Hi everyone, sorry but I need to rant. I have 6 months to go before I properly submit my thesis and I have no funding left. I have 5 chapters already (full of holes though) including the introduction, and my word count is 60 K. No biblio or footnotes yet, but I am seriously thinking of submitting what I have. I haven't been writing anything for a month or so since I had a personal crisis. Can I just contact my SV and say, ok, can I hand it in now ?

I think you already know it's not a good idea to submit now. You've come so far, it would be a shame to ruin it by an early submission. Get a job if you need extra cash, but make finishing your thesis your priority.

Hi Peppa, I agree with TreeofLife, you have 6 months to go before submission and even if your funding has finished, you still have five chapters in draft form. However, if you submitted now without a bibliography, even if you have 60k words, I don't believe your work would be considered as a pass-no matter what the writing is like. The bibliography and citation system is so important to your thesis.

Perhaps you could sit down with your supervisor and make a detailed plan about what you need to do to finish and submit (make it realistic) and then follow the process step by step until it is done. Don't think about the 6 months or everything that you have to do, just think about the 'next step' and reward yourself in between for completing each step, with something nice-it doesn't have to be an expensive or time consuming reward.

Perhaps you have to get a job as well for financial reasons, but finishing off your thesis while working is not impossible-it is a challenge certainly, but many people do this. Sorry to hear about the personal crisis-and hope matters here resolve themselves.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I don't really have a problem with money because I still have my savings. I can still last a few months with the money that I saved. It's just the time management and the emotional management that's wearing me down. I just have to fight all the insecurity away, I guess.

You sound worn out. You've got 6 months to submission, so you could afford a break now. A short break, maybe a weekend away, or a few days. Either going on holiday (could be in the same country, not far), or just chilling out at home. You deserve it. It will also envigorate you to carry on.

If you submit now, based on what you've described, you will fail. You don't want that. And it's not as if you don't have time in hand. So push onwards. But I do think a break right now would be beneficial, and should be easy to arrange.

Good luck!

Oh and your university should have a counselling service that could help you work through the emotional side of things and cope better. Counselling services at universities are free for students. Look into this. Or if you're more religious (or not) you could even talk to the university chaplain. I'm agnostic, and speaking to the chaplain at my uni was of more help than the counsellors ha!

Thanks Bilbo, I will definitely try to seek some counselling advice from the Uni. I will also try to get a weekend break next week. I can't continue writing with all this sadness. Many thanks for those who took the time to help me. I really appreciate it.