======= Date Modified 25 Aug 2009 11:55:19 =======
Hi Rubyw, thanks for the advice! :)

It sounds like minor corrections can be a little fickle - especially concerning what type of correction they're after. I think it would be unfair of your examiners to ask for any 'content' changes when you've only have minor corrections - hopefully you have the type of supervisor who'll advocate on that matter. But knowing this can happen, I'll be submitting cheaper soft-bound copies to my examiners.

I'm in the same position as you with respect to getting access to people and adding additional information - there is so much more work I can do on my thesis but I've ran out of time and word count, but I'd really like to improve things for publication. Most of my fellow PhDers who have now passed have published their thesis in its original format, but I don't believe this is very reader friendly (and not very marketable).

I was thinking of making mine a little more textbook'ish, so a general reader of the subject might find it interesting.

You may have a second-wind of interest for your thesis when you pick the design for a book cover and find out what royalties you'll receive (haha...wishful thinking that we'll make any money from publishing!).

======= Date Modified 25 Aug 2009 17:53:58 =======

Wishful thinking indeed!! Depending on the contract, it probably works out at around 10p a day, considering all the work we put into PhDs!!

It's nice thinking about things like book covers though, I think about what sort of book launch would I like to have as well, it's probably a bit fanciful right now but the odd fantasy seems ok to get through the humdrum bits of the PhD!

I'm shocked at how fast I've slipped back into procrastination-mode since I've been doing the corrections and I've started on my TV detective timetable again, with corrections either side of a break at 3pm for Monk! I'm glad my Freeview box blew up, it reduces the possibilities for diversions a lot. Ho hum, I suppose I'd better press on...

Hello Everyone,

I'm new here :-)

I've just discovered this forum & I'm reading Joan Bolkers Book just now too, I love the idea of an accountability diary, I'm not very good at being accountable just to/by myself right now, I think I need some help!

So, I'm doing an applied Chemistry PhD, I plan to submit my Thesis by the 6th June 2010. I've done %85 of my lab work (waiting for something to get fixed) and now I've been exclusively 'writing' for 3 weeks, the first week was great, the second week was mediocre and I'm already halfway through my third week and I seem to have turned into a pathological procrastinator. I've very nervous that if this continues I'm never going to get done!

I make great plans, but they just don't get 'executed' very often.

My problem right now is that I get stuck on how to present my data...it feels like it's all 'too hard' and I frequently end up copping out & 'researching' mountaineering equipment online, I can't believe how much time I waste :-$

I'm probably halfway there with first drafts of 2 chapters, if I could break through this 'my results suck and it's all too hard' wall I feel like I would have really got over something. Any advice or help?

Here I go with accountability - Its 245pm here in Australia right now - Over the next 1 3/4 hours I'm going to work exclusively on the results section of chapter 3 with no internet distractions and get it done.

I'll check again at 430pm, hopefully you can share some inspiring pearls of wisdom with me (thanks)...onward to chapter 3....

Hi Seamonkey

No great tips on ending procrastinating from me at the moment unfortunately - I've had one of those days where I've sat and stared at the screen for most of the afternoon, added a sentence or two, and basically done very little! It comes in waves - if your first couple of weeks were good, then I'm not surprised this week isn't so good - hopefully tomorrow, and next week will be better!

I had a great productive day yesterday, but the muse has left today. Anyway, in theory, to get over procrastination you need to break your work down into little chunks, make yourself do it for a little while, reward yourself etc. I know all this, but it isn't working for me at the moment! Have taken the dog for a walk, had a coffee, and now am just going to force myself to work.

You're not alone procrastinating! Onwards to work tho!

Hi!
Not a bad effort that 1 & 3/4 hour chunk of work was the most productive I've been all day! OK...I'm going to check in here at 830am (West Australian time) every weekday morning and and again at 430pm for a review of the days progress and general helpfulness to anyone else in the same boat, have I earned myself a trip to yoga class tonight? I think so, I feel like I went through hell today and managed to come out smiling :-)
See you tomorrow & thanks for feedback Sue, it's nice to know one is not alone in this world,

======= Date Modified 02 Sep 2009 19:46:00 =======
Hi everyone! It's lovely to see some activity in this thread. :)

@ Ruby - thanks alot for the advice. and good luck with the corrections!! It reminds me of last year around this time, we were all going through the hell of submitting and your talks of those detective shows and xfactor haha.

