Helllo all (esp those who have recently submitted/ing)

I have 10 weeks to thesis submission. Any tips? Am submitting the full second draft in 2 weeks, so will have April for final edits.

Muahs!

B

You seem to be super fast Phdbug. It's not even 3 yrs I guess....good luck with yr submission!

Thanks Swetchha!

Others - am i suddenly unpopular on this forum? :-(

When I get to that stage (I'm still 4 months to submission), the first thing I am planning to do is list every task I can think of that NEEDS to be done before submission, and then allocate dates to do them in to ensure that I have enough time to do them, PLUS plenty of time to do all those unforseen stuff that enevitably crop up. That way, it won't be such a stress when the unplanned task does pop up because I'll say to myself, 'that's ok, I had spare x number of days available still after doing all the important tasks'.

Thanks Pink, extrmely useful, will get going on that ASAP!

you're more than welcome, I'm sorry I can't help much more than that since I am waaaay behind you!

I'll write down here the tasks that I so far have on the list of todos:

check through figure and table numbers
fill out the refs to tables and figures (I've left them blank for now)
check the all refs are cited in paper
check all citations have a ref!
check that all titles have initials capitalised
ditto figure and table titles
fill out blank refs to other chapers
check that section numbers run through correctly
check that the intro and conclusions cover the same things in each chapter
check that all research questions defined early on in thesis is answered
check stats
check numbers in tables
check appendix
check plurals
check that it's all written in the past tense
have someone proof read it for English
check that everything stipulated by the faculty guideline on thesis matches
check that there are no weird font style/size changes anywhere


... that's all I can think for now, hope that helps :)

Pink_numbers' suggestion is really good. I did that before my submission, though not to the extent of including dates. To be honest most things in that sort of list can be done extremely quickly, even for a very part-time student like myself. But at least by drawing up the list you can work through it, and hopefully will not forget to do something very important as a result.

I'm copying out Pink's suggestions as well :-)

The Tinkler and Jackson book - 'The Doctoral Examination Process' covers preparing for the viva - both long term and immediately beforehand - could be worth a look. Chapter 10 is the viva itself which I am close to knowing off by heart at this stage, I've thumbed it so many times :$. Haven't actually finished the thesis yet mind, but when I do, I hope that chapter will help!

I'm just being nosey now but I was wondering how shy of three years are you? I'm hoping to submit in September and that would be one month short of the three years. Have you found any opposition from faculty members about submitting it now?

Thanks Ady and Bilbo and ohhh woooww Pink!!!

I submitted my first full draft at 2 years 2 months, my second (final one my sup sees) draft at 2 yrs 5 months and am submitting at 2 years and 8 months. And no - absolutely no objection from anyone :)

man you two make me feel so bad, I'm going to be just shy of SIX YEARS (cries in the corner).

I just checked up my list (I keep a running task list in remember the milk), and here were few more that may be useful:

add header and footer
check the use of single and double quotes
check the use of a and an
table of abbreviations
table of equations
put thesis through a plagerism program
check the use of farther and further


I'm sorry that there are few English checks that are probably blindingly obvious to most, but for me as a dyslexic, these ones are crucial.

Thanks Pink, and as we know it's not a race... I have the added pressure of hving to find a job (any country, pref in the West) within 3 months of my viva (I am international),...can u imagine the uncertainty and stress? :-( I want to scream at times!!

oh dear, yes I can totally feel your pressure! Just keep your focus on getting this thesis in for now, I'm sure everything else will come in time.

oh and please don't forget to relax, take time out and be nice to yourself :)