but thats because im not really doing any "new" writing, just summarising each and every paragraph that i have written in my first draft, into one sentence (which is harder than it sounds!)

most of the time, my one sentence, has turned into a couple of sentences..

but in another way, its helpful, in learning new things i didnt even realise lol.

as they say creativity and original thinking takes time..

so update:

i recieved an email from my main supervisor today.

they are going to help me prepare for my viva and with my thesis. now i am feeling stressed about my viva, and havent even finished writing my thesis.

i thought once i submit my thesis, i could worry about preparing for my viva, as you have a couple of months. but my supervisor wants to test me over the next couple of months whilst i write my thesis. i guess this may help me with writing my thesis ?

he made some good points. but now i am stressing about the viva and havent even written my thesis!

he wrote:

" ****and I are getting a bit dispirited about the process with which you are conducting the preparation of your thesis.

We suggested a long time ago that you really should come in and talk to us about it so you didn't waste your (and our) time going back and correcting large sections of your work.

We certainly said you needed to draw up an outline first and foremost. We have worked with you for a long time and really do think we can help you if this is done properly. Currently my concerns are as follows:

"(1) The content of your thesis and your understanding of that content. It is important that you are scientifically on top of the research you are presenting and can defend it completely. You need to have a better understanding than the people who are examining you and anticipate criticisms before they come so you are ready to respond. Susan and I will be pretty severe on you and test your knowledge to the limit over the next few month. We're not going to do this to be mean, but because you need to go into you examination with the ability to fight your corner and convince the examiners you know what you're talking about

(2) The thesis is written by you. This also relates to the above. If you really do understand your work then this will be apparent in what you write. At the moment there is a lot of copying and pasting from the papers and it is difficult to evaluate what you have written and what has been written by **** and I. If you make glaring errors we will point them out. But we will not have the time to pour over the content, and change sentence structure like we do with the papers. There has to be a writing style you adopt, and when you read it back, you will need to judge it and appreciate whether or not feel it all makes sense."

in fairness, to THEM they did ask me to produce a summary outline of my thesis, but at the time, i was told by my uni postgraduate tutor to produce a 1st draft by 7th of july (my main supervisor knows this). my postgraduate tutor, told me I MUST produce a 1st draft by early july and send to my supervisor, so that he will feel reassured that i can finish my thesis before my sept deadline and SIGN my examination forms. my postgraduate tutor told me that my supervisor probably thinks i cant write a thesis in the time, so to make his feel reassured produce a first draft. so thats what i did.

but since i only had 3 weeks to produce a first draft there are alot of missing sections, and so my main supervisor told me to produce a full draft version and then send that to them, and how hes too busy at the moment anyways. which is fair enough. i dont expect him to read my thesis in full until its in its final version, and only expect him to read it once. he has many many other phd students, and im not even his official student. i dont really have an official supervisor.

but then my 2nd supervisor suggested i do the summary of the outline and i agreed. and told them i would send it to them asap, and when it was convenient i would be happy to come in for a meeting to discuss my thesis.

and also at that point i couldnt produce a summary outline of my thesis, as i had no idea how to organise my thesis. it was only when i produced a first draft, was i able to organise it.

i have a different approach to the one that my supervisors seem to impose on me.

i work by Joan bolkers and Flowers method. make a mud pie mess, and madman, and then bring in the arhitect and carpenter.

i think they should respect my own personal approach as to how i am writing my thesis.

in fairness, i did use alot of the content of the papers. but that was becuase this was just a first draft, i was going to change the sentences into my "own simpler way" once i was working on the 2nd draft.

i used the sentences from the papers, as a skeleton framework to build up on.


to circumvent this problem that he seems to be having of plagerising my two papers, i will make damn sure no sentence in my thesis chapters is the same as the papers.

so moving forward:

1) produce a summary of my thesis. and include ideas for further work that i can include.

2) work on chapter 3 and make sure i undersatnd everything i have written.

3) make a list of things i do not understand and need further help in understanding (mainly statistics)

4) approach it in a methodical bit by bit manner.

5) i have a book which i call paper memory. i include all the ideas and problems i encounter whilst i write my thesis.

6) i should make a seperate book, of questions i have to ask my supervisor to help me with further understanding.

i just had to write that all out, and share it with ya'll as it kept swooshing in my head and affecting my concentration at the task at hand.

thanks for listening

came across this really good link on how to prepare for viva:

i think the advice will help me in my meetings with my supervisor.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/1960/the_phd_viva_thrive_or_survive

{quote}

The 'Viva Thriver' Plan

Be confident: You are more of an expert than they are.

Know your thesis inside out: Imagine you are preparing evidence for a legal defence in court.

Be scholarly: You are asking to be let into the inner circle of your scientific community.

Stick to what you do know: All other ground is quicksand.

Ask questions: Appear keen to fill in gaps in your knowledge. {end quote}

{quote}

Firstly, you are more of an expert than they are. You did the work and you wrote the thing.

So consider yourself as holding all the cards. If you can argue your point well, they'll just have to accept what you say.

Imagine that they are questioning your choice of experiment, and suggesting an alternative. Your response might be,

'I considered trying that approach but the necessary equipment wasn't available in the department, and I didn't have time to go elsewhere to do the experiment'. Since they weren't there at the time, what else can they come back at you with? {end quote}

{quote}

"The truth is, one of the main things your examiners are trying to pin down is whether you can argue your case in appropriate scientific parlance. If it appears that you know your thesis inside out (and, by now, you should) and you can give a good account of why you did what you did, you are already a long way to winning your examiners over. The other thing they want to check out is whether you can think on your feet to produce a well-reasoned response to an unexpected question.

In other words, are you scholarly? " {end quote}

whilst writing your thesis, keep the examiner in mind, point out limitations of your findings, or methodology yourself, so they cant. and answer such questions in the writing.