@ miss spacey. I LOVE dale carnegie! i'm a HUGE HUGE fan of ALL of his books. they are literally the bible/philosophy of my life. i've read them a few years ago and constantly read them here and there. thank you for the kind words you said, that really put a smile on my face. good luck with your final submission! you are so close to the finishing line, keep going.

well i still havent heard back from my supervisor, so i dont know who my examiners are. i dont know why he's being all secretive about it and not telling me who my examiners are :-( :$ i'll give it another week and then email him again.

i just had abit of a panic attack. a family friend called to wish me good luck and told me all the viva qs are in the book "how to survive your viva" which i have read. i picked up the book and had a skim through ,and i just completely panicked!! all those questions and the way you are meant to answer the questions and define and blah blah, left me thinking, omg i cannot do this. i dont know how to defend my thesis i dont know any of the answers. i got abit depressed and thought, i cant do this. i'm going to fail and my life is going to be over. and then another part of me thought, i just want this over and done with and i want my life back. i want to be able to just go through a day without the horrible phd cloud over my head. i cant wait for the day that however it may be that this phd is behind me, and i can breathe.

anyways so i thought i would come on here to calm myself down. and messages from ruby and miss spacey cheered me up :)

and its lovely to see a new member to the club. welcome Seamonkey! good luck with your thesis and thats awesome you're reading joan bolker!! and nice to see you sue :)

well i've already made a list of all the viva qs that are in the book. end of the week, i plan to tackle each qs in turn and just write an answer - to the best of my ability. and just keep reminding myself. all i can do is my best, and forget the rest.

so my accountability is to finish by tommorow -
finish reading chapter 6 of my thesis and make summary notes. (i have 11 pages left).
---

good luck Sue!! and Seamonkey! Ruby and Miss spacey
As Armendaf would say bring your battle faces!!:-s

I hope Armendaf is okay. I miss him. Good luck Armendaf!!(up)

That is EXCELLENT advice Sue!! I totally agree, whenever i feel overwelmed by the sheer mountain of work i gotta climb, breaking it up in little steps helps and rewards are great too!! that's what i'm doing at the moment, studying and then rewarding myself with a little break.

Hi Seamonkey and Sue on this thread, hope you find it as useful as I did! There's something about writing down what you intend to do, then allegedly being publicly accountable for it that prodded me into action, but you probably don't need prodding!

Hi Lara, try not to panic, it'll happen anyway and your life won't end after the viva.... they shouldn't kill you off, should they??!! You know far more than you think you do about your thesis, especially now, after all that revision. I think you'll be able to defend it when you have to, as you've spend a LOT of time thinking about it so it'll be stuck in your subconscious (or some other psychological thing that I don't know anything about....). Look after yourself and just do what you can between now and then, you will survive it! (up)

Hi Lara, Seamonkey and Ruby

Don't panic Lara!! You'll get through it! Little chunks, and you'll be alright. And others are right - you know more than you think you do. Just remember that you've gotten through other exams (yes, not like a viva, but still exams) and you can do this one too. It's just on a bigger scale! Remember to breathe, be calm, and work your way through your lists.

Well after an unproductive day yesterday, took the evening off and went out. Did me a power of good. Am now sane again and am going to edit a chapter today, get it closer to being finished, and then that'll be 4 chapters done!

Hi Ruby, thank you so much for the support and everything you said, it really comforted me, I really appreciate it. It was exactly what i needed to hear. Thank you!
i like what you said, that subconsciously i know more than i think hehe. i will keep reminding myself of that!
and yes you're right, my life wont end and they wont actually execute me after the examination. lol imagine if they actually did that in an alternative parallel universe!

that's good advice, to just do as much as i can between now and then :)
---

Sue - thank you so much for the advice and support! you are so sweet, i really appreciate it. i loved what you wrote - you're right little chunks at a time! i didnt even think about other exams, thats a nice way to look at it :)
thank you Sue ! that's really good advice!
---

confession time, its the end of the working day for me. I am happy to report i reached the goal for today, which was to finish summarizing the last remaining 11 pages of my thesis. and today i have also reached another milestone which is that i have finished reading through my entire thesis and summarizing each page. i started this - end of june. took me a 2 months! i did it bit by bit. everyday did some pages no matter how few or how many pages. joan bolker is right. everyday is more important than how much you do. because it all adds up in the end. its like you cant eat all your food requirements in one day for one month. you gotta eat a little bit everyday. and you cant walk a mile by not taking each single step one at a time.

I will report back tomorrow with a brand new goal for tomorrow.

good luck for those that are still studying!

thanks guys for your support. and i completely agree with Ruby, declaring your goals publicly really does help! (up)

I've just stumbled across the postgraduate forum... it's something I've been looking for for quite some time!! I realise this thread was started quite some time ago and so I'm not sure if it's still following it's original aims? I'll say a few words about myself and if i'm in the wrong place, maybe someone can point me in the right direction...?

Firstly, I too have read Joan Bolker's 'writing your dissertation in 15 minutes a day'. I found that it helped me immensely when I began really trying to nut out chapters, structure my thesis etc. a few years ago. Now that I'm coming toward the 'finishing' part of the thesis writing process I find that I'm needing further guidance and inspiration!

