Hi Fricklesnarp,
No it shouldnt be that hard, but yes it is that hard! I did an MSc in a year and frankly it was the hardest I have ever worked, and the shortest I have ever slept. I, like you, worked all day eveyday and sometimes had to work through the night to get assignements, lab work and seminar reading completed. Masters are reaaally hard. In other countries masters are stretched over two years, and from my experience, the British masters is no less work just less time. But the nice thing is that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel - if you continue to PhD its just as stressful but at least you have time to breathe!

Hi Lloyd,
I'm really sorry to hear about your troubles, it sounds awful. To me it sounds either like you have two awful supervisors who didn't know what they were doing or else didn't bother to look at your work, or your examiners had preconceived ideas about your subject and were not willing to change their minds. Where were most of the changes they requested? I was wondering whether they had problems with your methodology which meant they couldnt accept your findings, or whether they accepted your approach but didnt agree with your interpretations? Either way you should probably talk to your sup about appealing the decision.

Hi all, hope everyone is having a nice day. I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the inclusion of photos in a thesis? I will have to travel to take relevant photo and I'm not sure its worth it. If I do include them they will be of interesting/unusual specimens, that in reality will add little to my overall findings and will be discussed for maybe 500-1000 words max. But do you think that examiners will appreciate some nice pictures? (I have other diagrams but nothng that could be described as pretty!). Has anyone heard of negative reactions to a lack of photos/images in phd theses?
Thanks! Siwee

I'm exactly the same liminal! don't knwo whether its best to be on time but mediocre or late and good! After some really awful meetings with sup trampling on my work I've decided it will be submitted when I'm ready and not a second before! Why is it that even if you say 'this is a draft, I know its not finished, I need to work on a,b,c... I havent edited the language' do sups insist on highlighting every single inconsistent diagram or missing reference? Does anyone elses do that?

I agree with Athos, I've never heard of anyone 'failing' as such. A number of people I know weren't upgraded straight away and had to rewrite the work they had submitted or else clarify their research aims and approach. Generally I think that there will be a drop in numbers around this time though - some people will decide that PhD just isnt for them and choose to leave. Just from my experience!

Hi everyone,
can anyone suggest a good source for the quite mundane aspects of physically writing a thesis? I seem to have a lot of questions about correct formatting (for instance order of things like list of figures, list of tables etc etc), whether to put full stops on my abbreviations, how regularly to refer the reader to other parts of the thesis, the best way to organise tables etc. I know of this will be common sense, but I'd like to know if there are conventions on the way that a thesis is written, and I don't feel like these are the questions that I should be taking to my supervisor!
Thank you!
Siwee

this is a perfect opportunity to treat yourself! Buy something that makes you look as professional as you feel!

I take your point about who will read the thesis :$ but surely you a) want to write something that doesnt make you need a gallon of coffee just to finish typing, b) please your supervisor with the standard of your work, and c) interest the examiners? I want a job afterwards and I'm going to choose to show this to people that I might want to work with! I certainly dont want the big shots in my field to remember me as the girl that wrote the dull thesis!

Ok, brilliant, thanks!

(PS the smiley was because I seem to be past my not writing phase - have a nice day :-))

Have you considered going for a masters first? My current supervisor was also my masters dissertation supervisor. I found that having a good working relationship with him already established really helped in the process of coming up with a research idea and applying for funding. It might also give you a better chance at PhD funding if you have proven research experience. Plus you can do it in a year, and its muuuuch cheaper :-)

Hi all, I'm writing :-) and I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on writing chapter intros? Obviously I dont just want to lauch into a huge results section, but my intro just seems to come out quite dull and uninspiring (I dont want people to stop reading!). What should go into the intro? does the rule of thumb for intros generally still apply i.e. aim for at least 10% of the total word count? Should I be trying to get the reader interested in the chapter, or tying up any loose methodoloigal ends that will help them to understand the following chapter easily?
Cheers!

Brilliant! Thanks!

I'm sure a friend of mine told me about an online service that allows you to find out which British libraries hold the books you are after. Was this just something my research addled mind created? It wouldnt be the first time...

Thanks for any help.