Thanks Patience, I love the postdoc worries as I am sure this will be me in a few years lol. As for dogged-perseverence I think that is one (?) quality that I have considering the obstacles that have graced my PhD journey. But I am still going along with it so we will see if it pays off!

How is everyone progressing on their theses? How many chapters left to do in what time? Keep working at it however slowly - as they say the tortoise won the race over the hare!

Ok enough tea (children just dropped off with childminder), work to do now (up)

Hi Ady, I have similar concerns aswell - doesn't this go with doing a PhD?! When I started writing up I was worried whether I could write that much, yet I was overworded. I set similar tasks to those described by Pink Numbers. I set out a timeline in a gantz table to keep me on track and luckily I was ahead of schedule. Now I worry about the thesis being good enough to attain a doctorate. Is it technical enough? Do the stats and figures hold up? Is it unique with a contribution to knowledge? Have I missed out some fundamental refs? Can I defend this effectively in a viva? Do I know enough of the broader area? Can I remember it all at the viva (I am really bad at remembering names lol)? I try to keep focused on completing the thesis as I know that these thought are there at the back of my mind all the time. I have to push these doubts aside to be productive. Having hubby and you lovely PhDers to use as a sounding board does help no end. But only the sups and examiners will declare if the thesis is 'worthy'. As long as I submit and attend the viva I have a chance and what will be - will be. Once it is submitted, I will feel more relaxed and this will benefit the whole family, gosh I am looking forward to that day!

So I guess what I am rambling on about is, we all have doubts about the work with similarities too. Believe in yourself (will try to heed this one myself lol) that you can submit. Go for it (up)

Fabulous news, well done! Enjoy your holiday Dr Rick!

Managed to annotate and add in ch 4 excel graphs into the Word thesis. Not too much trouble with the layout of the chapter, fantastic!

As I am taking the 'tortoise' approach to this, I am finishing this now and will resume tomorrow with ch 5 graphs, oh yippee!

ill-placed suggests to me that the ploar bears are in the wrong place to conduct the penguin research. What about 'inappropriate'?

Afternoon all! I guess some of you will be putting the pens down for the evening but mine is about to get picked up lol. Sorry to hear about your sups session Batfink. I can hear the head banging loud and clear.

I have had a productive weekend and now this evening I have graphs to annotate and add into the chapters. I will start with ch 4 but have 5 and 6 to do aswell! We will see how the evening goes and how many expletives I can muster while importing Excel graphs into Word :$

Wow, that is not long to go, just 20 days! Best get preparing for it lol. Let us know what your technique is and how it goes. I am hoping to submit soon so will be following your footsteps on the viva prep journey. Good luck (up)

Hi everyone! Been a bit quiet on the forum as I have been busy with the thesis. Over the weekend I have completed the acknowledgements, symbols and abbreviations list, ch 3 graphs annotations and ch 7 discussion editing and clarification. I have updated the contents with page numbers up to ch 4.

So to finish off I have graphs for ch 4,5,6 and 7 to annotate (cut and paste from results) and insert into each chapter. Then finally update the contents page. I am hoping to get this done in the evenings this week. Once done it will be put in PDF format for printing for me to look over while my sups can view and comment the final version. Bit worried that I can see the finish line but my sups may add a few extra hurdles along the way lol.

Thanks Ady for the CV and letter advice, I shall update mine with this in mind! I could do it after submission so it is ready for when we move late summer :-)

Well done Fm with the job, hope it is going well (up)

Hi Ady, I did just the same as you for my sups comments. He provided them in track changes and I had his doc open and my thesis, working between the two. Some of his comments I added as he had suggested, some were modified versions and some I argued against! I guess the quicker, alternative is to go over his comments via track changes and then cut n paste the entire section into your thesis, deleting the old section. This is assuming that your sups returned version is exactly the same as the one you have. In my case the sups version may be slightly older if it has been a few weeks before it was returned to me!

My other sup suggested having the file in 'dropbox' in a shared access file. My sup could look at it and make changes to the current doc rather than older versions sent via email. The only major drawbacks of this is 1. not knowing what changes have been made and 2. accidental deletion by sups!!! I use dropbox to share but do not keep the current version there incase it gets lost.

I will look at this thread for any alternative ideas too.

I have added a glossary as suggested by my supervisory team just to add clarity to the thesis. I have just been compiling mine this weekend and it has highlighted where I have used different abbreviations for the same thing! It has been a useful exercise for consistency throughout the thesis if nothing else. If you are questioning whether you should include it, ask your sups? I am undecided what to call mine: 'glossary' or 'list of abbreviation'?

Hi there, I cannot give you any specific details as I have not studied there but this link gives some insight. As far as I can see you need to contact individual institutions regarding the doctorate you want to study, i.e. there is no central processing office.

http://www.findaphd.com/student/study/study-24.asp

Hope this helps!

Hi Slowmo, I am due submission around May although hoping for April. I have no plans or thoughts on what to do next. I am PT and was working FT during the first 4 years and have been looking after my babies for the last 2 years. My career break (for children) is soon to be over when this PhD is completed! I am reluctant to think it will be over following the viva though as I am sure there will be corrections to sort out afterwards. I am hoping that the PhD will help me to change career direction so that I can use this qualification but I do have a clinical career to fall back on. I would be interested in clinical research or postdoc research of some sort. Not sure about academia but am open to this option too. To add an extra dimension my hubby is due his last career relocation in the summer and we don't know where that will be so this has a bearing on me getting a job. I will move with him and wherever we end up will be the area I will look for employment. All I can say is that it needs to interest me and pay well to cover childcare costs!!!

Well done Star-shaped, excellent working today (up)

Ady - (sprout) usually correspond to lots of hot air!!!! Sorry to hear things are not going well and that itself deflates motivation. Good idea to do a few scripts each day so that time is left for you to focus on your work in small easily acheivable goals. I think motivation is a rollercoaster in the PhD world, fab one day and flagging the next.

I hope to get the graphs annotated this evening. If I get any inserted into the thesis will be a bonus!

Its funny that I have felt the imposter syndrome for the last five years of being a PhD student! I always wonder if I will actually be able to do this, ie am I academically capable and is my project up to the standard? As previously posted I always assume that my sups would let me know if I couldn't acheive. As for presenting I also have had people take notes, comment about how good my presentation was and yet I was quaking in my heels on stage. I have never got over the nerves of presenting, yet I have (so far) always been well reviewed. I guess some nervousness is good for the performance and gives a little intellectual 'edge'.

I think it is good to be aware of your research, your knowledge and any limitations in it. People will generally ask questions out of genuine interest rather than making anyone look stupid, a chairperson should be on hand to deal with those idiots! If you are unsure of the answers take a moment to have a quick think and if you cannot answer the question then say so.

I am sure you will be fine, just relax as much as possible and enjoy the experience!

Evening anyone?.....?......no, oh well just me then!

After a fun/stressed day 'reaction' toddler is miraculously ok again but we don't know what triggers the reaction.....meds are here on standby.  Hopefully it is one of those odd things that she will quickly grow out of.

Overall discussion reviewed again and unless I spend another ?000 words on the subject, the current explanations will have to do. Will be down to the sups to review now.

Word count level at the max limit so ok there (up).

Goal for tomorrow is to start annotating and adding in the last 40ish graphs.

Ady - the CV overhaul sounds like a good idea, I think mine will need addressing very soon as I hope to get my career moving again later this year.  We will be moving late summer (hubby's work) so hoping to resettle for the last time (3 moves in 2.5 years is impressive lol). Any advice would be gratefully received :-)