Thank you RLD and Trinity :-)

Yes, it is a strange feeling, and it lasted for a few days...when I tought I could finally start relaxing, I got a further email from the school, saying my viva was arranged for Nov 14!!!

This is much quicker than I thought, only 6 weeks after submission (and 4 weeks from now, uhu!) I actually expected a date for Jan/Feb, but I think it's actually good that it has been arranged so soon, that I get a chance at it before end of 2014 - in fact, now I start feeling I can't wait any longer, I'd like to go there and get it over with right now!

Trinity, I hope you'll get a date as soon as possible! As for the preparation, my sup suggested to:
- start preparing a 2min statement that spells out the main contribution to knowledge - as well as a 'positive points agenda' with a few statements per chapter, to be used at the appropriate moment during discussion.
- re-check the important literature and refresh the literature mindmap
- two weeks before viva, start re-reading the thesis. He said it should be read twice, once all together, to refresh the overall narrative, and once analysing each chapter and taking notes and thinking about possible weak points or elements that could be made object of discussion...

That's all in theory so far, I still have to start organizing my viva-preparation-schedule. I'm back at uni today, and for now I'm overwhelmed with teaching and admin duties that were left behind during the last weeks of writing up..

Trin: I'd love to know how your preparation strategy will look like..

I wish you all a productive week!! Let us know how you all are doing!

xxx
wanderingbit

Hi all. So much for my big plans last year. Life got in the way unfortunately.

I'm finishing my second draft of chapters 1 & 2 at the moment, sending them to supervisor Friday week. After that I have to hammer out chapter 3, which is about 20k. Should take me til end of November, maybe Christmas at latest.

After that, my two "sliver" chapters of about 8k words each should take about 6 weeks, so late January/early Feb. Leaving me six weeks to go over everything, write the Intro and Conclusion, submitting a week after my 30th birthday at end of March.

I figure if I can get these 3 "big" chapters out of the way before Christmas, I will do up my intention to submit in and around that time in order to give myself the final push I need.

Personally speaking I am drowning a bit. Living at home with parents who do not understand/get the pressures of a phd and treat me like a child. Also balancing a PT job of 16hrs a week. So if I'm not £££ I'm type-type-type. Looking for the light at end of tunnel. Hopefully by Christmas it will be clearer.

Hi starsgoblue,

I'm also working towards an end of March deadline! But mine is to get my first full draft to my supervisors. All my chapters have been reviewed by one of my supervisors as they've been written, so I'm hoping(!!!!) that no major changes will be needed...eek! I'm not holding my breath though.

Maybe we could work towards achieving a March submission together :)

Cheers,
RLD

Happy to try and motivate each other RLD.

Things have been going on ok with me. Sending Chapter 1 to supervisor on Sunday. Have completely re-written it since the last draft and am really really pleased with it.

Chapter 2 still requires work, but I am going to plunge straight into it and hopefully get it sent to supervisor this coming Thursday.

After that, Chapter 5 dawns. And if I could get it done by Christmas (giving myself a lot of time here) I would be so proud of myself. The three "big" chapters done by Christmas means I will hand in by end of March.

I can do this.

Hi all, well as usual, progress not quite as much as I had anticipated. Chapter 1 looks good, have had really positive feedback and am sending it to my 2nd supervisor over Xmas break so another pair of eyes can read it. My Chapter 1 is the board from which chapters 2-5 spring from, so it's vital that it is absolutely strong. Really happy with it, re-reading and think it's the best I can be.

I'm meeting my supervisor on Monday which will motivate me to finish the edits to Chapter 2 by the end of December. This chapter has evolved a lot from my drafts and think my command of language is so much better.

2015 goals are:

Have Chapter 5 written by the end of January. Once I have Chapters 1, 2 and 5 drafted, I am going to put in my intention to submit. This means my expected submission date will be May 2nd, 2015. I feel that I really can't go on any further than this date. Living at home and working in a banal PT job has taken a lot out of me. I'm ready to hand in and move on.

Because Chapters 1, 2 and 5 are my three "big" chapters of approx 60k altogether, my Chapters 3 and 4 are only around 10k each. I think having February for Chapter 3 and March for Chapter 4 will suffice. And April will just be writing the Intro, Conclusion, ensuring footnotes are correct, getting abstract done, etc.

Just need to keep it together for 4.5 more months. Think regular supervisory meetings will be essential so going to ask my supervisor if we can meet once a month from now until the end.

It will be a quiet Christmas for me but I'm happy to just keep working on.

Hi Starsgoblue,

How's the writing coming along? Have you managed to complete Chapter 5?

I'm on track to finish my first full draft before mid March. Just about to begin writing the second half of my introduction chapter, which I'll complete by the end of February. Then I just need to write the abstract and go through the whole thesis adding in the page numbers when I've directed the reader to a particular section.

Are your supervisors wanting to read through your thesis as a whole? If so, have you had a discussion with them as to how long it will take them to read the whole thing?

And Blacktrinity and Wanderingbit - how did your vivas go?

Go well :)

RLD

Hey,
So I know its been a while.

My viva was ok but my examiners said I didnt viva so well (i have to agree, i've never been particularly good at preparing for any type of exam and the long wait/new job meant i've mentally moved on a bit so found it harder) so got a revise and resubmit verdict without the need for another viva with a 12 month deadline, so i have to resubmit by the 11-Dec-15.

For preparation I ended up reading through my thesis, re-capping key papers and looking at the most recent literature, and going through and noting down why i did each thing and familiarising myself with my methods. Ended up totally forgetting most of it but oh well- revise and resubmit.

