Hi All!

It is great to see that everyone is meeting their deadlines :-)

I'm still some time away from submitting. My sups are quiet slow at turning things around. They wanted 8 weeks to look at all of my chapters, excluding the discussion. So I'm about half way through that period. I'm trying to work on my discussion now, as well as finalising 2 papers to be sent off over the next 4 weeks or so. At the end of August they want to see all of my chapters again, with the discussion this time. So I'm not even sure if I'll get it in before Christmas :-(

At the moment I can not see the light at the end of the tunnel - I'm just really hoping that I will actually be able to finish. It is definitely a weight around my neck at the moment.

Back to it. Keep up the good work everyone!

Hi All!

I've just had 5 weeks off, and I'm feeling so much better. The time off gave me enough time to get some perspective on how my thesis currently is and the clashes that I've been having with my sup. I'm now really keen to have it in to get on with the rest of my life, and I think I know what I need to do to get it in.

My sups have the full draft (minus the discussion) at the moment and are going over it. The discussion is a few weeks from being fully drafted, so while I'm not looking at a UK summer submission, it will be in before the end of the year (Aussie summer).

Good to see that everyone is progressing well. Well done Dunnie on getting your viva date!

Yep, I can. PM me your email address :)

Thanks Ady!

Does anyone have an article or more that talks about the benifits or otherwise of using open-ended questions in a postal survey? I am currently trying to add this to my methods section, and I just cant find anything.

I'm sure I'm going blind.

TIA:-)

Hi All!
Congratulations KB on getting a paper accepted! That is fantastic news! And great to hear that you are getting on better with your sup.

Pink it is really good to hear that you are getting back into it, and awesome to hear how supportive your uni has been.

Things are going ok for me. I had a few days off for easter, and now I am working to have a full draft, except for the discussion, to both sups by the end of next week. I am away for 1 month, so that should give the sups enough time to have a look, and then we'll see where I am when I get home. At the moment, I'm working on the chapters that go between my papers, and it is really fun. To give it all a little context, I'm writing about why I chose specific journals, and how hard some parts were, and how easy some other parts were. To bring it all together, I'm putting my Gantt chart in each of these chapters but highlighting the relevant parts of the chart.

Hi All!

Just a quick note to say that this week end I have knocked 1500 words out of my 2 introduction chapters. woohoo!

Hi PhD, I write a bit all over the place. I am writing papers as my chapters (PhD by publication) so the deadlines and revisions really dictate what I'm writing at any time. Other than that, if I don't have sup's asking me to send them a specific piece, I write the sections that I feel like writing.

I had a meeting with both sup's and an official from the uni on Tuesday. As expected it was a bit of a disaster. I had so little faith in my main sup before, but now I cant even look at her. To cut a long story short, she wants me to resubmit my chapters to her one at a time, for her to fully comment on them again, and then at the end of June, for me to re-submit the full draft. This means that I will not be submitting before September. I am so gutted, and am feeling somewhere between having completely lost all confidence in my work, and feeling like she is making my submission personal, and showing me that she has more power that I do, so is delaying my submissions.
So I've just had the weekend off to regroup a little, and see where I am and what I need to do. A few days off was great, and I'm really glad that I took the time to potter around the house, and do a few other things.

Back to it now. How is everyone else getting along?

HI Chrisoz,
I am doing my PhD by publication. I have 5 papers that form my results chapters. In between the chapters I have linking chapters' to give a bit more methodology and contextual framework, I have an introduction and lit review and then a discussion and conclusion at the end.
It has been great for me, having all of these papers published. My work is definitely better after the review process, and I have become a better writer, and a better stakeholder manager (my papers have 2-5 other authors on them)
But, the down side is that thesis by publication will take more than 3 years. Getting papers published takes a long time. It can be under review for 3 months or more, come back with revisions that take 2 months and then have another 3 months under review - then be published 12 months after that!

