am taking the afternoon off. 8-) taking an hours nap. then preparing to meet some friends, am taking the evening off today then getting back to work tomorrow. yeah! for once am free. though i can't help but think of all i could be getting done. does that make me a workaholic?

i totally agree with you Sneaks and i hate supervisors with that type of attitude.

How good was the first draft of your thesis?

Did it flow?

Was your argument clear or did you develop it further at a later point? Had you done all your footnotes?

What kind of feedback did you supervisor give you? rewrite? improve?

What should i be aiming for in my first draft? With two weeks to go before handing in my first draft of the complete thesis i feel like its never going to be perfect and am embarassed by the low quality of some sections, yet i can't address them all in the time available. However, I do not want to miss this deadline because of perfectionism!

Any advice?

i think i have come to a point of saturation where i can't notice if am repeating. :-( i think i'll take a few days break and come back to it when am done. for now i will just write as is.

i don't think jealousy can ever be understood or justified.

envying others and making their lives difficult does not change a thing. instead these people should be happy that someone can self-fund, hence less competition for whatever funds are available and more research gets done.

i think some people are just bitter and jealous at those with rich parents. what's wrong with having rich parents? too bad for someone if their's are not. they should grow up and deal with it.

they also need to remember that we get admitted based on a proposal and decent grades.. not how we are going to pay for it.

however, i do agree that supervisors tend to ignore self-funded students, particularly international students. largely because they only have to account to them.

teeth can be really painful. get well soon Emmaki!

hey everyone,

i have two chapters to go, of approximately 15,000 words in total, and i've reached the 80000 words limit. how do you cut down? did you read the whole thesis checking for repitition? did you get someone else to do this for you? did you ask your supervisor to cancel sections that weren't useful and to point out repititions? am considering asking my supervisor to do this. after all what is a supervisor there for? the problem with him is that he scheme reads the work instead of reading it word for word.


has anyone else struggled with this?

i've decided to concentrate on my thesis after doing some more reading to improve a publication only for the editor to tell me that he's 'wary' of publishing my work because most of the issues in there have been resolved in developed jurisdictions. so what, does that make them irrelevant if a country somewhere hasn't resolved them?!

taking a five minute break and getting on with my thesis. :-)

on another break.. feeling quite tired actually. but am happy with today. am working in a library and over the last few day's i've noticed that am the only one left here after a certain hour. if i'd worked this hard during my undergrad i'd have got a first! but then again i wouldn't have had a life.. and in hindsight.. am glad i had a life..

anyway... i need to push on for one more hour to finish today's target.

am hoping for a better day tomorrow.:-)

thanks. :-)

i didn't even know stars were real until yesterday.

oh.. just seeing this now.

thanks Sneaks.

am also a fourth year going through most if not all of those things. my tips:

1) stop comparing: everyone's phd experience is different and every project is different.

2) determine to finish soon and set a date: this will help you stay motivated. i have set mine for end Feb, latest March. tell the supervisor about this date and that will make them see that you are serious.

3) think and speak positive words to yourself and don't feel guilty about your pace. those asking don't mean any harm. they just can't relate to the demands of a phd. understand them from that point of view.

4) festive season: send cards to loved ones. and if they ask for more tell them funds are low.. its the thought that counts.

5) re supervisor: your supervisor will only show some interest if you show him that you are serious about finishing. this is what you need to show them and things will improve. at this point we are expected to be independent of them. i hardly communicate with mine except when we are discussing work and every other student of his meets regularly with him at the pub after work. don't compare. just focus on your own thing, on finishing soon and being liberated from this phd depression.

6) have you read joan volker's book on writing up a phd? this is a must read to stay alive on your phd after year 3.

more later.

its interesting reading on how everyone is living right now. 8-)

just managed another copy and paste. can hardly follow my work because i've read it so many times over the last few years :-(. time to reward myself with that drink.. planning to paste a few more and i'll be done for the day. today is not the most productive day.

am contemplating going to get a drink down stairs..