Follow up with your supersivor: just make sure they organised the viva (as opposed to just forget about it for a few months). No names mentioned.
If they have sent the invitations to the examiners, you can't do anything about that other than wait patiently.

Hi,

I submitted "first draft" to my supervisors middle of July. Of course they've seen all chapters individually before. After I received feedback I sent it for proofreading, printing and binding, and I was ready to submit middle of September.

So, two months, assuming there are no major issues in the final draft.

Hi Nochoice,

Don't worry. They will not fail you. Your supervisor wouldn't allow you that. Worse it can happen is giving you some boring corrections you will have to do in this chapter.

Also, you should not receive any feedback before your viva. The fact that you learned about "problems" is like a cold-war tactic.

Do you have any publications from the PhD?

I agree with your supervisor that you should be in the office during normal working hours since you are receiving funding (it is a job). First of all, we learn by "osmosis": exchanging ideas with people who do something similar. Secondly, you should be involved with what happens in the department: teaching, marking, presentations. lunch hour lectures etc. Thirdly, it will help you organise your working hours. Seems like you are not very productive as it is now. I am not a morning person myself, but during my PhD I aimed for an 11:00 - 20:00 (or similar).

You should always keep in mind that your supervisor is not there to tell you what to do, or how to do it. I am pretty sure that many people here will agree: many of us were supervised by an academic who had a vague idea on the specifics of our topic (especially interdisciplinary PhDs).

Regarding the analysis, unless your supervisor is a statistician, then I am pretty sure you will have to read and read, and talk to other people to come up with the best statistical or analytical framework. There are seminars in the graduate school that provide face-to-face advice based on your data. If they can't help you, they give you contact details of someone who can. Also, that's exactly the point of going to conferences and publishing. You get feedback from a different point of view. I once received a rejection from one reviewer because of my statistical analysis: it was the best thing that ever happened, as my supervisor was finally convinced that I was right.

Anyway, this is a support forum, and what I am saying is that you really need to put the effort.

Excellent advice already.

I want to echo jennypenny. Open the dissertation template and type the sections. Then move down to subsections and paragraphs. Bullet point each paragraph in a sentence. Getting the structure right is half the job done. If you are not familiar with the rules, get a book on scientific writing. Then move on producing the graphs and tables. The rest is pretty much filling in the gaps.

Keep notes as you read for the lit review. Create a table in excel : Study, Sample, Methodology, Results, Comments and fill it in as you go along. Use a reference software such as Mendeley.

Hi emaa,

I also had to give a presentation ( i prepared a powerpoint with bullet points). I started with two very general slides (why is the topic important, and timeliness of research). Then one slide about the aims, followed by originality novelty and contribution to knowledge. Then I talked about the methodology- very fast just a flow diagramme (my methodology was two big chapters, so I had to just mention the basic things I did). I concluded with two slides on main findings and implications. My PhD was super-duper multidisciplinary, so I am not sure how I would describe my area, possibly social science? Maybe someone from your discipline can give better advice.

I wouldn't think it is a big deal, don't mention the PhD at all, put it in your CV as an RA post, which is not far from the truth.

Good luck

It would help if you have a clear structure.

Also, summarise the studies in tables, it is easier to compare and you don't have to describe each study. A lit review is one of the hardest chapters to write well, I was probably working on it for a good 9 months...

I would say it is too long.

If a PhD is 6 main chapters plus introduction and conclusion, then each main chapter should be around 10.000 words (did a science PhD, maybe it is different in other disciplines). I broke my methodology into two chapters of 10K.

My priorities would be:

1. Funding
2. A supervisor I enjoy working with (regardless of fame status and titles)
3. A topic I am interested in (but generally you grow to love your PhD)
4. The location of the university
...maybe some other points...
5. University ranking in the specific area I am doing my PhD

Mine is about 1/4 of the total PhD, so yeah it is one of the longest and hardest chapters to deliver in a satisfactory quality.

First of all, clarify until when you can receive funding.

Then see what are your options (apply for other small grands? or go self-funded for the last year?)

In any case, not been able to provide your studentship is no excuse of treating you so badly.

Hi hager,

still the description is not clear. You need to explain what is your study design, which are your predictors, what is your outcome.... Is it qualitative or quantitative?

I would suggest to read "Discovering statistics with SPSS" from Andy Field. It helped me loads to get started with statistics. Also, since you have students in classrooms, your observations are not independent, so you will probably have to use multilevel modelling.

If you give more details, I might be able to be more specific.

Yeah, same here published the cr@p out of my thesis, made a systematic literature review, somehow all slipped out of my mind.

I feel I can't even answer basic questions, like "what is your contribution to the knowledge", I somehow cannot think a coherent thought, I get stressed and start stuttering, unable to make sentences.

Also, my mind is fully on the new project I am working on, the PhD seems SO OLD-boring-out of fashion now.

All the best to you too. Let us know how it goes :)