my submission date is January 5th, so no Christmas this year.

4 chapters to go - have all drafts but need major correcting and a fair amount of reading to be done as i go along.

the first two are major - require tonnes of creativity and should be complete by end October.

the last two don't need a lot of work and am hoping to be done by end of third week of November (both). yikes! its scary just thinking about it.

then immediate start on corrections - 6 weeks.

any tips anyone?!

feeling very panicked about it sometimes when i think of time frames but i think its doable if i can keep my cool.

my motto:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." - like finishing this thesis and getting on with my life! lol.

3 tomatoes already. really happy!

======= Date Modified 24 Sep 2011 15:04:38 =======
Hi Hailey

Def doable, challenging but yes, doable. If you haven't already, I would start to gather up my chapters into a physical thesis as in make sure you know your uni's formatting and submission guidelines. Set the proper margins now and work with them. Decide heading styles etc. In the days when the creativity isn't flowing, work on your references and make sure that they are up to scratch from now onwards. At this stage you need to be strategic about things, and ruthless so don't be too tempted to explore juicy tangents. Also, try not to do too much new reading as it is easy to get over-whelmed.

Good luck with it (up)

thanks Ady for your advice. I'm really encouraged that someone thinks its doable!

am up today completing reading that my supervisor says i should include.

i hope to write up the first of the remaining four chapters between Monday and Friday.

you're right about the reading. its so easy to get carried away exploring new tangents.

thanks for the referencing and formatting tip. i should get started on that asap. especially the references!

7 tomatoes + reading complete. really pleased!! also excited by the quality of my latest brain wave. :)

can't wait to explore that in further detail.

goodnight guys and goodluck to those working.

off to bed.

I just checked the date 100 days ago (17th June) and thinking back to what I've achieved since then it's definitely doable. But be prepared to work every weekend too as you get closer to the deadline. I found I had a lot of reading to do, but having specific references to find really focussed my reading.

I agree on the formatting. getting everything in the right formatting at first will (should?) save time later. I wish I'd done things properly in word using styles properly as it would have saved me some time later.

Good luck

Catalin Bond 6 days to go! (aagh!:p

I agree - you can do this - it's the final push!

I know a couple of people who wrote their entire thesis in 5-6 months, so that fact that you have already got a complete draft puts you in a great position :)

It will be tough but try not to panic - I hit a bit of a brick wall with my Intro/lit review chapter and again with my discussion (the two last chapters I wrote) because I was panicking too much to be able to think straight. I think you are taking the right approach by time-tabling how long you think each task will take. My advice would be to set your mini deadlines working backwards from your submission date....so if you want to submit on the 5th Jan, then maybe you want to bind on the 3rd Jan, print on the 2nd Jan, have a complete draft by 30th Dec etc. Set weekly, or even daily goals, so that if you begin to fall behind this schedule you will know right away and be able to remedy the situation. Prioritise tasks into what needs to be done, and things you'd like to do but aren't essential. It's all about being practical at this stage and working within the time limit you have. If you have a lot of tables or figures, don't underestimate how long formatting these can take (the stage I am at - not fun!!!). Better get back to it......

Best of luck - you can do it :-)

hey Tey and Catalinbond! thanks so much for the encouragement. :-) am definitely not giving up.

Sunday i completed reading. Yesterday was a bit messed up after getting derailed with family emergencies so i lost a day. But at least today i managed 12 hours of work! am really proud of myself and looking forward to another 12 tomorrow!

am so happy that my work is taking shape now and the quality actually looks better. my first draft seems to have been really rough but then again, that's why its a draft.

thank you all!

all the best Catalinbond - i can only imagine!

96 days to go!

its a lot of time. more than a quarter a year! depends how you look at it. ;)

Tey -am keeping that tables advice in mind. in fact from now hence forth am going to work on it like a final draft.

funny enough on my bad days when i manage no work.. i could actually format tables and do bibliography but even that doesn't come to mind!

i probably need help. lol.

2 more chapters to go.

anyone got a chapter that is 30,000 words long? my thesis is 5 chapters and one of them is that long. its on context. anyone else with such a thing?

(ch 1 is intro 10k, then context/background ch.2 - 30k, then ch.3 broad area - 20k leaving me with 20k for ch. 4 (my thesis) & ch5 (conclusion)

Hi Hailey, I have three chapters of 20k, but not one of 30k.

Are you on schedule for January 5th? Good luck!

hi eska. i am. thanks for the feedback.

49 days to go. sigh.... 1 chapter to hand in today. two to go.. i doubt my supervisor will actually read through this thesis. :(

but gotta be positive for todays target - hand in ch. 3 and stop being a perfectinist!!! :$

Good luck with the deadline. I had a horrible summer but somehow got it done. I liked my friend's ethos - don't get it right, get it written! I was way too perfectionist for my first few chapters as I didn't want my supervisors to think badly of me! Towards the end I wrote my general discussion in three days!

thanks for that Catalinbond. you're right the most important thing is to get it done!

48 days to go.. :$

two chapters to write. i've decided to leave ch.3. no more polishing. i need to move!

there's lots to read for ch.4. sometimes i think can i do this?

but am determined to press on.. like you said, just get it written. how's everyone else doing? any other january deadlines?