I have painfully low motivation today so I'd better join too. Before leaving the office today I shall:
Annotate and sort these papers on qPCR.
Prep for tomorrows experiments so I can have them up and running at 8am.
At least LOOK at my thesis (going for the tolerance approach to it!).

Everyone knows that clutter inhibits the mind (she says as piles of mis-stacked papers threaten to cascade down on her head) so it's a perfectly legitimate, and think how much better you'll work tomorrow in your nice streamlined study! :D
And don't worry, I don't mean that I can see HOW I'll get to the end, just that time enough time has been lost for me to truly know it's coming.

You could say that they're very capable and that you have high hopes for them to do even better in future. Where it's acceptable to make a vague reference saying that they didn't achieve their full potential due to circumstances outwith their control, I'm not sure.

I thought this thread had gone rather quiet, nice to hear from everyone.

Sorry you've been unwell Bilbo, but well done for keeping to a work schedule in spite of it, I need a little of thet consistent discipline I think. Glad you're enjoying the work Alpaca, always a ray of light to hear from someone enjoying life outside of the PhD :) And thank you Sue for that statement of calm, I see the months ticking by and the dread creeps into my chest again - yet at the same time, it's easier now that the deadline feels real, the end is in sight!

I haven't written in at least a week, but I've tried to tell myself I need a minimum of 10,000 words by Christmas. I've been keeping an ad-hoc science blog on my live journal too, it's definitely helped me to just get writing and thinking about the work more broadly. And I have cracked on with some gruesomely repetitive lab work, I feel like I'm getting towards the end of the major experiments which is awesome.

Ah, feeling more positive already!

I'm so sorry this has happened Roma, is there a supervisor or third party monitor you could talk to? I don't know what the rules are regarding transfer of credits, unfortunately only staff at your university would know that for sure - is there someone on the pastoral side who migth be willing to support you? It seems awfully harsh for them to drop you like a hot brick when you've completed the vast majority of the work.

I especially love the "review of irrelevant literature" - how many papers get cited simply because the cronie reviewer forces them down the throat of every new author that comes their way? And I hate having to shoe-horn a reviewer's absurd pet theories into your own work to satsify them, if only you could add a *bullcrap the reviewer made me put in* footnote.

Is your primary usually a bit reticent about these things? I know that can be some people's way.
The bottom line is that he is almost as responsible here as you, and in fact it reflects a great deal on your supervisor if you don't pass. Because of that a supervisor shouldn't even let you submit if he thinks your thesis isn't up to scratch, and he certainly shouldn't be passing all your work, only to throw unnerving hints at the 11th hour. I'm never sure what is deemed substantial "enough" myself, but quality data is more important than a mass of half-baked research, and a lot more pleasant for an examiner to read. You've got publications and you have a postdoc already lined up, so you're clearly capable, hopefully all that will come through on the day :) In the meantime, if you already know the work there's not a lot more you can do, so try not to drive yourself crazy worrying.

I don't feel the lack of a masters has held me back, I was offered two PhDs with a 2.1 honours degree and am in the third year of the one I accepted. That said, I did take 9 months out during which I worked in industry, I needed this to get the lab skills and confidence for my PhD, and I'm certain it's why I was offered the posts. I also think it helped to have had a short break from academia.

Original ideas are sneaky aren't they Sue, hope this one finally showed itself! Sounds quite exciting at least, all I'm really doing is looking up companies and working out concentrations (something I don't fully trust myself to do at a decent hour of the day so it could all be horribly wrong). Three and a half pages down though (yes, I count half pages) and I'm torn between thinking this is into very diminishing returns, vs the idea that I might just not go to bed at all. Given I have to be in the lab in about 7 hours I can't quite decide.

Ah I love you guys, you've given me hope and now I'm up two pages of method! (Just have to learn not to then think "oh God that reminds me how many more I need...eeek")

Sheena - Every now and then I try to go back to hot water or at least green tea, but I'm afraid I'm a total chemicals junky, my stomach wishes it had you for an owner! I like it when the night train gets full as well, heartens me.

Bilbo - Oh sorry, don't worry! It's maybe a good kind of scare, I need to get on. And it's the turn-around stuff that's the issue, I have several supervisors and I want as much input as possible to balance their own strengths, so 2-3 months definitely isn't enough to get the feedback I want.

Alpaca - You're so right about the curse of "just one more" I get that simply finishing up what I've started, let alone the sup's bid for new directions in the last few months (I'm his last funded student so he's desperate to get all he can out of me - in the nicest possible sense).

Thanks for the kind words alpaca, and belated congrats on the job, that's wonderful news!

A new post is a lot to juggle though on top of writing up though so no, I certainly don't think you're being the slightest bit weak or pathetic! Sleep tight and hope the lectures go well tomorow :-)

Hi Sheena

Well given that you have kids full time (mine is just a p/t step-daughter) I think I will just shut my mouth, you definitely have more on your plate!

I know what you mean about domestics though, we're still renovating our kitchen and I am filled with guilt that I haven't added the next coat of varnish to the floor as planned. And for some reason I decided at 11pm on Monday night that I HAD to make the cake I'd promised people - because obviously that matters more than sleep/work - um, yeah.

But thank you for teh encouragement, it does indeed add up and anything is better than nothing. Tally-ho to the coffee machine!

======= Date Modified 14 Oct 2009 22:48:28 =======

sorry, tired fingers double posted!

Ok now you've scared me, mine is start of June, not that much later and I've barely started!

My supervisor thinks I can write the entire thing in 2-3 months at the end, he keeps trying to extend the practical work even though he's seen how the other students with more current deadlines are struggling :-( he's the eternal optimist bless him. I tried making a GANT chart and setting my own deadlines, but everything kept changing so much (last minute research directions due to samples) that updating the chart was taking more time than anything else, lol.

You've given me a good nudge though bilbo, when he gets back next week I think I'd better have a firm chat about practical work and writing priorities.

Hi Bilbo, thanks for the company and the advice :) two at a time seems a good plan and I think i can see just how to apply it.

I have so little drive just now I worry that by the editing stage I'll have stopped caring entirely.!Hopefully not though, hopefully I'll have some of your perseverance and be so happy to have written the bulk that I'll plow on. I think right now I'm still at the rabbit-in-headlights stage of being intimidated by it.

Good luck with the night's editing!