404, thank you for organising all this anyway and I hope you get better soon.

I suppose if people want to meet they could always do it on a more ad hoc basis, so it doesn't fall to one person to organise and doesn't turn into a big thing. Like Tricky did a while ago, asking whether anyone else was going to a particular conference or event and can meet up then.

Similar to Smilodon and Missspacey, submitting a complete draft by start of December for final submission in Feb. Have been ill all week too, though have had to go to work, so all my PhD stuff has had to slip down the list of priorities a bit. I'm now wondering how to make up for the PhD time lost through having a head that feels like its full of cotton wool, rather than anything more useful. A lost week is a long time when you've got the 'ultimate deadline' looming ahead.

I'm fed up with it all too. I keep waking up the night thinking about my methodology 'issues', and worrying that my whole methodology is flimsy, or that all my primary research is insubstantial and I'll have to do loads more new work over the next few months before I can submit, on top of normal corrections and possible restructuring. And thinking how much easier life would have been if I'd taken a more straightforward approach to my topic, though it would probably have been less intellectually engaging if I had, I suppose. I'm also wondering how to squash Xmas and family birthdays into the minimum days possible, as opting out of Christmas isn't really an option without seeming like a completely anti-social Scroogey freak. I'm just glad I'm not the only one in this situation!

none

brash

I'm with you on that one Sneaks, I think I'd have to stop watching!

blare

bind

This might be useful - someone posted it a while back, it's a resource for academic writers. http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

Ultimately though, you can have a thesaurus for excellent vocabulary, but each sentence will only seem like it's 'critiquing the debates' if you've actually got something to say and know what you're talking about, which comes with practice, as Hypothesis said.

I like the James McAvoy suggestion. He was a lovely fawn in Narnia, so I'm sure he would be a good Time Lord too :-)

land

glade

======= Date Modified 05 Nov 2008 15:18:52 =======
I'd agree with Smoobles. I had a long period off for illness a while back, and on my return for my first meeting I wrote about 6 pages on the state of my thesis at that point - a mini-overview of the whole thing. I did an outline of all the chapters, with a few paragraphs about each one. I included what the main focus for each chapter was, how much of the actual research was complete and what was still outstanding. I also did a revised introduction with research questions, and a summary of what the conclusions were. I did attempt to work out approximate timescales for what needed to be done up to completion and a timetable, though that got changed when we discussed it between us at a later date. Maybe if you do something like that, or even send it in with the other chapters, it'll show that you know what the problems are with your written work but know what the thesis as a whole should look like.

Even if you turn up at the meeting with your document and it's not discussed, at least it will have helped you sort out where you are in your own mind, and show that you're on the case with it. For me, it helped get me back into the whole thing and showed my supervisors that I was really keen to get on with it, but was also aware of how much work was still to be done. Good luck! (up)

grape

hand

Tricky, that would be definitely a miracle!!! Though Tony Blair seemed great when he started, if I remember that far back... so long ago now...