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Informally reviewed unpublished papers
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I'm not sure I really see the point in all this, other than scraping the barrel to try and show you were actually doing something during those 4 years you admit you have "little to show for". Also, you're not 'publishing' anything by simply making it available online - why not just put it on your CV and then say the work is viewable in a PDF if they want to see an example of your work?

Severely depressed about my PhD
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Quote From Fled:
Hello. You said "loathe". You should have quit yesterday. My wife is a medical doctor, and yesterday she was telling me about a young man in his teens who came in; who had hung himself for whatever reason. Unfortunately he did not die, and suffered irreparable brain damage. Needless to say his family is utterly crushed.

All of that was to say is that at the end of the day, life has to have meaning for YOU. Not anyone else, not your parents, your friends, your neighbours or your pets. Sure we have all had at one time or the other had to work a shitty job in order to pay the bills, or take a course we hated, but when you find yourself in a position to transition, you make your move.

Staying in your PhD is not only hurting you, but it is taking up space at your institution and using up their resources which could be spent on someone REALLY motivated to do the work. Don't make a joke of the Academy and don't unnecessarily burden your supervisor(s) when you don't want to be there.

I am sure you parents rather you be happy that be "Ms. Happy" than "miserable Dr. so-and-so" If not, too bad. Its simple. Break the bad news to them, do the same with the supervisors and save yourself next semester's fees. Then you look at nursing training, when the next intake is, what exams or requirements are needed, you may have missed enrolment which gives you time to get all of your competencies in order for next time and also try to visit with some nurses to ask them if the Profession is all you imagined it to be. Fear is worrying about something which has not happened, and probably never will. Regret however is very real. You know what to do.

...the clock is ticking...


Condescending and, in parts, nasty post. I urge LouLou15 to ignore it.

Systematic Review
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Keeping motivated when writing up?!
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Well I've managed to write 1000 words a day for the last 3 days....it's been an almighty struggle, lol! I found a simple calendar online where you can put great big red crosses through each day - I find it's been very satisfying to be able to do that when I reach my target. I so hope I can keep this up for another couple of weeks :0

Sick of Spam on this forum!!!
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Oh dear, things have really taken a turn for the worse and the forum has become unusable. I wonder if the site Admins would allow trusted or more senior posters, who would be willing to volunteer their time, to have some basic moderation privileges?

Sick of Spam on this forum!!!
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The spammers are ruining the forum :(

Citing a journal article which is under review?
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Hi MrDoctor,

As Sam said I don't think this is allowed as it hasn't been published. However, if it does get accepted for publication you can put 'in press' in parentheses at the end of the journal title for between then and when it comes out in print. e.g. Doctor, Mister (2014). Article title. Journal Title (in press).

Lemonjuice :)

Keeping motivated when writing up?!
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You're right marasap, the fear is a big problem :( This month has been a total write off for me. Panic is setting in and I need to snap out of this feeling of not wanting to do anything. It's so easy to start beating myself up and to let the intrusive thoughts overwhelm me (e.g. I'm stupid, lazy, pathetic, pointless, a failure, too old for this....). Right, off to bed for me and hope I will be brighter in the morning :/

Help - what do I do?
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Hi echo,

I'm not sure if you still read the forum (you haven't logged in for a while), but I was wondering how you're doing and if you're feeling better? It's been more than a year now so I hope you're okay and have made the decision that's right for you :)

the courage to admit it
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Quote From marasp:
Well, let;s put it this way: it's a good opportunity to see who cares and who doesn't. People's responses:

-Oh, really?
-I got no corrections when I had my viva.
-So, it really happens getting a result like this?
-What did your supervisor say about the result?
-I cannot imagine how it would feel being in your shoes.
-I wish you luck.
-Well, I know that it has also happened to (insert name of person here).

Some people get happy with other peoples' misfortunes.


I can't imagine the type of person who would respond like that....at the end of the day PhD is either pass or fail regardless how someone gets there. You've done so well marasp, I hope they are not bringing you down :)

Advice on publishing papers
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Hi dotdottung,

is this paper coming from your PhD (e.g. making up a chapter or part of one)? If so your supervisor(s) should probably be recognised as authors and would need to see the paper before it's submitted to give feed back. I rarely, if ever, advise any one to go ahead and submit to journals without getting advice first - even if its just about how the article has been written - in which case it's not so important if your supervisor is an expert in that particular topic.

Keeping motivated when writing up?!
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Hi all :)

Thanks for your replies. Since starting this thread I've been very up and down with the writing.....but alas the dreaded wall has returned. I also had this feeling of anxiety and nausea when thinking about writing today! Really don't want to do anything. I agree Joanna, having something nice to look forward to does help a bit :) I really wanted to get this done inside 3 years (my supervisors are/were too), but I'll end up killing myself at this rate.

Right, time for some deep breaths, a snooze (lol!) and then hopefully I'll have the mental strength to 'put pen to paper' :/

Qualitative analysis: NVivo, Word or Paper based?
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I actually find Word easiest. I'm not a fan of NVivo as I find it overly complicated and difficult to use, although it is good if there is a team of people who are working on the same project (especially if they are dispersed at a few different institutions and all need access to the data). But really seeing as all the analysis goes on in your brain - paper, Word or NVivo will all be fine, it depends on what you prefer.

Overlapping studies
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Quote From TreeofLife:
Just tell them she has quit it even though she hasn't... how are they going to know?


This was my first thought....

Keeping motivated when writing up?!
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I'm currently in the writing up stage of the PhD. The weird thing is my motivation has hit an all time low! This feels so odd to me. I remember after the first year thinking 'if I can only get to the writing up stage, all will be ok' LOL........if anything it's become harder as time has gone on instead of easier. I've tried the MyTomatos thing and it didn't really work for me. Anyone have any other ideas/tips? Visualising the end result only makes me more depressed at how much I need to do so that doesn't work either lol.

Thanks all :)