Hi all

I'm a bit of a lurker on this site and have found reading other people's threads v helpful over the last couple of years of my PhD - so thank you. I'm in my final 6 months - supposed to be submitting at the end of the year. I'm tired, demoralized, stressed, fed up, I've got so much work to do, I've got data but it's confusing and not the nice neat story I would have liked..... Can anyone offer any advice for this last horrible bit? Maybe people who have made it and can tell me it was all worth it in the end?! I feel I'm past the point of no return so can't quit now. I just wish I'd never started in the first place...

I'm supposed to finish my writing by the end of this year and think about submission. But same as you, my results are not clear cut and still don't have a good line going through the writing.
What am I doing? Just keep on writing one thing at a time so it doesn't feel as a waste of time. Just one section or one article summary etc. and coming to forums like this to get some encouragement. Its a tall order and sometimes feel its not worth the effort but there is a tiny part of me somewhere that keep telling me how good it would be to get this over and get the PhD for all my hard work over the years.

Where are u in terms of writing? as sometimes when you write down the results or etc. it will make sense. You are so near the end so keep pushing and don't give up this far down the way!(up)

Thanks so much for your reply Sheena. That's exactly what I need - encouragement! I know that what I'm going through is probably very similar to many other PhDs, but knowing that doesn't stop me feeling depressed and alone. I've technically started writing, but haven't got very far! I've still got quite a lot of experimental work to do and I don't know how I'm supposed to fit in writing around that. I guess I'm just gonna have to find a way! I think I will feel better when I start getting things down. The problem with my motivation is that right now I don't think I want to carry on in research when I finish, so really I don't even need the stupid PhD. The only reason for me to finish it is that I've put in so much effort and I will regret it if I don't, which sometimes doesn't feel like enough of a reason...

Dear worrier and Sheena,

good luck guys- I think it is acknowledged that writing up is one of the toughest phases. remember your thesis doesn't have to be the pinnacle of perfection but needs to be good enough to pass! Another tip I've heard that I like is: start writing a paragraph at a time, rather than seeing the whole of your thesis as a whole lurking ahead.

Lots of advice on the final stages on the Vitae website:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/1239/Completing-your-doctorate.html
specific advice on writing your thesis:
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/1240/Writing-your-thesis.html

all the best,
Tennie

Awwwwww I know how you feel. I just think we need to keep going and not make our PhDs a big thing but just get on with it and lot it control our emotions.... easily said than done. Best of luck :-)

I've virtually finished - all chapters written and just finishing off a teeny bit of research before plugging in the results - so can speak from that perspective. I found it hard to keep going with the thesis writing but that was the key. That and breaking things down into smaller manageable chunks. I didn't worry about the "big story" until near the end of the writing when my supervisor helped me figure out where everything fitted in and how to tackle the overall conclusions. Up until then I just kept going, a chapter at a time (well actually 2 chapters at a time but you get the drift!), and using to-do lists to break things down and pick off the most appealing, or - more usually - least unappealing tasks to be getting on with!

Good luck.

I'm also in the writing up stage, with 8 months left to go, and have a daunting amount of work in front of me too. But keep writing. Have you done a plan for the next 6 months? Spell out all your tasks, and have some rewards, and some breaks in there too. Give yourself positive reinforcements all around the place - on your screen saver, stick notes on your wall etc. Make studying as pleasant as possible, listen to music, drink good coffee, take regular walks and breaks. I know this is hard, but suspect we will look back on this period of our life with some fondness - we're actually pretty lucky to live a life where we get to study, and think, and work on topics we hopefully love. Unlike the rest of the working world!

There's a bunch of us writing, and grappling with similar problems, and we'll all get there. Even if you don't want to do research when you finish, think how nice it will be to be called 'Dr' and what an achievement this will be!

Hi Worrier, the last few months are pretty grim, but it's definitely worth seeing it through to the end if you can. I'm in the corrections stage now, but you've reminded me just how depressing the pre-submission phase was. I'm SO glad I'll never be in that situation again! I think it's possibly the most difficult thing I've ever actually chosen to do.

I know it's really hard, but if you can somehow dredge up the willpower to continue then it really is worth trying to see it through to the end. My supervisor told me to grit my teeth (or grind them!) or do whatever it takes at that point. I kept telling myself that I'd never be doing a PhD again, so that cheery thought forced me to do my best to plod on. I felt like a zombie for some of the time, just going through the motions of tedious writing, chasing references, fiddling with my bibliography etc, but at least every little bit feeds into the thing as a whole. I felt incredibly drained mentally and physically sometimes, and occasionally just burst into tears, wondering why I'd got myself into that situation in the first place. I pulled myself out of it by reminding myself that soon it would all be over and I could move on to something else. I was SO sick of it and wanted it to be finished, so it made me more determined. I'd got to the point where I'd invested so much time, money and energy into it that to not give it my best shot at that late stage wasn't an option. I wanted something tangible to show for everything I'd put into it, otherwise I'd be financially poor, stressed, tired and with a pathetic social life for nothing and felt like all those years would have been wasted. Plus I really did still like my subject, when the thesis pressure was taken out of the equation, so I had force myself to get on with it, though it was bloody difficult sometimes - I felt like I needed the academic equivalent of Bear Grylls and his strange scouting survival tactics.

You really do need breaks even though you often feel that there's no time, and also need to eat properly and get out and see people or it's harder to get through. Maybe you'll become a complete hermit/a scruffbag/wallow in papery, bookish chaos, get fat/thin/spotty/your hair will start thinning/go grey, but that's short term, it can all be sorted out afterwards when you've finished your thesis and you get your life back again.

It really is satisfying to hand your thesis in - you've written a huge volume of original research from scratch, you'll never be in that situation again, even with corrections! It's exciting to get through the viva and pass, knowing other people whose work you respect happen to think a lot of your own work. I'm assuming it will also be rather nice to finally be officially Dr so and so! It feels like a huge personal achievement as well as an academic one, though I still haven't got my head round it yet. I know it's vile at times, but you've come so far now and it's just a tiny bit longer and you'll get there and that'll be it forever!! Plod on and think of how brilliant it will be to have a life again, with a completed thesis that you can use as you wish. It's not a bad carrot to dangle before your eyes at this stage. Good luck! (up)