Hi all

Another quick update for those who are interested.

I received feedback from one of my supervisors already, still waiting on the other one. The comments aren't too bad - some language errors and typos (English isn't my first language) and then some suggestions to clarify/expand/etc.My conclusion chapter needs the most work, but that hardly came as a surprise. My supervisor thought it should be doable in a week, but it is taking much longer. But since I haven't heard from my other supervisor yet, it isn't a problem.

I have to say it is getting quite hard to summon up the will/energy/enthusiasm to keep going back to the document to try and improve it, and it is making me miserable, but because I know the end is in sight, I somehow manage to work a few hours a day on it. Looking forward to a proper break when I submit it officially to the uni.

My advice to those who will start finishing up soon is to get it as close to perfect as you can on your own, because going back later the fix a myriad of small things is quite depressing. It takes much longer than you might think. Also, the formatting at the end takes quite long - and prepare for some catastrophe there - almost everyone I know had some technical problems with graphs, appendices, table of contents etc. I had to redo my page numbers 7 times!

I was also told to leave at least a week just for the actual submission - I had no idea things would take so long. My point is that at this stage it is a little disheartening when you keep thinking "I'm almost done" and then there is something still standing in your way. Even when it is just a small, easy task, at this stage it feels insurmountable! So if at all possible, leave enough time and don't think you're done when you have a completed manuscript...

I really hope to be "done" soon! :-)

Good luck everyone!

And another update: this time with bad news. I have done all my corrections as suggested by my supervisor, I have been done for about a week, waiting to hear from my co-supervisor. Now I find out that someone in his family passed away and that he will be going overseas for the funeral etc. While I have so much sympathy for what a difficult time this must be for him, I also realise that this effectively means that I can kiss my chance to graduate on time good bye. I have to say that it's difficult not to be disappointed when I think of the many all nighters I pulled to make the deadline, and now it was all for nothing. Well, not nothing, but it still feels like a major let down. I know this must sound incredibly selfish, and of course I won't give him a hard time about it, but this could potentially have serious consequences for me. Anyway, so just as I said last time - just when you think you're "done", you're not.
Good luck to you guys!
xx

Oh no, Ellebelle - how frustrating. It doesn't sound selfish at all - it is just one of those things, and a shame for your co-supervisor, but a shame for you too as it has completely disrupted the momentum for you. I hope you don't have to wait too long for your feedback.

Hello everyone, I'm back from my 6 weeks of training for my teaching job which starts in September, I now have 4 weeks to write half a PhD...eek! I'm so, so behind and my computer is playing up which isn't helping. Well done to those who have made progress/submitted :)

Ellebelle, that sounds awful, but do you really need your co-supervisors comments? Maybe you can just go with your main supervisors advice and submit if you are happy with your work? I think I am going to have to do this as I have 3 supervisors and their track records are that they take 3 months to give any feedback, and I only have 1 month left so I'm going to have to submit with very little feedback and just hope for the best! Just a little stressful... Good luck to everyone!

Hi Caro!

Welcome back! I can hear it's crunch-time for you - best of luck! I know you will get through it, although I know it is super tough to be under that much pressure. Feel free to vent here - that final month is INSANE! But it's definitely possible - I still can't believe how much I got done in the last month...

Thanks for the suggestion on submitting without waiting for my co-supervisor's comments. I didn't realise this was an option to be honest. I will definitely look into it, because that might solve my problem - of course his comments would have been helpful and would probably have improved my work, but at this stage it is more important for me to actually graduate on time. I'll let you know what happens. Do you think this is offensive to supervisors or is it generally accepted?

Good luck to you, just take a deep breath and try not to get too overwhelmed.Keep us posted on your progress!

I would be careful about submitting without supervisory approval. First of all, it might annoy them, second of all, I do know someone that did this and got a R&R verdict and then was never heard from again. if they have seen other drafts, then you probably aren't at risk from an R&R so it's probably ok. Let them know your deadline and ask them if it's ok to submit without them seeing it.

I could have submitted my thesis with my supervisors only seeing one draft to be honest because they made so few corrections, but it's not like this for everyone. They might surprise you and give it back to you within a day (mine was returned within a week).

Ah yeah I did mean to say to ask him. But I thought it was only your main supervisor's permission you needed to submit but it might be different for all universities. Talk to your main supervisor about it and ask the other one - although it may be that he can't reply at the moment.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm working my way through comments on one of my chapters at the moment - I'm worried as this is the 3rd draft of this chapter and my second supervisor is yet to see it, and I still have one chapter to write from scratch where i will not have the luxury of time to produce 4 drafts of it! Oh well! I'm hoping to finish comments on this chapter today and send it to a friend to check my grammar and tenses (somehow I float between tenses in my discussion without noticing and I really can't pick it up when I read over it myself!). Then tomorrow I'll crack on with data analysis for my final data chapter. I go home for a 'holiday' on Wednesday for a week which will no doubt stop my productivity. It's the first time I'll have been home since Xmas and my mum has had an op and I want to spend some time with her, it's several of my friends birthdays and my sis has just bought a new house so it'll be a busy time! Hoping to squeeze in a few hours of writing each day fingers crossed!