Hmmm, why am I posting a comment here instead of ferverently reading papers etc? well probably because it all seems a little unreal and surely the best way to cope with these things is to ignore them ;-)

So, I submitted about 16 days ago (or something like that)and now my Viva is upon me, the external has flown up - Thesis is read and my fate is in there hands from 10am tomorrow

Well mine really I suppose - so the question is - What do you do the night before your viva?

Read my thesis already, read some papers, went out a run for an hour where I pretended to be both me and the examiner asking myself questions why this, why that what did you show, why are you crying? and it seemed like I had an answer for all my own questions- I'd pass me already!

also Endonte is actually really quite good for searching your refs for keywords as well - so it helps if you have them all in the same place

there's probabaly a way to import the files from one to another

on that point - i used to have separate endnote files for different projects etc and it just ended up as a pain in the ass - so went with a singular file, much easier

the other option is to have a ref list at the end of each chapter - I've seen a few done like that.

However I imagine that joining them together shouldn't make too much of a problem - you could always test it out in small scale first? I've added pages here and there from other docs before and never had any problems once you format the bibliography.

S

I think based on your previous posts and deadlines etc, this might be be best at this stage - Keep it simple

these features are nice and might save you a week or so of formatting at the end but I think you are probably wisest to stay with what is working for you just now

Good Luck

s

This is what I did - one big document - I have no experience of trying to do it as separate dicuments - I'm sure you can do it - start your page numbers sequentially for the chapters and all and there is probably a way to do it with the tables numbers as well.
But for Ease I did it as one doc.

I didn't experience any major problems and my thesis is 340 pages; 80,000 words 90 figures, 50 tables and 400 references. the only thing is that formatting can become a little slow the larger the file becomes i.e. when you update it all etc.

As for converting Office 97-03 to 2007, I never exoereinced any probs and did it in January when I was half way through. You do need to add a plug in for Endnote whichis downloadable (just google how to do it), but apart from that its fine (in my expereience)I would reccomend takes a few days to get used to, but in the end I found it much easier to use.

As always - Backup copies are the Key

Good Luck

S

No I did it all as I went - and I used Word to reference the Figures and Tables as well. In Word 2007 there is a Tab up top called 'References' you then click 'insert Caption' it'll offer you table or pic and it decides what number it is, all you have to do is put in the table/ Fig title.

I don't have the old office version to hand to check out what it used to be under in that - but it is in there too - However you cannot create PDFs from the older version of Word (I don't think - well not as easily anyway)- In 2007 its just a save as option

S

the best thing about doing this is that it saves a lot of time - you don't need to check figure numbers are correct. the only problem is that sometimes the Formating goes messes up in the cross refs - but not usually anything major.

If you have the time - and aren't already too far on, I highly reccomend doing it this way.

The other good thing is that when you convert the doc to a PDF it converts all of the levels and sublevels too - which is nice

S

So for Headings/ tables/ figures (Using Office 2007)

You highlight the line you want and go to the 'outlinine tools' you can put a shortcut in your tool bar - then you just make the highlighted line as Body text; Level 1; Level 2 etc. At the start of your Doc (or wherever you can then 'insert table of contents' and it will provide this for you.

For Figures:
Go to the Reference Tab (it is slightly different but the same idea in earlier word versions). Highlight the Pic or Table you want and click add reference, a box comes up where you add the fig/ table title above or below. then at the start of your Doc you can add a list of tables and figs which has all the page nos. In your main text you can also add a 'cross referece' to these, so instead of writing Fig2 you insert it as a cross ref. The advantage is that if you move figs or add figures before they automatically update throughout the texts and figures

I wrote the whole thesis as a single document for ease (because I used word and headings etc to created my List of contents/ Tables and figures)- much easier
The only thing I found with Endnote and this was that the larger the document became the more erratic Endnote was it is prone to freezing (Endnote 7, Word 2007) - I had approx 400 refs by the end.
As has been said before always make sure that you have backup copies in case Endnote has a hissy fit - I found on a couple of occasions that when I deleted one ref, it moved all my refs forward one in the document - thank god I had backups!
S

Hi Lara, How long have you been registered?

One option is to suspend your registration - that should give you more time to submit - obviously it would be non-paid though, you could use your fathers illness as a basis for this

It is possible to write up in 3 months - dependent on how much you've got to do - after all my data analysis was done, I more or less wrote the whole thing (80,000 words) Feb-April- but get used to having no life - its a full time comitment and you'll be working 7 dyas a week and +12 hours a day - but if you have to do it then do it

So it is possible. definately don't write any more papers until its done tho!

Good Luck

S

I think my main lit review was about 25k-30k and the whole thesis was about 80k

However I think that this is probably quite long for a biological science (I know lots of folk probably do it at this length) but in my experience they are more likely 60-70K and about 200-250 pages that kind of thing.

They are really quite individual and the main thing is to tailor it to your own needs - it may help to look at some of your sups previous PhD thesis' that should give you a rough idea of length and style

S

I think the reason for this is because they HAVE to advertise it - quite why they would make you go through the full process I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that if the funding is for over 6 months they are obliged to advertise it - very commonly with these, you will see that they put a closing deadline of a week or something like that - and I think thats a clear sign they are just following procedure etc.

This isn't just for PhDs though, I'm pretty sure there are equal opportunity type laws that mean employers have to externally advertise posts - (can't remember where I heard it but am fairly sure its true)- So it goes on in all walks of life

S

cutequest,

sorry to hear you are having a hard time with it - my only real input is that you shouldn't take the rejection so hard. You just need to keep applying - many PhD'ers have had to go to loads of long intimidating interviews before accepting the right place.

It may even be that they had someone in mind for the post, but they still have to advertise it anyway - in which case you'd have had no chance regardless of how well you performed

Keep at it - that one just wasn't for you, no doubt you'll find a much better one in time

Good Luck

S