I'm currently 'completing' a PhD in History/politics. Will possibly set a new world record for taking the longest period of time before submission (I don't want to publicly admit how many years I've been working on this). I am doing my PhD part-time and working part-time. I'm hoping to be done by the end of this year but when I look at how much revision work I've still got left to do, I get very nervous about this time frame. Chapters are a mess, still doing small bits of research to fill in gaps in the 'story' etc. etc.

I *love* the idea of setting publicly accountable daily goals. Is there anyone out there who is still doing this/wants to start this with me? (sorry this is a massive thread so I'm not sure what stage people are up to). If I'm in the wrong place I am considering initiating a "finishing my thesis" thread...!

If you're looking for someone to set mutual daily writing goals - please reply!!!

welcome flutter!! yes we're all still active for duty!!!

good luck with your writing, and welcome to the forum and this accountability thread!!

dont worry about how long you've taken, cause i've taken an incredibly long number of years also submitting my thesis.

i'm using this thread to declare my aims everyday. and there are a few other members active aswell.

i'm currently preparing for my viva, which is on the 28th sept, so time is running out. :$

my aims for today is:
to answer 9 questions for chapter 6.

I am also looking to join an accountability thread. I am at the very early stages of writing but should have started these early stages at the beginning of this year. So I feel months behind. Yesterday was my first day taking Bolker’s advise and I wrote the sketchy outline to my methodology chapter which I aim to be my first ‘zero’ draft chapter. I am still analysing my data, again early stages and finding that difficult too. I decided to start writing as I am very nervous about coming towards the end of my 3rd year full time PhD with very little to show for it. I see other students in my department coming towards the end of their third year with their full first draft in hand. I have promised to my supervisors to have my data analysed by the end of the year but I am now thinking I need to write as well to keep me going between the tasks. I am a social sciences PhD student and next year I am not funded another issue to make me hurry up! Like Flutter I would really appreciate to join a thread and make some efforts to setting some daily goals which I have been avoiding for way to long. My goal over the next few months would be to have at least one chapter at near first draft and some results starting to take shape. I would really appreciate to join with flutter to set some daily goals and writing tasks and to joining the rest of the group on this thread.

======= Date Modified 05 Sep 2009 11:22:46 =======
Hey Lara, thanks for the warm welcome!

Hey Bulbs. Great, sounds like we'll have a few people to keep us company :-D As I'm nearing the end of the process (I say hopefully!) my thoughts are that it's best to write early and write often. And to keep "finishing" pieces of work. I've drafted drafted and drafted written work (mine is history and it's pretty much ALL about the writing) but until you actually commit to creating a solid first draft (which of course has to start somewhere - such as the zero draft strategy which I found initially helpful) you won't be moving closer to your goal.

Anyway, it sounds like you've got the right strategy which is NOT to wait until you've finished data analysis. The earlier you start writing the longer you have to learn about, and improve, the writing of your dissertation. Just my opinion of course but the earlier you start, and the more you can get finished in advance of a looming deadline, the less stressed you'll be as you get closer to submission.

I'm excited about the idea of being publicly accountable and will endeavour to log on every day I work on my thesis to record my goals. I work part-time but Mon, Tues & Thurs are my "thesis" days. I'll be back soon to commit to my first writing goal :-)

hi guys!! nice to see some activity on this thread. i'm so pleased! really need this to keep me sane whilst i prepare for my viva. i achieved my goal that i set out 2 days ago, that day. but yesterday i did absolutely nothing, zip zata. i just felt tired and just procrasinated. anyways enough of that. today is a fresh start and a brand new day

this morning i recieved a letter from UOL telling me who my examiners are, and my thesis has been sent to them. i'm soooooooo scared. i have never felt this much fear for anything. but like Jillian Michaels would say. FEEL THE FEAR - DO IT ANYWAY!!! (jillian michaels personal trainer from biggest loser US). and i have that motto stuck in my head.

and how there's no such thing as I CAN'T , its I WONT, or i choose NOT TO, you can do it, you just choose not to. so i'm really trying hard to push the negative feelings out of my head. but its hard, cause the voice in my head creeps in and says. who am i fooling? i can't do this. but you know what i'm just gonna try my best and forget the rest. so everytime i hear myself saying, I cant do this. i'm gonna say to myself, "feel the fear but do it anyways"

so here i am taking it one day at a time. and just going to focus on daily goals. becuase i cant prepare for my viva in just one day. its an accumulated effort.

so today's goals are:

1. read through a grant that was written by my sup based on my 2nd paper.
2. make notes from grant.
3. use the grant to think of ideas for the question "what would you do next".
4. google my 2 examiners.
5. find and print papers from examiners to get a feel of where they are coming from.