I was sent a list of corrections (6 pages long) about a week after my viva. I decided to enjoy christmas and the new year and only started looking at corrections a couple of weeks ago and today had a meeting with my sup to discuss more specific requirements. Just made myself a table of what needs to be done so I can track what i've done and whats left so I can get it done asap.

I fully intend to get it done well before december, i really want to enjoy summer :). They said the corrections probably wouldn't need that long but as i commute quite a distance for work and obviously need to have some sort of life they gave me 12 months (as opposed to 3 months) to do them as they anticipated I would only be able to work on it 1 day a week.

So as much as I really cant be bothered with it anymore (especially as i dont need it for my job) i just need to push myself once more and then the last 4.5 years wont be for nothing.

How are you all doing? Have you managed to get submitted yet and how was your viva Wanderingbit?

Trin x

Hi Trinity,

well, congratulations on getting through your viva!!! It sounds as if the corrections you got aren't so substantial indeed, yes, I would also try to push a bit more now, and get it done by Summer time! :-)

I had my viva on Nov 14th, and it went fine. I got minor revisions, three months to get them done. On paper they looked much larger than they actually were...at the end I got all my revisions done within 1 and 1/2 days at the end of November, and got my pass letter on Dec 9th!! :-)

I look at my post above, written before the viva...at the end I did nothing of what I had planned to prepare. I didn't re-read any literature, didn't prepare any short statement for each chapter, and I even didn't read the thesis!! I just felt I knew my thesis inside out and couldn't force myself to go through the 320 pages again...

But of course, I only had 6 weeks between submission and viva, which helped a lot I think. And at the end the questions I got in the viva were absolute unexpected, alias, I could have not prepared myself for that anyway.

But I'm very happy it's over and I can now start using the Dr on my grant proposals, publications etc. :-) :-) :-) it's somehow really cool, after so much work!!

You'll get your title very soon as well, just don't give too much weight to the revisions, get them done one after the other. My advice is: stay focused on what is really necessary to change, and do nothing more than that! You'll be done in no time!!

Good luck!
xxxW

Congratulations BlackTrinity and Wanderingbit! I love to read success stories.

I thought I'd attempt to pick this thread up again as I'm feeling in need of a some accountability partners.

Today I managed a whole 1200 words towards my literature review chapter. My goal is to finish this by the end of the month. I've got a super productive day for a change and towards the end was really enjoying writing.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 25th) my goals are

1)To write 1000 words towards my literature review chapter.
2) Finally get around to emailing my collaborator with an update.
3) Write and submit abstract for conference.

GM

Hi GrumpyMule,

I'd like to join this thread too - I've had a horribly unproductive day yesterday so I need to turn things around today. My goal is to finish revisions to my third results chapter today, ready to send to my supervisor tomorrow for feedback.

1200 words in a day is very impressive! I'm lucky if I can reach 1000 on a good day. Hope you have another productive day GM!

And congratulations BlackTrinity and Wanderingbit! It's very motivating to hear of others who've made it to the end of the process.

Cheers,
Tulip

Hi Tulip,

Great that there's a couple of us reviving this thread. I hope you managed to make progress on your results chapter revisions yesterday.

I only managed 400 'new' words yesterday as I had to re-write, edit and locate some more papers too. On the plus side, I feel my writing quality is ok. I've set a more sensible goal of 900 words today (odd number but gets to me to a rounded total). I spent about 3 weeks annotating, organising and collating my notes to get to this point which is why my daily goals are so high!

Wishing you a productive day :)

GM

Hey GrumpyMule,

Hope you had a good day writing yesterday and made it to 900 words! It sounds like you're very organised, when do you have to submit if you don't mind me asking?

I spent the last couple of days revising my results chapter and got it handed in to my supervisor yesterday, so I'm happy with that. Also made a start on the next results chapter revisions - I have two more results chapters to revise by Easter so that I can have a nice break!! (And hopefully half a thesis by then!)

Hope you have a productive day too :)

Tulip

Well done Tulip on getting your chapter sent to your supervisor - always a good feeling.

I'm still relatively early on in the writing process but late on in terms of time! My funded three years ends in September and we've agreed a submission date of the end of November. I still feel this is a very tight deadline as I have so much to write let alone re-write but we'll see :) When are you planning to submit Tulip?

I did manage my 900 words on Thursday - 1000 words actually in the end but then only 500 yesterday because I had to go back to the literature. I'm having today off and then working and writing tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

GM

Hey GM,

Hope you had a lovely weekend and well deserved break! That's great you broke the 1000 word mark on Thurs :) November is still a while away so I'll keep my fingers crossed it will be doable for you.

I've had a busy few days getting my third results chapter redrafted to send to supervisor tomorrow but it's ended up being a last minute rush. I've written almost 1500 words today so it's been productive, but now I need to spend tonight finishing a couple of sections and putting together some tables. I'm in my write up year now, I was lucky and got an extension so my funding ran out at the end of Feb and now living off savings and my long-suffering boyfriend until Sept. My final deadline is end of Sept but I'm hoping to submit end of August (fingers crossed!). It feels very tight too but unfortunately it has to be done somehow (and it feels very real writing it on here for some reason...). We will get there eventually - hope you're having a good day!

Tulip

Hi Tulip,

Sounds like you haven't got too much left to do then? Sure you'll get there. Well done on getting your third results chapter redrafted.

I have a supervision meeting next week, I'm a bit apprehensive about it as it's been over two months since the last one (supervisor off ill), hoping he doesn't feel I'm too far behind. Goal is to send this chapter to him the day before :) It's a good motivation anyway and keeps me on track.

Have a lovely Easter break (if you're managing to have one). I'm having Sunday off! :)

GM