right, I've written a paragraph that I didn't want to so its good to get it out of the way. I now just have to make the stuff I've written before more concise e.g. cut it down to a quarter of what it is now.

I feel a bit better about this.

Going to walk the dog and then have lunch and then start on this new section.

ah I am in the same boat. Trying to find the motivation to write up, but mostly just spending all day flitting about the internet and giving in to my dog's requests for plenty of walks.

i have no motivational advice. My tomatoes is now starting to annoy me - I can't seem to fit any writing in the 25 mins it lets you have, and then once I get in the swing of it, it tells me to go on a break and the bell annoys me and breaks my concentration.

I wish I could just get 1 thing complete towards my thesis, but my sup gets me to start new writing all the time and never lets me finish the old bits -so I am left with NOTHING towards my thesis. I think once i have even 1 chapter, then I will feel more motivated to pad out the rest of the 'book'.

On the dr title - I will definitely use it outside of work, but not at work unless I am in academia. It seems to be a bit of a faux pas to use it at work, particularly if your boss hasn't got a PhD.

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I don't really have a 2nd supervisor, well I have one on paper, and i work with him for teaching etc. but he doesn't even know the topic of my PhD and is junior to my sup, so probably wouldn't want to say/do anything - he's quite diffident.

I'm feeling more positive today and have broken my horrible morning cycle - I have to take hubby to station at 6am and usually lounge around watching tv until 9-9.30 but I think its making my work suffer, so here I am before 9am, after doing a bit of housework, raring to go.

I'm a little bored with the lit review now - its so tedious but have decided there's nothing better than just getting it done.
So today = get lit review done!

Hopefully have a look at method & results.

Good luck everyone!

could you use a laptop to record? as well as a dictaphone? My biggest problem was remembering to take off the interviews, so I would go into an interview with no room left on the dictaphone, and by the time I did take them off and put them on the computer, I had completely forgotten who they were etc. For a while I did use my Ipod to record - I got a little gadget that clips on the end and changes it into a dictaphone, although I am told that newer ipods have this all built in anyway.

no I guess not that similar haha was odd though. why not go out with the groovy older man?

haha I think it was definitely a freudian slip. I had a similar moment today - although slightly different. I was walking my dog and we met a husky and its owner on the field. The dogs went mental and were chasing each other about and play-boxing. THe owner was really old man, with a fag in hand - real dirty old man type. So I was talking to him about the field (there are worries that houses might be built on it - boooo) and the dogs started sniffing each others bums, as they do and then he said "ooh, we couldn't get away with that could we, I couldn't sniff your bum, shame" in a sid james dirty old many way. As you can imagine, by myself in the middle of an empty field I was a bit freaked and power walked all the way to the path and then sprinted home :$

**shudder**

oh no wal. This happened to me, well I had a few interviews that there was so much distortion from my equipment that even my sound engineer bro couldn't sort it out. I would say take 2 audio recorders, but they will probably cause static (or something to do with physics) between them and you will probably end up with it all ruined!

All I can say is that if you were a girl - go and have some chocolate. As you are of the male variety then how about a beer? (nearly wrote bear - that would be dangerous).

Have you double checked your audio recorder, is it digital? - it may be that its just really quiet or something? and your computer might be able to boost the sound **sneaks grasps at straws**

Who are your participants? are they hard to come by?

if it were me, I would have a gossip with admin and let them spread the news! and then be seen to go and tell the bloke that 'so and so in admin just told me that you've got a petition....'

algaequeen - I think, i may be wrong that many of these countries have corrections BEFORE the viva. So you send your thesis in, you get it back with corrections, you do corrections and then have the viva. I would much prefer that!

======= Date Modified 10 Mar 2010 15:21:03 =======
I would be in favour IF it made them feel guilty for failing you! My friend is spanish and had a public viva, she said it was lovely to have everyone there - but I guess anyone who passes would say the same. Can you imagine failing in front of a room of friends and family - the shame! Although maybe you could have members in the audience who could have 'answers' about the research and could convey it in a 'who wants to be a millionaire' coughing type scenario.

"ahem, it was a positivist stance, ahem ahem"

She asked me to find references that gave an overview on topic XX so I told her that SHE may have more luck finding references if she looked at individual factors within topic XX rather than trying to find one reference that tells all. I would have liked to have been ruder, problem is I can't be that rude, as I only do a few lectures per year and very much a junior member of the staff there - the more senior members tend to be very helpful (spoonfeedy) to students, so if I kick up a fuss I will be the one that is blamed :-(

I think I feel very similar - as you've probably seen on my accountability thread, my sup is not just useless but quite irritatingly destructive with my work, flitting between ideas, not remembering what she has asked me to do etc. I have totally lost all motivation and am desparately trying to think of ways of getting this back (even printing out a picture of a big book - similar to a thesis- and sticking it on my desk).

I think the only thing to do is to get on, as this feeling will last forever if I don't move on and start the next thing.

Your post suggests you are suffering from a little burn out. Don't beat yourself up for 'only work 7-8 hours' Christ - if I did that it would be a mircale. Don't forget that some people can do as much in an hour as another person does in 3 days. Watching tv at your desk is a major no no, not becasue watching tv is bad, its because you need to get away from your screen and your desk for your down time. Its better to take a day on the sofa watching chick flicks and then start work afresh than to constantly be in 'half work mode'

Now I will go and swallow my own medicine!

thanks Ev - fingers crossed she doesn't 'untrack' :-s

But is there any way, for the next piece of work I send, that when she opens it it is already set for tracking it?