Hi Milly Cat
Like several others on here my area was fairly generalised initially and was more directed by myself and the help of the supervisory team for my research approval submission.  Once the research experiments got underway the research direction became more focused and was directed by the findings. Now that the experimental phase is complete for my PhD the write-up is now defining the research question!  I think that although you may have an initial idea of your research question be prepared that this may change as the research evolves. There is scope to modify your thesis title which is what I have had to do.  I have answered my doctoral hypothesis but the findings have led to further experimental work that could be done to further clarify the answers, so in effect this would be post doctoral work. So in my experience you don't actually fully answer the question even at the end of the thesis, but then that is the nature of research-answer some questions at the same time as asking lots more .
:-)

HI Rick,

Thank you for your encouraging words. My hubby does have one colleague who is about to do Masters and he thinks I am completely bonkers as do a lot of his colleagues! He has not really got into the Masters as yet, just the initial applications and starting stage. I think in a little while he will have more of an informed view and our conversations will probably be me advising him as hopefully I will have written up! I try to stay optimistic and keep telling myself that the worries I have are shared by all PhD students I am sure (well I hope so lol).

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Hi, I am a newbie to this forum and was hoping to find others in the same situation as me with submission May 2011! I started my PhD May 2005 which seems an age ago and during this time (in the last three years) I have got married and had three babies (single and multiple birth ). I have had much disruption in the last few years that many would have bet money on me throwing the towel in, but I am still here! It is not easy looking after three babies during the day and sitting at my laptop writing my thesis by night. Fortunately hubby is very supportive about my relationship with my laptop lol.

Progress so far is: chapter 1 almost complete (lit reviewing), chapters 2,3,4 and 5 done with chapters 6 and 7 left to do. I am writing each chapter as a seperate piece to give me smaller areas to focus on before putting it all into the draft thesis after comments and revisions. Not sure if this is the best way forward but it seems more manageable to me. So this gives me 8 months to submit by which I hope is realistic. I guess my main worries are: will the thesis be good enough for a PhD? can I edit enough to bring me back to the word limit of 40,000 (now at 38,000!)? The further I write the more of a worry this is becoming. My write-up seems so amateurish to me........although my supervisors seem happy.

It is a lonely existence and many of the friends that I have are mummies who really don't understand, in fact they think I am mad! Hubby is great but has no clue as to what I am writing about! I live remotely from the uni now as hubby is in the forces so we move about a lot. Can anyone offer and advice? Is there anyone out there with similar experiences?,-)