Hey guys,

my supervisor just gave back a chapter i handed in February. he says it's OK but i need to work on it more (eg expand, provide more examples). On top of that i need to work on the style and structure of it.

My question is should i spend the next 3 months sorting this out?. Or should i start research on a new chapter first and go back to the old chapter at a later date? Like many of you, i can only do one thing at a time!

Thanks

I had a similar issue during my writing up phase. I decided to delay the revising of chapters until after I'd finished producing drafts of all the chapters. I found revising chapters thoroughly depressing, and if I'd done it sooner I think it would have really put me off carrying on! Plus it would have delayed how quickly I could produce the new chapters. But if you do this you do have to allow more time at the time for revising.

However I did carefully read through my supervisor's comments and try to learn from the higher-level issues that he raised about writing style, so as not to make the same mistakes in subsequent chapters.

By the way I always worked on 2 chapters at a time. I get really bored doing 1 thing at a time and found it better to have a pair of chapters that I could flick to-and-fro between. I even used to have 2 files open at once, side by side, in Word, 1 for each chapter. Then once they were sent off it was onto another 2 chapters, and so on.

I've nearly finished my PhD. I'm just finishing off a bit more research to plug into the thesis, but essentially it's complete.

I find it quite difficult to sort things out if I've written them quite recently, especially if I thought they we OK at the time. My supervisor is very good in that he makes notes throughout the document as he goes along (sometimes its ' what does this mean ... Oh I see you;ve explained this later' kind of thing- its all done via e-mail with different colours for comments) and so it is easier to seek out info for the gaps. However I would - and do- leave it aside for a while and get on with something else, then you can come back to it with more of an open mind and see that the whole thing needs rearranging :$ otherwise I think you are just too close to it to do anything radical and just tinker at the edges.

thanks guys for the excellent advice. i must admit i was determined to focus on revising the old chapter before moving onto something new. But you've made me see its better to do it the other way around especially, as you pointed out joyce, if i want to have an open mind and be a bit more experimental. Besides, if i begin revising i won't finish until its perfect which means i will be at it FOREVER.

Bilbobaggins- 2 chapters at the same time? Very impressive, at first i thought 'i could never do that' but i'm slowly coming round to the idea- might try it out. And you are nearly finished the phd- congratulations! what i'd do to be in your position....

Mmm, interesting. I agree that sometimes working on two chapters at the same time is the only way to keep things going and flowing, but in response to your question - I would actually try and finish off that "old" chapter before moving onto the next one. I find it can be really rewarding to finish a story/chapter/analysis. As was mentioned before, it can be depressing to go through an old chapter, and yes, it is essential to have an open mind and be ready for radical changes, but at least in your mind it is all still fresh. I suppose you have to go with your gut feeling whether you prefer the new chapter or the old....