Hey girls :) How is everyone? I was so pleased to see that this thread was going strong!

Things are getting back to normal here. I managed to track down one family friend, who has been evacuated but otherwise ok. Still can't find another friend, but I am sure she is somewhere safe. University has been kind and granted me a month off, so I am still on track to finishing this summer, 31st of July!

I am fully back into writing mode now, have been writing for two weeks and got another chapter out of the way. I just have the intro, first lit review and the conclusion to write. I think I will be working on the conclusion next. I am doing things so backwards because I just don't know how to structure the first lit chapter. gggrrr. Must've written that chapter about 4 times now and it never seems right.

I am so glad to see that everyone has made so much progress, I am looking forward to being part of this thread again :-)

hi peeps. I've done no work in the last two days. All my family are in Japan, and been spending the last two days watching Japanese TV online and crying. Don't think I will be working for a few days, I am finding it impossible to even read anything at the mo.

hey, how is everyone getting on this week?

Last week was very slow going, I had to take numerous days off from being so tired and battle a bad cold :( So I only wrote a very short chapter (abour 14 pages). I still have half of my 1st lit review chapter and the final data analysis chapter to write (plus intro and conclusion...) ARGH! How will it ever get done?

I'm hoping this lit review chapter will be done this week, plus a section that I need to add to another chapter. Goodness knows if it will ever happen.

JulyHereWeCome - how much of your thesis is done already? How much more have you got to do? I've been writing out how much more to do on this thread, and it has really helped me keep my head cool(ish).

Hey KeanBean, what bipolar phase are you in at the moment? I am in the low phase at the moment, so my work hours have reduced from doing 9 hours of writing to about 5 hours a day. I've accepted the fact that right now, I cannot do any more than that. Instead, I plan the 5 hours carefully so that I get the most amount of work done in that 5 hours.

Even without the bipolar, I do think it's very hard to write like you data collected. You have to think SO hard about what you are writing, and constantly. I've always been amazed at how sitting down, not doing anything physical, but just thinking tires you out so much!

I would just do what you can and be realistic. Pushing yourself harder than your body is willing to is only going to start causing you problems further down the line.

Hi Dunni, I'm absolutely shocked that they still haven't got back to you!

Personally, I would maybe email the second sup that has started reading, and see if they indend on finishing soon... but I would forget about the third sup that hasn't even started reading! At the end of the day, your sup that has been most enthusiastic (and thus probably know more about your work than the other two) has said it's fine. I don't think the other two sup would have anything SO major that is critical to your thesis.

If the 2nd sup is nearly at the end, then I might wait for their feedback, but otherwise, I would just submit the thesis.

Hope they get back to you VERY soon!

I don't have a dog, so I don't know if this would be relevant, but here goes anyway :)

Couple of years ago, we adopted two elderly rescue cats. One is like a normal, tom cat, but the other had become very needy and insecure due to being abandoned by their previous owner. So she had abandonment issues. We've tried all sorts, but realised that she cannot be left alone for more than one night, so we now don't go away for longer than an over nighter.

She also DEMANDS attention constantly. It means me working at my desk at home is hard because she will mew and meow and mew until I pay her attention. I had to try all sorts of places around the house and finally found that she was happy if I worked on the bed. She's quite happy to sit next me and requires no additional attention (= I can get on with work!). So I've been writing up my thesis on my bed for the last few months!!

It might seem extreme to others, but the way I feel is that I took the responsibility to look after these cats, and so I should do everything within my ability to keep them happy.

Thank you so much Ady, you are so kind! I have PMed you :)

oh dear, yes I can totally feel your pressure! Just keep your focus on getting this thesis in for now, I'm sure everything else will come in time.

oh and please don't forget to relax, take time out and be nice to yourself :)

hi girls (do we still have the one man or are we back to all girls again?) how is everyone getting on this week? what are you guys writing?

This week I've decided to write a new chapter reporting on a pilot study that I did. I wasn't going to put this in, but I think it will justify a lot about why I did the things the way I did. So lots of video transcription and dipping my toes into qualitative stuff, which I'm not quite familar with!! I'm giving the chapter whole of this week and see where we are on sunday evening before deciding to put it in or leave it out. Seems like a bit risk to spend a whole week this close to the deadline!!

I also just watched this programme - it's both very inspirational for us PhD students, and also makes you feel better about any run ins you've ever had with your supervisor (with perhaps the exception of keanbean....) because her supervisor was a world class jack a**!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ry9jq/Beautiful_Minds_Jocelyn_Bell_Burnell/

It looks like a good series, can't wait for the next one.

KeanBean - please don't think that I was saying you should come off the meds, I don't! I think it's really good that you found a way to cope. Finding a coping mechanism is all that matters. I only suggested the sugar thing because I know you may have to come off the meds later. I do sometime wonder if life would be easier if I went on the meds!

I'm not really sure if I have any good advice, but I couldn't read your post and run. What you are going through must be so hard, and you are very strong to decide to work at it, and also carry on with everything else.

I would say, take it easy on your PhD for a bit if you are not under huge time pressure. What you are dealing with is hard, and takes a lot out of you, so you need to make your life as easy as possible for yourself right now.

please take good care of yourself.

thank you Sacha, managed to get it! the website is a good reading, thank you for taking your time out to get back to me about the link (up)

what does your supervisor think of the situation? do they think that the examiners' decisions are fair or not? Would your supervisor back you up if you filed a complaint? would they personally take it up with someone higher?

man you two make me feel so bad, I'm going to be just shy of SIX YEARS (cries in the corner).

I just checked up my list (I keep a running task list in remember the milk), and here were few more that may be useful:

add header and footer
check the use of single and double quotes
check the use of a and an
table of abbreviations
table of equations
put thesis through a plagerism program
check the use of farther and further


I'm sorry that there are few English checks that are probably blindingly obvious to most, but for me as a dyslexic, these ones are crucial.

you're more than welcome, I'm sorry I can't help much more than that since I am waaaay behind you!

I'll write down here the tasks that I so far have on the list of todos:

check through figure and table numbers
fill out the refs to tables and figures (I've left them blank for now)
check the all refs are cited in paper
check all citations have a ref!
check that all titles have initials capitalised
ditto figure and table titles
fill out blank refs to other chapers
check that section numbers run through correctly
check that the intro and conclusions cover the same things in each chapter
check that all research questions defined early on in thesis is answered
check stats
check numbers in tables
check appendix
check plurals
check that it's all written in the past tense
have someone proof read it for English
check that everything stipulated by the faculty guideline on thesis matches
check that there are no weird font style/size changes anywhere


... that's all I can think for now, hope that helps :)

When I get to that stage (I'm still 4 months to submission), the first thing I am planning to do is list every task I can think of that NEEDS to be done before submission, and then allocate dates to do them in to ensure that I have enough time to do them, PLUS plenty of time to do all those unforseen stuff that enevitably crop up. That way, it won't be such a stress when the unplanned task does pop up because I'll say to myself, 'that's ok, I had spare x number of days available still after doing all the important tasks'.