Dear Sue, Alpacalover, others,

good to read that everyone is making progress, albeit, as with me, in small steps.

I have had some feedback on my thesis and need to add various large bits. How does one avoid that the document gets too long? I mean, can you say: More information can be found in the appendix and just add this? Or does everything need to be in the main text, with the risk of getting a document which is comprehensive but difficult to understand and which lacks cohesion?

Would be interested in your views.



:-)

Sue,

yeah, just have a few beers and shout out loudly how fed up you are regarding it all!
Just try that, it may make you feel a bit better.

Later you can then assess what it all means. Not everything is lost!!

Hi Sue2010,

welcome to the forum.

I think there are several other participants at this forum who live a quite a distance of the uni, and / or who do the PhD part-time. As such there will be plenty with whom you can share your experiences.

Perhaps the best tip may be just to express yourself and to ask many questions. Especially at the beginning research can be confusing and also quite daunting.:-)

Wow, Bilbo, I am impressed.

I knew you were making progress, yet I had not realised that you had achieved so much already. Having the thesis bound, to be able to really feel it, that must be great!

Well done!

Thanks Bilbo,

you are absolutely right: "Aaagh" was the first reaction / feeling I had when I saw the feedback.

How are you getting on?:-)

Dear fellow "6 Monthers", just wanted to share that I have received feedback on my draft thesis.

Lots of "red ink", plenty of areas that (again) I have to work on. However, I try not to get annoyed or upset about these things, and will have a closer look in the weekend.

Happy though that I have received it back and that I can work on it again in the near future. Seems just a matter of persevering!:-)

Hi Maria,

sorry to read about what happened at the end of your presentation.

I often go to workshops regarding education, and frequently you are asked about your best and worst learning experience, best and worst teacher etc. Most participants describe the worst teachers as the ones who publicly try to humiliate you. I think this would fit very well with the behaviour your supervisor showed during your presentation. Good teachers are the ones that listen, are enthusiastic, stimulating and they try and encourage the student to learn. As supervisors are also educators it may comfort you to know that he just seems incompetent and that you from now on will always remember him as the worst teacher you have ever come across. It may be worth providing this type of feedback (perhaps anonymously) to him or to his supervisor / professor? Can you put in a complaint related to his behaviour?

Hi Ev,

it is a good question. In my opinion is the connection between different parts one of the most difficult issues to achieve.

Perhaps the following may be helpful.

The literature should provide information regarding what is already known and what has been done. I think it is best to provide a brief summary of what you have come accross. Think of a few pages only.

The literature review is followed by an "however": The literature review has shown that.......however, little is known regarding ..... In this project we try to tackle this issue. We set the following research question.... We will use the following method. This method is chosen based on...... etc.

Try and keep everything concise.


:-)

Hi Satchi,

I am sorry, but your questions go over my head. Too complicated for me.

:-)

Hi Satchi,

as Keenbeen is indicating it all depends on whether the gender may have any impact on the outcomes, and as such whether there could be bias.

I think that if you are doing a qualitative study having a balanced sample is often not that important, as you are not looking at a representative sample of society. Evenso it may be worthwile to mention that you are aware of the relatively large amount of men, and possibly explain / justify why this.

However, if you are doing a quantitative study the sample seems relatively small and I am not sure whether it would provide statistically significant results (as evidence that results are not based on chance). With this type of study you probably do have to assure that there is no bias (unless, as mentioned, gender is irrelevant). In my opinion the only way you can do this is by making the sample bigger, assuring that you have more female participants.

Hi Walmisnki,

I think you are right that the thesis should be comprehensive and provide an good overview of what you have done, however, I think that it is equally important, if not more important, to create a concise and to the point document.

Like Eska is suggesting, I would suggest to write a summary, perhaps best by heart, indicating what your project is about, what you have done and what the key outcomes are.

I know that it hurts, as obviously you have put a lot of effort in it, and it is hard to "throw things away", yet if there is not clear structure in your thesis and if it is too extensive, no one will actually read it. I have spoken some time ago with a journal editor who stressed the importance of writing to the point and only to present the crucial things. I think the same is true for a thesis. :-)

Hi Sue,

40 degrees that is hot!

How is the writing going?

Have a nice weekend!

Hi Sue,

that is the spirit, just keep on going!

Is it very hot where you are in Australia? Down here (Europe) it has been very cold, with lots of snow, yet now a bit warmer again.

Hi Tsipat,

thank you.

Sorry to read about your back.
Probably best not to sit in one position all the time. I think it is anyway a good idea to do a bit of work, do something else again, bit of work etc. Before you know you will have your (draft) thesis ready!:-)

Hi Sue, other fellow posters,

inspiring thread, nice to read about people's progress. Slowly but surely we are all going in the right direction.

I have just sent a draft thesis to my supervisors and am waiting for feedback. I am sure there will be several corrections required, but a least I have managed that.

I am also trying to solve some bureaucratic issues regarding university regulations, forms etc. All seem formalities, yet best to address these now.

Sue, I am amazed how much you do, regarding the rewriting and other tasks you take on. Does it not get too much?

Bilbo, well done! Good that the viva is coming and that you have nearly completed the whole process.