Hi all,

I know many will be envious of this situation! End of last week I sent my three sups the final draft of my thesis. Sup1 commented over the weekend (an A4 sheet of minor bits) so I addressed these on Monday evening. Sup1 is happy for submission, yeah! Sup2 has yet to read it as he lost the link to access it, I have hopefully dealt with this today. Sup3 asked 'what my deadline was' when he was invited to look at it, so I am not sure that he is being proactive. I am desperate to get this submitted as I have procrastinated too long now. How long do sups usually take?

In the meantime I have addressed some other menial formatting issues myself and some typo/grammatical corrections that are coming from my proof-reading parents (fresh eyes lol). I need to read it myself but to be honest my motivation has got up and left me. I was plodding on so well up until I handed my sups the final draft. I feel really disorientated on what I should be doing next. I know there are plenty of papers/refs to re-read for the viva prep as I feel my broader knowledge needs revisiting but that seems too premature (haha will probably eat my words when I am prepping for viva). So until I get sup2 and sup3 comments to deal with I feel lost. Part of me is also scared of what 'big' issues they may come up with too.

Is this normal when you are so close to submitting?

It's quite normal to feel like this. I was in a similar position just over a year ago. I sent my final draft to my main supervisor by email, just before Christmas. He read it fast, and posted the results back to me (with handwritten scribbles all over) just before New Year. My second supervisor took much longer to read, and then emailed me some useful comments in late January.

I felt in limbo at that point. And I had an absolute (6-year) university deadline that March.

I would wait a couple of weeks, and if you haven't heard back from sup2 and sup3 by then you should email them and ask when they think they will have comments for you by. Well that's what I'd do anyway.

But have a bit of a rest now. There's nothing useful you can do until you hear back from sup2 and sup3. You've earned the rest, so take it. And don't worry about vivas until you actually submit. Even then you don't need to worry about it until about a month before the actual viva.

Oh and try not to worry about the "big issues" as you said it. Whatever sup2 and sup3 will come up you will deal with in due course. No point worrying about it before then. You can worry yourself into a right state that way. Not productive.

Have that rest!

I totally agree with Bilbo regarding taking a break. I think it's a good idea to do this before you start the proof reading, so that you'll have 'freshER eyes' for the proof read. Why not book yourself a SPA day with your best friend or a weekend away? You should totally switch off it for a while (as hard as it is!), so that by the end of it, you are looking forward to reading your own thesis again.

Thank you Bilbo and Pink Numbers. It is hard to just take a break as I have been slogging over this for months. I guess I worry that I should be doing something but just as you state Bilbo, I feel in limbo. It is nice to get an idea of how long the sups take to read the beast, I don't envy them that lol.

So I guess I shall take a few evenings off and then start proof-reading next week. I am sure I won't have both sups comments to address by then! It all seems so near, but so far still to go.

That limbo feeling must feel totally alien after years of working so hard to produce your thesis. We dream of finishing and having time off but when it happens it's hard to disengage straight away. For the moment I think you've done all that you can do so yep, take the time off to enjoy your family and just having time to do all the other things in life. I definitely don't think you should prepare for your viva just yet.

Give your babies a big cuddle and enjoy them - Mummy's all theirs :-x

Well I have conceeded to having a few nights off from my thesis. All three babies have had D and V all week (since last weekend) so I am feeling rather tired out myself. Had a lovely (guilt ridden) soak in the bath then watched some TV with hubby last night and slept so much better too. Hopefully will recharge my batteries before proof-reading starts next week. Sometimes I guess you need someone to tell you it is ok to take some time out :$