Does your uni provide training for teaching. I had graduate teaching assistant training before I was allowed to teach and there were various other courses provided by the faculty. I would look into this.

Glad to hear you got there in the end Blackbyrd and your viva has come round very quickly. I'm still waiting to hear about mine. I know what you mean about being tired and feeling guilty - it doesn't all just go away when you hand in.
Have a great holiday and good luck with the viva.

[quote]Quote From screamingaddabs:



Also, many posts feature the line "I've emailed loads but no reply". If it is urgent, go to your supervisors office a few times every day until you can speak to them. Things are a lot easier to resolve in person and supervisors are generally a bit older and don't like email.


I think this is a very patronising comment and a gross generalisation! Whether a supervisor is 'older' or not (and what do you class as older?) the nature of their work entails that they use electronic forms of communication and e-mail is one of the basic means of this which is generally the quickest and most common way of communicating nowadays. More and more educational resources are online and I think if people aren't up to using e-mail then they will soon be left way behind.

Rant over!
Pam (an older person!)

Hi Faye,

Yes you can do it. I was in the same situation as you 8 weeks ago, which means I submitted 3 weeks ago! If you search for 'My Final Push' you can read the diary of the last few weeks.

I had no conclusion, a not very good introduction, one main chapter to completely write from notes, one finished draft chapter, and a third which tailed off. I was also in my fifth year so knew it had to be done. Like you I have had a great supervisor but have suffered from depression and anxiety and had to deal with bereavement, marriage break-up, moving house etc etc.
I just sent my supervisor the chapters I had done and she didn't see the introduction and conclusion. I could have done a lot more proofreading and written a much better conclusion but I know I will get some corrections and realised it was better to concentrate on the really important bits as other stuff could be rectified after the viva. As long as your research is sound then you will be OK.
Can you take any more holiday from work? I'vce used up all my holiday for the year nearly, but decided the thesis was more important than having time off later in the year. I'll worry about that later.
You need to make a plan of what you need to do and try to stick to it rigidly. Look at the priorities. It's better to have an un-proofread finished chapter, than half a perfect one. Can you get friends, family or colleagues to do the proofreading while you work on the content?
Five weeks is a long time and you can do it.

Thanks, everyone. There seems to be quite a disparity in timings - 5 months is a lot Skig!
I've checked the policy for my uni and you should have the viva between 8 and 12 weeks from submission with no less than 10 days notice.
I feel I should start doing something now but am so relieved to have some free time for a change so will wait a little while before going back to it.

How long after people submitted did you hear when your viva was and were you contacted by letter or e-mail?

I was just thinking on similar lines myself. I've just submitted and will be 46 next month. I would like an academic post and have a lot of teaching experience, which is what I enjoy most, but I haven't got a great research profile or much published so think it may be too late to get a 'proper' academic post as there will be younger people with more experience, and people my age will probably already have an established career. I know age shouldn't matter but it does. I've decided that teaching is what I enjoy and I am teaching for the OU and hope to get more teaching at other unis (see my other post). I am happy doing this in conjunction with museum work which is my other passion.
If you have the opportunity to go to Australia and there is work there then I would say go for it.
Being in your forties isn't old really - at least another 20 years until I retire and more for you. That's a long time!

Travelwise, I mean! I've seen a two-hour a week teaching job at a good university in my subject for students studying part time in the evening. It's well-paid, however it's in London which is not exactly close. the train journey would be an hour and a half after a drive to the station. Even after train fares I would still make more in a day than I do for any other jobs I have. Is it worth going for for the experience and to get known at this uni as of a full-time job came up it would definitely be worth it.

I was funded by the AHRC and was only allowed to do 6 hours of teaching and 6 hours of any outside jobs a week as long as it didn't interfere with my work. I think most funding bodies are the same so I would make sure you get the full facts. If the closing date of the job is near, I would apply anyway as you can always stop the application if it's too many hours. And it would be a shame to miss out, if you were allowed to do it. But do think carefully about the workload.

Hi Blackbyrd. I assume you have submitted and are now sleeping or relaxing or celebrating. Hope it went OK without too much hassle. It's a great feeling isn't it?

I have just got round to tidying my office - once I managed to get in past all the paper etc. I was just wondering how much stuff to chuck away/recycle from all the notes, drafts, printouts etc that i have accumulated. There are some obvious things to keep but when I have just printed out work that I have on my PC anyway, I don't think I need to keep everything I have.
Any views?

Keep going Blackbyrd, you can do it. You will soon be in the same position as me - finished!! I never thought I would get there.
One thing though, I can't remember if you have mentioned this in any posts but my printing took so much longer than I thought it would, so I hope you have either got a fast printer or are getting it done professionally.

Good luck
Pam

First line of schoolassists website 'Being conceivable and convincing, invariably defines one's finesse and expertise. However, its not everyone's refreshing cup of tea and in fact is sometimes a haunting pill.'

Why oh why didn't I contact them to proofread my thesis!

I've submitted, both hard copies and finally electronically when my account was reinstated. I got an apology for it being deleted so there was no problem with having to prove I had finished.
I have bought myself some red suede stillettos to celebrate. I will now sleep for a while.
Thank you everybody who has been with me through this one for all your advice, support, encouragement and patience.
Good luck to all those still working and those due to submit soon.
Love and presents to you all.
:-x(gift)

I don't belive it. Someone does not want me to finish this phd. my uni account has expired so i can't log on to submit my thesis. i'm now on hold to the it people.