I'm in a similar position Ellebelle! I still have a data chapter to do analysis for and then write up, haven't done my discussion chapter yet, plus everything else is still in need of serious revisions! My final deadline is 31st Sept, but I'm training/working full time from the end of June onwards! But I do know of people who have been in similar or even worse positions and still managed to pass with minor corrections! My supervisor says he wrote his whole thesis in the 2 weeks before it's due, he doesn't recommend that approach but it can be done!

HI Nautilus, sounds like you have done a lot today.


I have one data chapter which I am still putting graphs together for so that is only in it's infancy, and then my discussion/conclusions chapter to be written from scratch. But I also have revisions to do to all of my other chapters, I did my intro in January and my supervisor still has it! He says it needs a lot of work and I should concentrate on my data chapters first but I just wish I could have one chapter that is properly 'finished'!

I have three supervisors so it takes a very long time to get a document looked at by all of them!

How much time do you have left Nautius?

You can work and search for work kikotherdog, you just have to tell your funding agency as it is likely that you are not allowed to take your PhD funding while you are employed. So they will stop paying you the PhD stipend and you can take the job. At least that's how I understand it!

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a productive Monday! I am still fiddling with my chapter before I send it to my supervisor, but I've also addressed half the comments I got back for another chapter from another supervisor which shouldn't take me too long. Then that will be two sent away by tomorrow and I can concentrate on my final data analysis. Two weeks left of full-time PhD work before I only have weekends and evenings...eek! I say full time.. I work 2 days a week elsewhere so it's kind of part time already hah.

Can you not reprint the poster before the conference with your preferred graph? If not I wouldn't worry about it, posters are for showing general themes, I doubt anyone will look that closely to see one or two data points that aren't meant to be there. I've done posters and then realised later that I've used the wrong units on graphs etc and no one have ever noticed.

Hi Marg! I hope you managed to get some motivation and meet your goals =)

I am still on the chapter I wanted to finish, I need to finish the discussion as I was working at my pt job all day yesterday and was too tired to work in the evening. So this morning's task is to read what I have got for the discussion, and modify it and add a few more references in to finish it off.

Throughout my PhD I was really good at 'switching off' as soon as I left the office. This is deteriorating now I'm in the final weeks! So I know how you feel, my partner has just accepted that some days I will just not be quite with it. Although he doesn't cope well with that when he is stressed too (we are moving house and he has to deal with it all as I said I can't do anything outside my PhD and work). In the days when we are both stressed it's a bit harder, but my technique is to stick to the normal routine. Come in, cook dinner (or he cooks), eat. Watch one tv show without working, nod and pretend I'm listening to his chat, then if I need to work I sit on the sofa with my laptop while he watches tv so I still look present even if I'm in my own world hah! I don't do much talking to him about my thesis at all though, as I like to ignore problems when I'm home, but that's my weird coping mechanisms! Don't worry about your boyfriend saying you are a broken record, maybe he was just having a bad day, tell him you need to vent so that you can cope, and this is only temporary as you will be finishing soon and I'm sure he'll understand.

I'd agree with TreeofLife, when I'm having a hard time, I find it ok to bitch about it to my workmates. But when I see my partner I avoid talking about it altogether, it's my coping mechanism - if I don't talk about it I can forget about it for a short while and think of other more pleasant things! But other people need to rant - my partner is one of those! They need to just get everything off their chests. Just ask if she wants to talk about it and I'm sure she will tell you. Although you can't just pop by, you can still send things through the post to cheer her up now and then or just send a nice email or text! =)

No worries Tulip, I'm glad you are more positive too!

The internet has been down in the office all day today - which really helped me do all the boring data stuff that I have been procrastinating my way though. So that is all done now, and I addressed comments about the intro to this chapter so just need to fiddle with the discussion tonight/tomorrow and hopefully it'll be ready to send off. Internet is back on now obviously...I need to learn more self-control and not use it much during the work day!

Thanks Tulip! I feel a lot more positive today! I spend this morning sorting out my graphs for that chapter, and this afternoon I'm doing my part-time job so just having a break from that at the moment but won't get home until 6. This evening I want to replace the graphs in my chapter with the new ones I've made and finish a table that is half made. Tomorrow I'm going to finish up this chapter adapting the text of my results and discussions to the new figures and send to my supervisor (I hope!).

It sounds like you have the right idea, don't let him use you as a data-making slave! You are happy with your data and that is what matters most!

I didn't have any data at the end of my first year. In fact I don't think I had usable data until my third year! Things going wrong are a normal part of the learning process, don't blame yourself. And your supervisors' job is to answer your questions so I wouldn't feel guilty about that! They might have a simple solution to something that you would otherwise spend weeks worrying about. Do you have anyone you can talk to about your anxiety? A counsellor or a friend? A PhD is a long-hard slog and you will need all the help you can get, I started admitting when I was having a hard time to my work colleagues (I used to pretend everything was ok when it wasn't) and I feel it really helps get things into perspective again.

Hey guys I hope you don't mind me joining in but I'm in the final writing up stage too and struggling!

Tulip - do you think you need any more experiments or is it just your supervisor? Do you have another supervisor to get a second opinion? If you have enough data for your chapters I would really question whether your supervisor is doing it for your thesis or if it is for his own good - publications etc!

I am trying to finish a draft of one of my data chapters and it is dragging on and on as I keep having to go back to the raw data to fix silly mistakes I made =( I wanted this one finished two weeks ago!

I only have two weeks left until I start full-time teacher training and still have one chapter to write from scratch and every other chapter to redraft probably twice. My final deadline is end of September too...but I won't have time to work on it at all after August as I start a full-time job at the beginning of September. Sorry about the whinge - having a slight melt-down today! I hope everyone else is having a good productive day =)

I think it's hard to generalise the US as it's massive and each state is so different. I went to a conference in the north west and it had amazing public transport that was super cheap. But a lot of the other Americans from other places were amazed and said it was nothing like that where they lived. But there was a different attitude there where public transport was 'cool' whereas they said in other places it was seen as only a last resort. House types and prices will vary vastly from state to state too! And I know students here in the UK that have new cars and get starbucks...I don't know how they afford it as I don't have a car, bring my own lunches and never buy coffee and barely scrape by..depends on their priorities I guess!

Sounds tough IntoTheSpiral! I'm working two part-time jobs, and start full-time at the end of June and still trying to work on my PhD full-time and it's tough. My uni supervisor told me that I shouldn't work and just go live with my parents to write up as that's what he did...I was like...eh they live 500 miles away in separate 1 bed flats and I haven't lived at home for 10 years...plus I have a partner with a job here...he really didn't understand! So yes I agree we need to eat and live. It goes into the argument that all academics know 90% of PhD's will take the full 4 years but no one wants to fund that final year due to this silly tradition of 'writing up at your parents'...but that's another issue! Good luck to you and everyone else writing up!

Those saying house prices are cheap must not live in the South East of England (or other hotspots like Aberdeen or Bristol) where to buy a house that isn't in a dive you'd need to be earning 50k collectively at the very least. It's why I plan on moving up north as soon as I can as we have no hope of buying a house outright here =)