It's possible to apply before you have your Masters. I got my PhD place before having my Masters results, and the university didn't actually ever ask for the final results, they just judged the application on the partial results and references I had at that stage.

The other thing is that you can go back over articles quickly with specific questions in mind. For example, I've needed to come up with a few references later in my thesis for a specific point and although I can't remember all the articles very clearly, a quick keyword search of the pdf files reminds me which ones covered that point.

Thanks - have a great Christmas too!

I used methods my supervisors have never used because, as you say, it was the best approach for the research questions and the data. I got training in the methods and managed to find a research network at another uni that I could join, which helped immensely in terms of feeling that I had some input from people experienced in the methods. My supervisors were fine about it but I can imagine this is something that would depend on the relationship with your supervisors and their style.

Good luck! I don't know if this will help you, but when I was struggling in the early days of my PhD, I used to ask myself 'if I wasn't doing a PhD, what would I want to be doing?'. And the answer was usually, 'a PhD'. I asked myself this to try to re-capture a bit of the buzz about actually doing what I wanted, because I found myself feeling overwhelmed and unhappy in the early stages. I think lots of people struggle with the self-doubts you have described.

It is tiring at the start, when you're doing a lot of reading and trying to process new information and work out where your own contribution will be. You'll probably feel better once you have a bit of a plan and can start some research.

I think the instruction to 'think critically' must be one of the most common things said by PhD supervisors! My uni even offers a workshop on critical thinking, as it is one of the more challenging aspects of learning to work to an academic standard. Perhaps your supervisor's style is to give you feedback on the areas to work on, rather than to tell you about the things you already do well? As long as a supervisor is engaging with your work and giving constructive feedback, I don't think you should worry too much - he is probably just trying to help you develop.

Oh, that is very annoying that they have let it go past your proposed hand-in date - I would have thought they might have felt a bit more pressure to get on with it, or at least to negotiate dates with you!

I also know someone whose supervisor didn't read their thesis - another member of the department ended up helping out on the quiet, just to support the student.

Hope you hear from them soon, Zutterfly, and hope it's good to go when they get back to you.
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Sorry to hear that, Zutterfly. Are you working to a particular hand-in date, i.e. do your supervisors have an idea of the overall timescale? I'm seeing mine soon to talk about a timeline from now on in, which I'm hoping will help as we'll all be aware of an 'end date' for the whole thing.

I'm ok in terms of putting one foot in front of the other with my thesis, Hugh, but I certainly don't want to do any of the other things that go along with being an academic right now! I'm not sure how normal it is, but I can't see me ever wanting to promote the thing once I'm done with it!

I had to chase and obtain references up front for one PhD application I made. The good side to that was that the references were obviously sent to me, so I sent copies of them with my next, successful, PhD application. If you find you're applying for and not getting PhD places at this stage, I would definitely reconsider whether there's any way of doing a Masters. I know you feel you've already got all the relevant skills, but having a Masters suddenly opened the PhD door to me in a way that years of applying with other qualifications/experience hadn't.

Good luck, faded. I'm very glad to hear you have the support of your supervisor and your internal examiner on this. It does sound like it has become completely personal for the external examiner. I think everyone bar this one examiner is on your side here.

I copy and paste abstracts into a rolling document, along with any stand-out sentences or ideas from each paper that I particularly want to quote, and work my way through the document when I'm writing.

I think there needs to be better support available for people who experience mental ill-health during their PhDs, whether the problem pre-dated the PhD or started during it. There is too much of a culture of acceptance that anxiety and depression are just normal things that happen during the PhD. I remember during my PhD induction, a newly-appointed member of staff (who'd just finished her own PhD) gave a talk on what to expect from the PhD, and she actually named depression as something to expect! Fortunately, a more senior academic got up after her, and pointed out that depression was not just to be accepted, and encouraged us to seek support if we became depressed.