what you've read.

Good luck!

Speech recognition requires a lot of training before it's anywhere close to accurate, so you'd have to factor that in. And even then it can produce a lot of mistakes, particularly if you are using words it doesn't understand, like people's names, obscure spellings etc.

I gave up on it, even though it should be able to help me a lot. I just found it better to type in really short bursts! But recording ideas works really well for me. I can speak my ideas far more fluently than I can type them. Then I can replay the recording and type up the ideas (rather than use speech recognition). I've usually forgotten much of what I'd thought of by then, and am quite impressed by some of the ideas I came up with! Thank goodness for the recording.

Glad to see you're enjoying it. Good luck with the rest of the course.

I completed a part-time Masters some years ago. In my course there was very little difference between part-timers and full-timers, except that full-timers completed their dissertation intensively over the summer months, whereas part-timers had up to a year to finish. That suited me very well, and I enjoyed the course enormously. Hope you enjoy yours as much.

Bit depressing, but hopefully still alive basically. I've got a progressive neurological disease which could kill me at any time. I don't know what the future will hold for me, except it's likely to be worse symptom-wise than now. Because of the illness working in academia - even part-time, for example OU tutoring - is totally out for me. We never have careers discussions at my university meetings or monitoring sessions! But if I'm still able to I'd like to be doing independent research, producing the odd paper or two. That would be nice.

That sounds daft about not being allowed on campus for essential support/treatment. I took a medical break 2 years ago and was never told I couldn't come onto campus. Yes I lost my library borrowing, but other than that I could still have meetings if need be with staff and support people. I would still recommend contacting the university counsellor and seeing if they can help you, and don't be deterred from seeking their help on campus. And this has gone on a long time. As I said I would recommend getting a second opinion from a GP on treatment. Medication in the short term can be very beneficial, while you seek a longer-term solution to things. But it's been so long now that your brain chemistry may have changed and benefit from drugs. I'm on anti-depressants for anxiety (either a result of my neurological disease or the aggressive treatment I have to take for it) and they make a huge difference to me, at an extremely low dose.

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I do, for disability reasons - partly because I lose control of my hands/arms a lot and can't type, partly because my memory is really shot and I can speak things more quickly than I can type them up and forget them. I will often record my ideas for a section of a writing, that I have in my head but can't type up quickly enough. Or I will record my notes about what I've just read, again ditto. I also use the same technology to write talks, speaking them and recording them, then typing up the notes/content from that.

I also have speech recognition software, again for disability reasons, but it's very error prone and would be particularly bad at something like the lit review with all the unusual spellings of names. I hoped to rely on it if my arms stopped working too much, but it was too error prone and I spent even longer correcting things. Instead I've just had to work in very short bursts. Somehow I've managed to write my thesis despite all this.

I'd try a different counsellor. University counsellors are separate from GP/NHS ones, and you'd be able to see them far more frequently. They are also experienced with what students need to produce and should be able to offer you better advice on how to get through this.

Your GP sounds like a twat :) Sorry, but if you are still this badly affected after this many months then medication might be able to help. Could you see another GP at the practice? Asking for a second opinion doesn't hurt.

Anyway it sounds as though you've taken positive steps today, so good luck with them continuing. I often have to return to my studies after extended periods away due to progressive neurological illness. I make up lists of things to be getting on with and then pick off the easier looking things. That way I build up my stamina. Hard, but it works for me.

Good luck.

Have a look at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/equalities/1-2-8.html for the disability policy of your university. They can do a lot to help you, but you need to contact the relevant people.

My university has a Disability Services division and I registered with them early on in my part-time PhD, and they helped me apply for DSA (Disabled Students' Allowance) so I got lots of assistive gadgets which helped a bit to level the playing field with non-disabled students. I've also been very up-front with my supervisors about my medical situation. We've largely been able to work around things, but it could be an issue for my viva (upcoming in the next 12 months - eek!).

Good luck.

Have you considered speaking to a counsellor at the university? They are there to help people with a huge range of emotional problems, some minor, some more serious like yours. They don't tell you what to do but help you find a way forward, and a way of coping. Please look into this if you haven't done already. It could help a lot.

Also are you getting adequate treatment for the depression? For example anti-depressants, or CBT? If what you have isn't working well enough go back to the GP and explain the situation you're in. You need to get proper help from the medical authorities.

But definitely look into seeing a counsellor. They're there to help you. Good luck.

Been sitting up for a couple of hours. Now I've finished my last database I have to write up the analysis and plug a few gaps in my thesis. Just tackled the shortest (and easiest) gap. So that's one down. 2 and a bit whoppers to go.

Also have to start tackling my final thesis rewrites, but need to do that at another time of day when I can work at a desk and spread lots of bits of scribbled thesis printouts all over it!