I reckon that's a yes Pinknumbers!! After all, it's not like you are just being lazy and will have to come back to them at a later date - they are crossed off the list forever and therefore DONE!

Absolutely, I agree, it's just a bonus if there's nothing to actually glean from the papers! Well, not a bonus in terms of progressing the research, but you know what I mean - anything that helps reduce the amount of reading is a good thing!

I'm making slow progress on my paper, but I am making progress. It's on an area I know nothing about and my supervisors have also told me they know nothing about, so I can't help but wonder if I'm heading way off track. I've read two books and one journal paper on it and haven't found anything else (apart from source documents in a discipline that would take about three years to get my head around!) so it's going to be a really poorly supported paper. Oh well, it'll probably only end up being a couple of pages in the final thesis - that's okay, right?

ok that makes me feel A LOT better. I kept seeing people write "I've finished reading 4 papers" in the time it took me to read one or two papers!!

phew!

Batfink, no defo not a bad thing if it helps to improve the quality of your thesis. At least you didn't realise at 7 months to go that you knew nothing about an entire chapter in your thesis! ask me how I know...

Cheers, pink_numbers, that's reassuring. And I have exactly the same feeling when people write up that they've read loads of papers - I always end up worrying that I haven't read enough!

Gah, other half is sitting in a nice beer garden with a load of mates about to watch the football, and I'm stuck here still working on this paper. Boo hiss. But I'll have the match on the radio while I'm working. And I'm determined to get this paper finished tomorrow, so the more I do now the less I'll have to do tomorrow!

ok so today im supposed to be writing a paper, or at least starting it... So far I have checked emails repeatedly, got groceries, cleaned around, ate, watched tv and had a nap! It's not going so well it seems! Is anyone else finding it hard to work today?!

Definitely! I'm spending way more time checking emails, Facebook, online newspapers etc than I should be! Something about it being a Saturday maybe, I don't know.

My goal for today: to finish a draft of the paper I'm writing. I'm feeling positive. I can do this!

you totally can Batfink!!

Ok, if you're doing that, I'll join in too and finish drafting my chapter (I have the whole of last section to write still).

WE CAN DO THIS!!

ok I'm doing this too! I need to get a zero draft of the paper I'm writing, which is also a chapter in my thesis done today! I can do it! WE can all do it! Just have to make a cup of tea... :-)

Yay, other people doing the same thing is actually spurring me on. Go us! This motivating thing actually works!

it's far too easy to have an extended lunch break...

AGH! I'm slowly starting to realise that finish writing this chapter today is not going to happen!!

must carry on regardless...

How are you two doing?

Yay! Apart from a couple of linking paragraphs that I just don't have the strength for, and a quick read-through and editing, I'm done! My head is spinning though. And I'm sure it's rubbish. Ah well, hardly any of it will end up in the thesis anyway!

Don't give up, pink_numbers! Even if you don't manage to finish it today, you can break its back and be in a much better position tomorrow!

um....well after watching glee, i wrote a few lines, then went for a walk in the park, now going to have dinner while watching Miss Potter! Not a whole lot of writing done!! Well done Batfink on getting your work done though!

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I have to say, the motivation of three of us working to finish was really really helpful today. I just finished writing my first draft of that chapter I've been slaving over for the last two weeks! It still needs a lot of word doing to it, but it's great to get one stage done. THANK YOU.

Batfink, congratulations, you whizzed through that! You must have far better focus than I have. I was darting around the net ever few minutes! Thank you for your kind encouragement earlier, it really did help me get through this evening's work. I don't think I would've even worked this evening without your comment :)

ETA: algaequeen, could you let me know what Miss Potter is like? I've been wondering whether I'd like it or not for ages!