Congrats about the paper Fm. How are you finding the write up phase plus working your new job?

Morning :) How is everone?

Fm - that's great news that your paper got accepted :D when will you find out about the other two?

Pacience - you have my total sympathy, I had to abandone my chapter that had stats in (partially because it was stressing me out too much at the time, and partly because there is a question about whether it should be in there or not). SPSS is a good software if you know stats inside out, but for someone like me that has the weakest grip of stats, it's like a minefield!

Ady - thank you for such a supportive comment :) I am sure I've been guilty of making off-hand comments in the past at people, so I guess this is just karma! Sorry to hear that your week hasn't gone well, what are the problems you experiencing with your phd?

As for my writing, this week was difficult. Partly, it's because I'm so low on motivation right now. I am so so tired of constantly writing! Then stressful things happen one after the other and I found it really difficult to focus on writing when stressed (am I the only one?). I think I need a break so I am taking the day off today with hubby (he needs a day off too), and we're going out for the day :) Tomorrow is another day!

Hi all,

Patience you have reminded me of my hideous journey with SPSS a few months ago.  I had alot of stats to run and was used to doing the stats freehand on the calculator or using excel (shows my age lol). I found SPSS to be incredibly frustrating and user-unfriendly.  I got a private tutor to refresh my training on the latest software version which helped as my training was two years previous. That said it still took me a while to become familiar with running the tests themselves, ie selecting appropriate data sets while excluding others etc.  I became much quicker at it by the end of the methodology chapters. I found that I also had errors in the previous stats so did quite alot of data cleaning up and re-run stats as I wrote up so then the figures quoted and stats were the 'final' version.  I think the biggest initial lesson I learnt was how to import my excel data straight into SPSS so that I didn't have to retype it all!! Perseverance is the key, you can do it!

Fm - well done on your publication, fab news (up)

How is everyone else's write-ups going?  I always found it a roller coaster where some days I wrote loads and others were very slow going.

I am still awaiting sups comments........feels so close to submission but the waiting is just awful. In the meantime I am proof-reading and have found quite a few inconsistencies with section title foramts etc and have reduced the words a bit more so still being productive.

Hey All

Pink, you sound at a similar situation to me - just at the moment I feel it's writing, writing, writing. It's so relentless but at the same time means that we are still progressing. And if we are to submit this summer, let's be honest we do need to keep pressing on but at times, when I fire up the computer, I click on my thesis, I click on the particular document I'm working on and then see all those words, I feel I will scream :-s but I don't :-x

Dunni, I can only imagine how frustrating it is to be so close and yet waiting for those supvs' comments to come back. It's good you are spotting a few format inconsistencies as that means your eye is still 'in' but I'm guessing you are worried then that you have missed a few. One positive thing about the supv delay in getting back to you is that you are conducting a slow and methodical proofread with the result that you are spotting the odd typo and inconsistency. I'm sure lots of people have to submit with only a frenzied proofread and a lot of typos probably go unnoticed. Your way is the textbook way to do it so although I'm sure it's torture, your thesis will be the stronger for it!

I've taken the day off my thesis - to tidy my house! Not as exciting as Pink going out for a day with hubs but the sun is streaming in the windows today and so I can see that my house is without doubt the dustiest house of all those on this forum:-(. Trying to get my twins to give their room a deep clean. "That's not mine, it's his - I didn't do that, he did - he was the one watching that dvd - those are his socks, not mine" - :-s

Good luck all - Summer 2011, here we come, or in Dunni's case, Spring 2011 (up)

Hi All,
Thanks for the congrats. It is a bit exciting, and fingers crossed, having the papers in my thesis actually published will make it easier to pass.

I'm doing ok working and writing. I wouldn't say that it's going fabulously - I'm really torn between the new job, which I love and is really inspiring and I feel like I can actually make a difference, and finishing my PhD, which at the moment is feeling a little like a weight around my neck. I know that I just have to persevere, and try to be nice to people when they ask when it'll be finished because I know that they are just interested (and not trying to kick me when I'm feeling down).

I also feel like I'm not spending enough time doing wife type things, so I'm struggling with that a bit too.

But this afternoon I'm off to a baby shower, so it will be all family and tiny clothes - a nice big distraction from the thesis
(up)

*phew* I've just finished the first draft of my methodology chapter. It took a bit more work than I anticipated, and it'll need more shaping (it's 9000 words to start with!!), but glad it's out the way and I can start writing another chapter.

Not sure what to write next... I have the choice of doing the first lit review (from scratch AGAIN), chainging a small chapter into something a bit broader, or add a section to a finished chapter... I think I may do the lit review, as that will then only leave on chapter (plus intro and conclusion) unwritten, which would be a great relief.

my day off yesterday was lovely, and I highly recommend it to anyone going through a the writing slump. I felt guilty to start off with for taking the day off, but I managed to be far more productive today.

Having said that, I am still looking forward to this writing toll finishing!

