Good luck! I have not got there yet but I would go with something reasonably smart myself.

Fingers crossed but I am sure you will be just fine.

No worries, glad you are feeling more positive.

I think they take the mick a little too unless as sixkitten has said, people have contributed to the field. That is something completely different however.

I think kc is right with regards to the mock viva. I would definitely speak to your supervisor about this. This should at least prepare you with the types of questions you may be asked in the real thing and hopefully you can contemplate some responses in advance that can be tailored on the day to suit the question.

Good luck!

I wish I had a magic answer!

The only thing that I find usually helps me is to do something small and relatively easy (note down some references, do some searching etc). For me, I need to feel that I can achieve a task with an endpoint which is why it has to be relatively easy and not take too long. Once I have done stuff like this I start to feel more in control and less depressed about the whole thing usually. It's definitely about splitting things into smaller tasks for me anyhow as otherwise everything seems impossible.

I have had times like this too and it will get better. We can't work effectively all the time.

Good luck and I hope you start feeling motivated again soon. You will get there.

I think fifi_fole has given some great advice. I am sure your Uni will indeed offer counselling as most do. I am sure it will help to talk things over to someone who is impartial.

If I am being honest I am close to completion and I still share many of your concerns about not being good enough/motivated enough etc! I am not sure I will ever shake that off but I am getting there nevertheless.

I do think things will get better and adjusting to a PhD can be very hard as it is so different to an undergraduate degree / taught Masters etc.

Do you get on well with any of the fellow PhD students in your area(if there are any?) It might be worth having a chat with them and I think you will find that many of them share your 'am I good enough?' worries, I know I certainly do. I don't think you need to say all that you have here if you don't want to, just ask them how it's going type thing.

Good luck and it will get better.

Sorry, I was trigger happy and pressed add message before I finished composing my reply!

I agree, it seems completely insane to me. Two of my chapters are reviews of measures so the reference sections for those chapters alone are huge.

I have sent an email to the person in charge asking them directly about all of these things.

It seems you can apply for an extension on word limit which I may do if it gets too insane with the word count for the reference section.

I have been lurking for some time and have even recommended this site to a couple of people. I think we have all been struggling by what some poster described as 'imposter syndrome' so it is great to know that others feel the same.

Thank you

Thanks coastman

Hi fifi_fole

Great name by the way.

Thanks so much for your reply. Tables are a big proportion of a couple of my chapters so that makes me feel much better.

I still find it hard to believe about the references but it states this in the thesis guidelines. This could cause a few problems for me too! They use the word bibliography though so I will triple check by asking them in person.

Thanks again

Fluffymonster

Hi fellow PhD students

I was wondering if I could please pick your brains about word limit. I realise that this differs according to Uni and subject but does anyone know if appendices are typically included in the word limit?

I have read my Uni's guidelines on word limit etc and there is no mention of appendices. I was shocked to see that the reference section is included in the final word limit, some serious editing on my part will now be required!!!

Thanks for all your help. I am a serial lurker so have braved posting for your sage advice.

Cheers

Fluffymonster

poker

Mine is in psychology. Did psycholinguistics at undergrad level many moons ago and that's about as close as I get to yours I'm afraid!

I think Ann has hit the nail on the head with the reason for the lack of replies by the way.

flame

graph

apple