Could you put it in your short introduction section, perhaps at the beginning of the 'thesis outline' section. This way, it might orient the reader to the studies?

======= Date Modified 03 Apr 2011 08:17:07 =======
Is it possible to say something like "this thesis consists of three studies building from a large question about xyz. Each study provides a point of reflection and/or clarification on more specific questions/aims. As the three studies are themselves independent research but deeply related, in each chapter, the specific literature is discussed"

This way you call tell the reader what to expect in the later chapters.

Then maybe you can include a table that outlines the aims, objectives and theoretical or methodological frameworks of each of the studies?

Or maybe you need to say exactly what you have said here, study 1 and 2 build from gaps in the existing literature, while study 3 builds on the work of study 1 and 2...?

Another Sunday, another day with me infront of the couputer.

Cougratulations again Dunni! Fantastic work!!!

Ady, I cant remember how the rest of your thesis is being presented, but my results are in 5 seperate chapters. they are all pretty different topics/focuses to it seems to work well. But it does add a bit more work in additional intros and conclusions. And it can feel a bit repetative when it comes to wirting your final discussion/conclusion.

Having sent my final 2 results chapters to sups in the last few weeks I've moved back to my introduction and lit review chapters while I wait for their feedback. So far the chapters are not in as bad shape as I thought they were, so that is nice.

Congratulations Dunni! That is fantastic news!

Hello to Globe Trotter, welcome to this thread, I'm sure that you will get plenty of advise to help you on the final few months of the crazy PhD journey.

Well done Ady on finishing up your lit review chapters! Massive achievement! I really liked writing up my findings. I think that has been the most enjoyable part – except for the nervousness that I felt around my authority as the researcher and the conclusions that I was drawing from my research.

As for me, I finally have some feedback from my sups about my second to last paper. It seems good, just a few comments and some more work needed on the conclusions and then I can send it off. Hopefully that will be in about 2 or 3 weeks. Then only one paper to go! I have been working on the final paper while sups have had the penultimate paper, it is still a bit crap, but after a few more days work on it, I am hoping to send it to sups to have them have a look and give me the brutal comments back so that I can move on with it. So fingers crossed that that will be in a state to send to a journal by the end of April or mid May.

I have also been working on my introduction. During my confidence crushing meeting with sups at the end of last year, they told me that I needed to include more of my theoretical, conceptual and methodological framework into my introduction (all valid points). I mostly have all of this, but it had been spliced and cannibalised for papers, so I have been going over it and re-working it to fit into my introduction chapter. Hopefully this will be done in the next week or so. I’m a little concerned with this chapter that it is a bit repetitive, so I should work on that too. Sups want to see both my introduction and lit review chapters together, so I hope that I can get them off to sups by the end of April.

I am still working FT, so I’m feeling a little strung out at the moment, but really want the PhD to be done (and good), so I still have a little motivation. Although my motivation to be fit and trim and go to the gym has completely gone out the door!

I’m meeting with sups in 2 weeks time, so fingers crossed that the meeting is not a complete disaster like the last one, and that they have plenty of constructive feedback for me, and that i have the strength to see it as constructive and not personal.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Thanks Dunni, that really helps. I *know* with the rational part of my brain that I will actually finish, and that I can't be that far away, but the other, currently panicky, part of my brain is in total fear that I will never finish.

I cant believe that your 3rd sup hasn't gotten back to you yet! Hope the wait is not too much longer!

Good job patience on having a break, and coming back and getting 500 words down. Sometimes a few days away can have a massive impact on the process.

The 'have you read everything in your bibliography' is stressing me out too! I am so worried that I have attributed a reference to the wrong idea after 100 edits. I am going to have to go back and check everything before I submit!

My real concern at the moment is how do I get from here, almost a complete draft but not quiet, to the end. It just seems like a insurmountable task. I have my lists and tasks to do, but I just don't know how to get that all together into a coherent thesis. I so badly want to finish, but I just don't really know how to do that at the moment.

ok, vent over :)