Hi all,
Goal 1 = coffee and shortbread is done, done and done again :$
Goal 2 = paper read in about three shifts while cradling feverish babies!

Next goals may have to wait til later, lol.

Ady, I would also love some chocolate cake, can we all 'virtually' have some as today seems a chocolate day!

Clarabelle - how far along are you? when are you due submission? Well done on the book reading.

It is very interesting to see all of the different layout styles and I am sure they are all correct!  I think you need to go with the general style of your discipline and with 'what fits' as the content will undoubtedly impact on layout style. Supervisors should have an influence on what has been set as a precedent before and passed of course!

Ady - I would love to try Fay Weldons approach but based on the fact that I only get one afternoon a week and evenings for writing/editing, I am doomed ;-)  Let us know if it makes a difference. My motivation is much better in the morning but my time-management is not compatible lol.  I can imagine that after a nights sleep of postulating new information the morning is a better time to capitalise on any new ideas that come up. I do find that a quiet child-free shower is an excellent time for these little queries to pop into my head  :$ Its probably best not to divulge that one to my examiners in the viva......:p

Following the weekend panic of lit review updating I have one prominent paper to read and some others to add into the refs. So my goals while refereeing the three babies are
Goal 1 = Coffee and homemade shortbread (one advantage of small children is baking :-x)
Goal 2 = Read prominent paper and appropriately cite in discussion
Goal 3 = Add new refs into bibliography
Goal 4 = Start to read other papers on desk!

Hi Pink Numbers. My thesis is science-based but I have
ch 1 Introduction with review of relevant lit and final para on aims and objectives of the thesis
ch 2 Data handling and stats overview
ch 3 Circuit design and set-up which has circuit set-up in detail and a whole host of validation methods, results discussion and conclusions
ch 4, 5 and 6 Experimental work with circuit inc aim, method, results, discussion for each chapter
ch 7 overall discussion with limitations and further work at the end

All of my lit review is in ch 1 but is broken into subsections. I guess different disciplines will require different formats.

Thanks Ady, never feels like it is going to finish, yet would love to take some pressure off me and the family if it were submitted!

I purchased a decent laptop that I do all my PhD work on. I made sure it had a large capacity to cope with all of the software on it for the next so many years of studying. It needed a webcam, speakers and mic for skype tutorials with my supervisors once I started writing up and was more remote from the uni. I also purchased an external hard-drive to save the files onto in case the laptop lets me down. I originally used flash drives (usb sticks) but found they corrupted quite easily. In the later stages I am quite paranoid about losing stuff lol.

I purchased a few hardback A4 notebooks for writing down data, experimental details, supervisory meetings etc. Everything is entered in date order so these are my evidence that this is my work and thinking behind it. Every now and again I photocopy the pages from these and copyright them as my work too. (A cheap purchase but effective for me!)

Well I was not quite as productive this weekend with too many distractions, arghh!  Anyway I have further edited ch 5 and am pretty much at the max limit now, woohoo! However, clarification of my arguments always seems to add another 'what if' to the postulation.  I guess this is a good analytical thinking practice, but it means looking back at the refs etc to check on my new thoughts. I suppose in another way it is frustrating to think that I had concrete conclusions to my findings but on reflection perhaps this is not the case......arghh! 

So the word count has been satisfactorily reduced but any additions means some further reductions lol. Ch 6 to slim-line, ch 7 discussion to review  and refs to add in following the latest thoughts. Still have graphs to footnote and fit in somehow.  So no real progress made really then!

In my exerience of a PhD interview, I was aware of the project subject area so did a bit of reading around prior to the interview. The interview comprised three interviewers (panel) and myself. I was asked about my previous studies, work and me to start with and then it moved on to the specific project with some much harder questions with depth to them. Some of the questions were too specialised for me to answer with my existing knowledge but I stated that 'whilst I did not have the knowledge to answer the question I would be very keen to learn this with their guidance'. I personally prefer to be honest about this than try to make a convincing but incorrect answer! After my interview I felt a bit deflated as I couldn't answer everything to my satisfaction but this is where the interview panel can gauge what you know and what you would need to learn. As I travelled home from the interview the panel phoned my home to offer me the funded PhD!

So don't feel demoralised by this experience, there are lots of candidates for few PhDs presently so competition is hard. You cannot be expected to know all about the PhD they have advertised otherwise it wouldn't be a valid project. They will take some time to decide the right candidate and even then the successful candidate may turn it down! As it was only yesterday, you don't know that you haven't been successful!

I am loving your analolgy for your thesis, I can relate to this in so many ways! Good luck for submitting today with no dramas along the way.

Hi PamW, I am a PT student and have had to fit the PhD around work or childcare. I found in the write-up phase it was crucial to highlight time that I could commit to it each week, so for me it is evenings and one afternoon a week. This gave me a timeframe to work within and based on this I set myself a projected timeline for completing the draft write-up of each chapter, stats analysis etc. This reaaly helped me to keep on track and ahead of schedule. It is a hard commitment when you have limited hours but acheivable if you organise your time effectively (lots of lists for me!).

Well my thesis is just 300 words over the limit with a little more editing to do, woohoo! Just figures to footnote and add in now then. Major worry is that I have not lit searched for a little while and am having panics over knowing the broader field well enough. May need to do an additional lit search for any extra references to add in and re-read the ones I have for any extra relevance.

Last night I finished editing ch 6, clarifying ch 6 'finding' and started editing ch 7. Have now only got to reduce thesis by 300 words to be within the limit! Next goal will be to finish editing ch 7.

Wow, well done! I am envious of your minor corrections and aspire to get a result like this. You must be so chuffed and deservedly so.
Congratulations Dr. Algaequeen (up)

Hi Ady

I did a preliminary data analysis as I collected data to give me a sense of the findings. When I wrote up I addressed supervisors corrections to written chapters as they arrived and in the meantime I wrote a chapter at a time while doing the final data analysis (and figures) for that chapter. This way I lived and breathed the chapter that I wrote until it was sent to my supervisor! Once it was all written each chapter was added into the big thesis doc and the contents, appendices, refs etc added in. I sent the draft thesis to supervisors to read through as a whole doc to check for consistencies and flow.

Not sure if this is the best way but thats how mine came along. If you are really good at Word the contents page can be generated from your headings etc but I found that too late!

Hi all, well babies are now with childminder so I can start editing ch6. Motivation is waning now though, was good to go this morning but chance of concentrating was zero, arghh!

Star-Shaped - sounds like you are having a tough time, I am amazed at what you have acheived - well done!

Batfink - hope your feeling better soon.

Spent the evening sorting out editing inconsistencies, formating refs in the text to Harvard system and updating the stats in a summary table that I had forgotten to include :$ Feels like I have spent a few hours on this and not really making much difference, guess that is what editing is all about!

Tomorrow afternoon I plan to edit ch 6.

I never thought that I would go to uni. Yet when I left school at 16 I passed an ONC so thought I'd try an HNC. Once I passed the HNC my tutors suggested I could do a BSc. My brother had just passed his BSc so the sibling rivalry (I was always living in his shadow yet did acheive higher) and a growing ambition to do the best academically that I was capable of spurred me on. Once I had completed my BSc hons (1st) I got some work experience before applying for a funded PhD which I subsequently had to graciously turn down due to health reasons. My career was focused upon again with research on the side and through this my 'supervisor' approached me about being a PT student. So this is it, the end is near for me and I hope to acheive my dream of getting academically as high as I can! After this I stop ;-)

I guess in a psycho-analytical sense I am always trying to prove myself as worthy, played out in an academic form :$