I'd recommend (1) putting it on any list of errors that you spot as you read through (typos etc.) and taking copies of that list into the viva to hand to your examiners; and (2) also taking a printout of the figure with you, in case the examiners ask to see it on the day.

I took in a list of my errors, some of which they'd spotted too. It was all fine. And I made a slight pigs ear out of some of my figure/graph/table captions, which didn't trouble them, and was easy to fix in post-viva corrections. So don't worry :p

I'm a part-time humanities student, and part-time students don't teach in my department. Which is a shame, because it means we miss out on the experience. The teaching is doled out to the full-timers. Though there would be practical problems for some, in coming in to do the teaching.

Good luck for the last push!

There are some post-doc RA positions. My husband was on such a contract for years, until being upgraded to a Research Fellow. And lots of other people in his group are still officially post-doc RAs.

I'd go for it too, especially because the job advert lists a PhD as desirable, so they are looking for someone of that experience/calibre, even if they might technically accept someone without the PhD.

Just took delivery of my hard bound theses, all printed and bound yesterday, following my completing the corrections last week. They look lovely! There will be a slight delay before my final submission, partly cos sup's away, partly cos my viva convenor's away, who needs to formally sign off the corrections by receiving the hard bound copy, and forwarding it to registry with a note.

But that's all just a formality now. Did I say the hard bound copies look lovely? 8-)

I was really tempted to burn the lot about 18 months to 2 years ago! But I kept going.

Now that I've passed my viva, completed my corrections, and am just awaiting the hard bound copies and formal signing off later this month I don't quite know what I'm going to do with all my research stuff. It's built up into quite a few piles at home (I work from home, as a part-time student), and I think I'll be putting it away in a cupboard. But not burning it. Well I might shred some old drafts for fun. But that's about as far as I'll go down the path of wanton destruction :p

This does sound as though you're reading too much, and if you don't adapt to reading more the essential things you may find the work-load hard to manage long term, as the PhD kicks in, and the stress levels rise. You will also increasingly need to juggle both research and ongoing reading.

Your supervisor sounds concerned, and I agree with their perspective. Why are you reading the extra papers? Are you worried you will miss something that they cover? No-one is going to expect you to cover the literature in such great depth, even for a PhD.

I took the opposite approach in my Masters. I'm long-term seriously ill, with very few good hours a week, so I focused on the essential things, and learned not to worry about all the rest. I managed a part-time Masters (over 2 years) at typically just 5 hours a week. And I got a distinction. So it is possible to get a very good pass, at a much lower workload. And I went on to a part-time PhD, again on a small number of hours a week, and I've recently passed my viva.

Is there a student advisor you could speak to at your university to discuss your working hours? They are really really long. I'm very worried if you keep that rate up throughout the PhD.

Good luck!

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I wouldn't worry about that possible question. If it happens, deal with it there and then. Give an honest answer, and say it's the only reference of its kind.

I personally think it's bonkers advice to reread every reference. It's adding a lot of work for IMHO very little gain. Also overloading your brain with info like that could backfire, if you start to forget details of what you should know i.e. your thesis. Your viva should focus on your thesis, your contribution, not on your far-too-detailed knowledge of other papers and books.

Yes I'm in the humanities, but my husband completed his PhD in the sciences, and he prepared the same way as me, and agrees.

I didn't memorise my references, or even try. I have significant memory problems due to brain damage from a progressive neurological illness. I can barely remember my thesis. But that's what I focused on, and that's what they asked me about. I wouldn't recommend taking in references with you (well apart from the list in your thesis which you should be taking anyway).

Either length of answer would be fine. With a shorter one the examiners can develop the line of questioning further if they want to. With a longer one you have more chance to show your confidence about that particular issue. Even that can still lead to further follow-on questions.

What you don't want to do is give a very abrupt yes/no type answer! But equally it's perfectly ok to dodge a question, as I said in an earlier post to you, if you're not happy answering something.

Good luck next week! I tried to predict what my examiners would ask, and worried about some potential lines of questioning. In the end they asked me totally different things, but things I was still able to answer, either citing specific examples from my research/thesis, or going on my gut instinct based on my research journey/findings.

Oh poor Alpacalover. I know how you feel though. I got a soul-destroying response to my writing from my supervisor, which totally knocked my confidence. He was rather mystified because I'd sailed through a Masters and had produced a journal paper (single authored) by this time. Personally I think the scale of the chapters in a humanities PhD was a big part of the problem for me. Plus problems to do with the nature of my evidence and methodology, and how best to present that. And the fact that I was an ex-scientist trying to write in the arty humanities style - not to be underestimated as a problem!

Anyway I got him to give me really constructive feedback on what exactly was wrong, and what I needed to fix. Then I rewrote to suit that. And it's been fine ever since. And, of course, I passed my viva 8-)

Hi 404. I don't control the drop from 15 to 12. It just happens sometimes, either because the inflammation in my brain is temporarily lower, or because my steroid dose is really high. And then it will usually go back to the 15 hours norm, day after day after day.

I go to bed every night around 11pm and try to go to sleep, even if I only got up 5 hours earlier! And it usually works, at least until about 4pm. Then I might potter about. Then go back to sleep some more. I sleep particularly well after 8am, though that's not an option for most folk!

Good luck.