Hi all,
Pink numbers - I just finished my first draft of methodology on Friday too, so treated myself with a weekend off which was great, I agree with you a day off can really help and now I'm feeling re-energised for this week! I'm also not sure what I'm writing next, but I think lit review may be the best idea.

A friend and I have started have writing sessions twice a week, where we go to a coffee shop, turn off WiFi and just write... its working amazingly well! I find I can zone out of everything else and be really productive for those few hours.. and it gives me more enthusiasm for writing the rest of the week once I've made a good start on something without any other distractions.

I'm simultaneously fighting with SPSS and Excel for my data analysis, so Patience I sympathise!

Have a great week everyone.

I'm absolutely fed up of writing right now :( I just can't be bothered to string up yet another sentence, or read another paper. I just want to get out of writing this stupid thesis.

Has anyone else felt like this? How does everyone else get out of a writing rut? I would probably say take a day off, but I don't think I can take another day off this week.

Honestly you should take time out. You're not going to break the impasse when you're in that sort of mood. And keeping going isn't going to get you anywhere at all: you'll just get more miserable.

So have a break tomorrow. You'll be surprised just how much your brain is working through ideas without you being aware of it, and you'll come back to the writing refreshed and eager to go.

Well that's how it always worked for me :p

======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2011 08:12:23 =======
Oh Pink I can hear your frustration but you're so close, don't let it go at this late stage. July isn't too far away and you'll have done it. I admit to feeling something similar at the moment, every word feels like it's being dragged out of me. I really feel like my thesis is being written word by slow w o r d :-(

What about doing something like writing your acknowledgements, or starting your table of contents? It might help a bit and yet you would be doing something. Or going back to doing it by 'tomoatoes'? At least then you could quantify each bit of progress.

I had a bit of a clear out over the weekend as I had amassed a ridiculous amount of articles. I'm on the second draft of my lit review and methodology so I have a pretty good idea of what I need so I culled my stash. They're on a shelf to the left of my writing desk and suddenly they reduced by nearly half. I had been getting a bit worried about the "have you read everything in your bib?" so at least now I think I have a fighting chance of knowing articles and books I have in there.

Can't think of anything else to say except you will do it Pink :-). This last bit is the toughest but you'll get there :-x.

Thank you Bilbo and Ady, you guys are great :)

I think I am borderline moving from manic to depressive phase in my bipolar, which has always been a worry through this write up. I can write and write and write while manic but once depressed, I can't write for love nor money. I am doing my best to keep myself out of the depression so that I can write as long as I can (hopefully seeing the thesis finished!)

At least it's sunny here today, it's always much easier to get on with writing on a sunny day :)

Ady - sorry to hear that you're having a hard time too, but as you say, we will get through this!! Why don't you take a day off? I don't think you've taken a proper day off in ages have you? (and no, tidying up the house doesn't count as a day off ;) ) I am also getting paranoid about the "have you read everything in your bibliography"!!

======= Date Modified 24 Feb 2011 13:04:25 =======
I remember, vaguely, that I took Christmas Day off :$

I just think 'Sept, Sept, Sept' and I'll be free :-). I left school (a 100 years ago), to go do a solid secretarial course (it was the 1980s!!) and then to work. Actually I left that course early to go full time working. I left work after 20 years on a Friday and started college on the Monday. I've now been studying in one form or another (BA to masters to PhD) for 8 years and quite frankly I feel I've had enough. When I finish, I'm out of here 8-).

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 :)

Hi Fm, well done for having almost completed the first draft!  It is sad to say that yes I also felt relief that I had all chapters written but still overwhelmed by the work needed to convert it to a thesis. I think for me lists were crucial as there was so much to think about rather than putting all focus on a single chapter.  I set up a 'thesis' word doc and added in the title, acknowledgements, abstract, contents pages etc (check your uni specifics) and then gradually built it up by cutting and pasting in the individual chapters. Then the arduous task of adding in figures, tables, reference list and appendices etc to form the thesis.  After this I edited out lots of words for overall length but at the same time checked for continuity throughout the thesis with linking of chapters. A quick check of relevant references via lit searches to make sure none were missed (I hope they all are lol).  Lastly I wrote the abstract and acknowledgements. The final chapter completion was in Nov 2010 and on 25th Dec 2010 I sent out the first draft thesis to sups.  Further editing resulted in the final draft thesis distribution to sups beg Feb 2011. I am still awaiting comments from 2 out of 3 sups.  Sup 1 is happy for submission, sup 2 has very little comments and due to finish reading soon (yeah) but sup 3 has not communicated with me at all yet :-(  I am proof reading for grammar and spelling while I wait...........hopefully not long to go as like you I really want this to be done now.

Hope this helps Fm, it really won't take too long once all chapters are drafted as I am also part-time. I just seems insurmountable but keep chipping away at it as in a few months you will be there too.

Hey all

Another sunday, another day at the laptop :-(

Dunni, I can't believe your 3rd supv still hasn't gotten back to you - he/she def knows they're supposed to read it?? Would your main supv be able to give them a 'gentle' reminder for you?? It must be so frustrating.