Congratulations on finishing the corrections theboakster! I'm sure a day or two won't matter in the grand scheme of things, I hope you hear back soon to put your mind at ease. I'm finishing off the last bits of my corrections now and can't wait to be in the same situation :) Let us know how you get on!

Cheers,
Tulip

Hi,

Everyone progresses differently and each project is different so it can be very hard to compare. I think most supervisors would like you to do a lot of reading in the first year and get to know the basic techniques for the project (if it is a lab based project), but I've known plenty of people (myself included!) to make mistakes throughout the process, even right up until the final year. What is it that makes you feel like you lack attention to detail? Has your supervisor expressed any concerns? I feel like I went around in circles for at least the first two years trying to make experiments work, trouble shooting etc and I've been told by other people that it's perfectly normal, so maybe you're being too hard on yourself!

Tulip

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the responses - these have really helped me see the wood for the trees so to speak. I've decided to approach the corrections so that only those things on the list are addressed like many of you have suggested. I've also decided just to address everything, because to be honest, even though there are a few points that I think are completely pointless, I feel that no amount of justification will make my examiner happy and I just want this process to be over. I'm on the last correction now and am hoping to have it all finished and sent off by tonight! :) It feels very strange to be nearly finished and I am so looking forward to my first thesis-free weekend in 4 and a half years!!

Thanks again, everyone on this forum has been amazing during my time on the PhD and I honestly don't know how I'd have coped without it at times!

Tulip

Hi all,

For anyone who has been through the corrections process after viva, I have some questions and would really appreciate some advice. I am really stressing about my corrections.

During the viva there were many things that my examiners did not like about my thesis, eg graph formatting and these have been listed explicitly as things to change. However there were others that they did not seem to make a concrete decision on whether to address or ignore these things, and these did not make it onto the list of corrections. So my question is, did you guys just address things listed explicitly in your list of corrections, or did you go back and do anything 'extra'? And if something isn't on the list of requested corrections from the examiners, can they then ask for additional corrections? I guess it's paranoia, it's just that nothing has been easy about this process and my examiners were so picky that I'm worried now that they won't approbe my corrections. Any advice/reassurance would be amazing right now. Thanks.

A very stressed Tulip.

I'm not really sure why I'm posting - maybe I just need a rant. I started a job just after submitting my thesis a few months ago. This week the company went into liquidation and I'm out of a job. The thing is, I loved the job. It was challenging and the people were great, they were giving me an opportunity to change field slightly and learn on the job. Needless to say I'm gutted. The only tiny silver lining is that it frees up some time to finish my thesis corrections before my deadline. I just feel a bit lost though. I've started sorting my cv and will be applying for jobs this weekend, but I feel a bit like my will to crack on with the corrections is gone (which is crazy because the rational part of me knows that more now than ever do I need to get the PhD finished!) I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom? A virtual slap/hug? Everyone in my life keeps saying 'these things happen' but it doesn't make me feel any better...

Thanks in advance,
Tulip

The reality of the corrections is that they have ended up being a lot more substantial than they sounded during the viva. The report came through with a number of corrections, e.g. change all stats and text associated with stats, change formatting of all graphs, which sound fairly trivial but in reality are very time consuming. I'm about halfway through the corrections list and hope to be finished very soon.

I'd like to thank everyone on the forum that have helped me through the past four years or so, either with advice or just sheer moral support from others that were writing up around the same time as me (TreeofLife, glowworm, Caro, lemonjuice... and anyone I have forgotten I am very sorry!) This forum truly has been a god send at times, especially since I will be honest in saying that I did not love my PhD and merely saw it as a path to a career in science, and this forum was an amazing place for solace and honest advice from likeminded people. I'm sure I will continue lurking and try to help out where I can, and in particular I will be around while I finish off my corrections! Best of luck to everyone who is still plodding along with their PhD - I promise it can and will end well and the long slog will be worth it!

Thanks for the congratulations guys! I'm having a quiet night in working on thesis corrections so figured what better time would there be to give the full story of my viva...

So the viva was an afternoon one, which meant I spent the whole morning getting nervous and reading over notes I'd made during viva prep. The viva started at 1pm and I was introduced to my examiners by the lab's secretary and then left to start the viva. It started with some general questions and I was asked to explain how the project came about, why I was interested in that field, etc. Then both examiners decided to get down to business and began going through my thesis literally page by page and asking for clarification on why certain things were written, what each graph meant etc. My PhD was lab based so there were lots of questions about negative controls, why positive controls hadn't been carried in out certain cases, what alternative assays could I have used and what did I know about the background literature.

I'll be honest though - on the whole, it really felt like a grilling. There was no mention of anything being done in a good way or the data being useful. Instead, they made it clear that they disagreed with a lot of the approaches I used. They also disagreed with a lot of my formatting of graphs and the way references and methods were written, even though I stuck to the university regulations and chose a very standard format used by every other student that was supervised in my department. So in the end I was awarded a pass with corrections (they worded it as a combination of minor and more major, but I was given three months for corrections, in line with the minor corrections timeframe given at my university). So although I'm very pleased to have passed, it felt like a real grilling and I was very relieved to come away with a pass! (to be continued)

Congratulations Dr lemonjuice, that is awesome news! :)

Congratulations Dr scientistish, always great to hear success stories! :)

Congratulations Dr glowworm, that is awesome! I'm starting my corrections today so hope to be in your position very soon :)

Congratulations Dr theboakster!! Fantastic news! Enjoy thr celebrations, you deserve them!

Congratulations Dr Caro!! And also congratulations to Dr Cherub! Fantastic news all round! :o)

Hi all,

I thought I'd pop back after a break from the forum for a few months to give the outcome of my viva. After a 4 and a half hour viva just before Christmas, I passed with minor corrections!!! I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday period and I will pop back soon to give the full story of the viva in case it will be helpful to anyone!

All the best,
Tulip

Hey lemonjuice,

I also have to submit by end of Sept, and so far I'm still finishing up the last bits of writing. I think the polishing part will be very rushed for me, so I plan to just read through the entire thing once for a good proofread. I'm hoping that will be enough since it's about all I'll have time for! Good luck with the next week or so, I don't know about you guys but I am so excited that this part is almost over!! :)

Tulip

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the posts - these have made me feel a bit less anxious about this chapter. I think I'll go with the comprehensive approach and keep it this length then, since I don't really have time to reduce it anyway before I submit.

Out of interest, when you say the lit review is the main reason for corrections given at the viva, does this usually just mean minors/majors or have you known of people to need to resubmit on the basis of their literature review alone? At my university, the time period for minor and major corrections is the same (12 weeks), so I'm more concerned about trying to limit the possibility of a resubmission verdict, especially since my new job requires the PhD!

Thanks for your comments!

Tulip