Well goodness I cannot even remember the last time I was on the forum! Or why it got to be so long since I was here....and wanted to come back and say hello to folks! A brief update on me, thesis submitted and now awaiting viva. Can now touch thesis without a totally adverse and traumatic reaction, now it remains to be seen if I can open it without a complete adverse reaction and throwing it back onto the highest shelf in the office out of sight. Am I nervous about the viva? Probably somewhere in my deep subconcious--but I have blocked the very idea of it from my concious mind. Just revelling in the freedom of not having this massive thing hanging like a permanent cloud of gloom over me ( the thesis that is). So glad to just have submitted...! at last! 8-)

updated to add--looked at table of contents. Felt blood pressure rise. Thesis returned to top shelf out of sight.

Nice to hear from you Olivia. Good luck with the viva when it comes. Nice to hear from someone who's submitted, as I'm finally polishing off my thesis at the moment! Hoping to be where you are in about another 5 months time.

Hi Olivia, great to hear that you've submitted :-) It sounds as though for both your physical and mental health you avoid the thesis for now ;-) I'm not sure I could read it after submission, I'd find so much that I'd go arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh at ;-) but sadly it has to be done! Keep us posted in the run up to the viva and enjoy your time off :-)

Congratulations!!! :)

I am racing to submission in a 3 months. eeek.

Good luck with the viva.

Hi Stressed and Bilbo! Thanks for the kind words! And good look to you Bilbo in getting your thesis done. I think the ending parts--the non writing, non academic parts, were the worst. My printer overheated after 50 pages at a stretch, so after struggling with it for hours one night, to just get one copy out, ( needing four) I decided to just take the one copy to get copied professionally. So when I went to pick it up, found they had done a very botched job, pages missing, pages copied crooked ( obviously a machine jam, etc) so went back to complain only to have them get stroppy...at this point traumatised and beaten down, I said, just do it right, I will pay again. So I did. At least the copies came back right this time. Then I had further adventures in locating a binder to do the glue binding for the viva copies of the thesis. In the midst of this I came down with a hideous virus that now after nearly 6 weeks is only just starting to go...I never thought the very end part would be the most hideous.....but it was. I was so elated to simply turn it in and not have to deal with it anymore.

*wonders if it possible to do a viva without ever looking at the thesis in the interim*

I mean, how do you prepare for the viva....beyond the basics? its not like I can memorise the entire thesis, and its impossible to really anticipate the specific questions the examiners might have,outside of the obvious ones. I know my thesis and its arguments, my sources, etc, are burned into my brain like a permanent image. Not sure if the trauma of touching the thesis is outweighed by any benefit to be gained by looking at in preparation for the viva. Seriously!!!

Anyone have any viva prep tips that might convince me to actually look at it ahead of the viva?

Hi Chris, thanks, and good luck to you as well with submission. =)

Thanks for the good wishes Olivia. Poor you re the traumatic printing and binding! Hope that doesn't happen to me.

As for the viva I'm planning on using Rowena Murray's "How to Survive Your Viva" book in my preparation. Maybe that could help you too? It gets good reviews from people who've been through the process.

All I can say is plan in advance for printing and binding, and have a plan B and C for backup. Especially if you are pushing against the final days of your deadline. What can go wrong will go wrong, sometimes...:p I have heard of that book and will take a look...I also have been to a live through your viva seminar at my university, but the information seems so sort of generic that I am not sure what in fact I should do. I mean I REAAALLLLYYY do not want to see this thesis again. For instance if I am asked in the viva if I plan to publish, my honest answer would be that I would prefer to put the thesis on a bonfire.

Thanks for the valuable tips. I'm currently hoping to have my thesis almost totally wrapped up by 3 months before my registration deadline. I won't be leaving it to the end - would get far too stressed! And printing and binding will be like a military operation!

Yes, I agree, best to plan ahead and not leave it late. As it was, with one thing and another, mine still took a few more weeks to polish off than I planned, and THEN I had the printing nightmare. Good luck with it all!

I had moments of sitting at my desk, thinking, why am I doing this to myself? I should just hurl the thesis ( or the printer) from the window and be done with it all....

Whether in fact it was worth it all or not is something I cannot honestly say at this point in time...probably, I will think so on the other end. But I don't know. I am also rather adamant that should all go well and I end up with the title of Doctor, that I am not using it. It will simply remind me of the trauma I went through, and am not much of one for titles anyway...people say thats mad, but they have no real understanding of the trauma of this thing....and my utter aversion to the entire notion of my PhD at the moment. Perhaps this will pass. No one seems to talk about thesis aversion in these viva survival guides.

Welcome back Olivia! Was wondering what happened to you. I've got a book which will really help you prepare for that viva - people on Amazon regard it highly. It's a good 'un' too, that gives loads of tips on getting through it, called Steeping Stones to Achieving Your Doctorate: Focusing on Your Viva From the Start. Despite the name, it still provides a lot of guidance for someone who has submitted. I'll PM you the the upload address where I've put it for you for if you would like it.

If anyone else is interested in it, please PM me.:-)