Well, you have lost me a bit but I'm sure it's very interesting! It would be very weird if you were at the same college as me lol!!

Well spotted, Timefortea! Other people's projects always sound really interesting when you're supposed to getting on with your own work... I seem to be the queen of procrastination today lol!

Aw thanks Liminalplace, really kind words!! :-)

I'm really glad you're another interdisciplinary one, it's great and really interesting to do but the literature is hellish sometimes, it seems to multiply your workload and is a bit of a challenge methodologically, as I'm sure you know! I couldn't bear to engage with subcultural theory this afternoon, it's only for one chapter too but I'm certainly making heavy work of it, so I've decided to just put loads of footnotes in with what-to-do-next notes to myself - my sup likes that and it will show I've listened to their feedback in the past. Oh well, I've finished formatting another image heavy chapter so not too bad I guess. 4 more to go and then off to bed.

Actually that other student is another jewellery one, but our approach and supervisors are totally different. I think I'll carry on with this temp binding plan as my sup gets a bit anxious about technical stuff and is very keen on the visuals, so it might allay her fears a bit. To be honest I'd rather get the bulk of the hideous formatting done now even though it's knackering and dead boring and spend the next few months reading/rewriting my text - that's what I'll get examined on, my examiners are an anthropologist, a sociologist and an architect. Your PhD sounds interesting btw, what's it on vaguely, if you can say without compromising your anonymity...?

Hello there Liminal, actually multidisciplinary is a real pain when you're grappling with different bodies of literature, believe me. It has driven me mad today.

I'm handing in a big draft tomorrow and everything takes sooo long.... the later it gets, the more my expectations of what I'm handing in drop, I keep thinking oh no, can't do that tonight so I'll put it in as a footnote so the supervisors know I know what I've got to do, but it's SO tedious. I've got about 100 images altogether and perhaps very stupidly I'm doing it in Word, which is crap at image handling. I'll be at it until very late tonight, I'm afraid - surprise surprise!! The only good thing about it is that it's completely brainless, so I can listen to a bit of music without getting distracted. I can't bear being stuck in front of the computer for days on end, but there's no way round it really... someone at college on Thursday just got her thesis draft back from KallKwik with its temporary binding and it looked really good, her husband had done all the formatting for her!!! How nice to just tell someone else what you want and they do it for you... anyway, that gave me a shock seeing hers, as we're at the same stage and I was just going to bung it into a ring binder, but that seemed really sloppy after seeing that one so I've been desperately trying to make it look nearly complete since then, not just visually but as well as the written work and it's too much. There are 2 chapters I never had any feedback on a few months back and they're making me really anxious now. My second sup hasn't seen them at all, and I'm really worried he'll think they're crap and as I said it was all coming along ok, he'll think WHAT on earth was she thinking - OK??? How deluded can she get??? I keep telling myself it's only a second draft and of course there'll be loads to do afterwards till Feb, but it's hard not to worry.

Well, after tomorrow's hand-in, I'll have a week off from Phd stuff until I get the feedback. I keep popping over here in the hope of seeing other virtual sloggers but it's been really quiet today. What irritated me a bit earlier was really nice understanding non-PhD people (real life ones) offering me advice and wanting to help, but it's just not really viable... they don't really get what I'm doing and so all their nice comments just sound a bit inane really, though it's well intended I know.... sometimes I think they think what's all the fuss about, it's only an old thesis for heaven's sake!! Having said that, I'd better get back to it for a bit and make another coffee and think of what to listen to next....

Did you know your thread was going to turn into a general rant-fest??!?

I was hoping someone would reply to this, as I've never heard of it before and am quite curious. One does wonder how one's paper gets accepted or not! It seemed to be all science/techie type conferences on their website, but I'll ask an engineer prof who's organised a conf at work next week and see if she knows anything about it.

Juno, that sounds a horrible phase, not surprising you got ill.

Quick moan following, btw... I wish people that never get ill and are NOT doing a PhD would recognise that the latter stage of a PhD isn't exactly top of the list of immune-system boosting activities, especially in winter and a credit crunch/recession, so it doesn't mean one needs to rush off to the GP at the first sign of feeling manky. It's just life. :-s

Yes, it does make a nice change! I liked Walminski and Aloha's rhymes over on another thread, very funny and very impressive to one who can't do that sort of thing at all!

I don't really know, but they are interesting. They reminded me at first of British wartime posters that are in the Imperial War Museum in London, but as the English is quite bad grammatically on the one with lots of text, they can't be exact replicas of anything from the UK and for that reason, I can't imagine them being very popular in a specialist memorabilia market over here, as authenticity is important. Actually, wouldn't English ones be more likely to reference Hitler or Germans if it's WWII? It might be interesting to find out who designed and produced them, and for what contemporary market, then you could find out what their original sources/inspiration were, though I'm guessing that they're made in China for sale in a US market. Do you think they might be derived from American wartime ephemera or other sources, going by the spelling of 'defense' and the phrase about 'your metal fighting the Japs'? Would war bonds have been an American thing?

Apologies for a reply full of more questions than answers, but good luck with it!

Unless the person who wrote that paper actually invented those theories, it might look a bit lazy if you haven't read around the theories in more depth. Perhaps you should go back to whoever your selected paper author originally cited in his/her literature review and read those, or at least the key sources. You never know, you might disagree with the paper's author and have more original contributions to make of your own! Even if you just skim over them, it will be more refs for your bibliography and you might be pre-empting questions in your viva.

It's been the same with me recently. I always look after myself anyway but have had a series of bad colds recently and just feel knackered most of the time. I don't think my sleeping patterns are great these days, I often lay awake thinking about work and feel crap the next day, and sometimes dream about it too. I'm glad I won't physically have to go into work over Xmas/New Year so should get a bit more sleep then. I know all the things you're supposed to do to minimise stress and I do most of them, but I can't see this stage of a PhD ever being exactly a happy smiley carefree experience, whatever I do. I keep reminding myself that it will all be over in a few months and then I can get back to normal again. I suppose my worst case scenario is that I end up submitting, but feel a physical wreck, resemble an extra from a Zombie 'B' movie and all my hair will fall out with the stress, but I suppose all that's not irreversible...

Yep, I like the ranting, moaning and whingeing around here too!! This forum is great for tips and advice, but I want to know other people have downs as well as ups, it seems more honest, as you say. I wonder if some people really do have a perfect PhD experience, on an even keel from beginning to end with no problems, or if it's just a fantasy?

That's a classic rant there Liminalplace, but don't let them get to you!!

There are always going to be annoying people that you have to work with, and with an unpleasant array of habits that get on your nerves, but as long as you find a way to work that gets your own stuff done, that's all that matters at the end of the day. Are you really under pressure to come in, or do you just think you should because other people do it? To be honest, even if you do feel obliged, unless it's a lab-based project or something where you need specific kit, I'd have thought you could easily justify working at home towards the end of your PhD with your supervisor's agreement if it helps your productivity. Especially if it's a noisy/busy workspace, when it would be easy to justify - I've NEVER worked in college as it's noisy, has the odd irritating person in there, the room is stuffy and smells a bit so I'd never get anything done, plus it would waste time and money travelling in. It is good to show your face now and then though as you mentioned, even if it's just for a bit of printing, photocopying, library, going to the odd meeting or seminar - it can be a good alternative to sucking up, for those of us who don't do that!

This looks really useful, thanks! I'm writing up at the moment, so it's a good reminder checklist for my methodology, intro and conclusion sections.

Good luck with your viva preparation - it sounds like you know what you're doing, as long as you don't get too anxious, though that's totally understandable!

crest

silk