Good luck! It sounds like you've done a lot of preparation already, so with three weeks to go I think you've got plenty of time to be very well prepared in your viva. :-) I'm waiting for my viva at the moment, and I find it very hard reading the thesis again - every time I do I keep seeing mistakes! But I've made a start at summarising the thesis and writing down the references I've cited in each chapter. Lot's more for me to do though..

I used 'I' in my thesis. Took quite a bit of getting used to, as I was always taught to write in the passive voice. Now I much prefer it though, especially when talking about data collection and analysis - makes it more engaging.

I'd say definitely go for it! I've not been on holiday by myself before but a few years ago I went to a conference in Amsterdam and travelled by myself. I was nervous about it beforehand, but ended up loving it. I arrived a few days early so I could do some sightseeing and really enjoyed being able to explore the place at my own pace and took lots of photos. It definitely improved my self-confidence that I was able to find my way around by myself. :-)

Well done! I'm looking forward to that feeling in a few months too. :-)

Congratulations!! :-)

All my figures are embedded in the text too, I have so many of them that it would be a very long thesis otherwise! Other theses that I've read seem to do the same too.

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My goal for today is to finish another section of my discussion chapter so that by next week it might be finished at last! :-x

I didn't know that you could get laptop cooling fans, will definitely have to look into this myself! My laptop drives me crazy because it only has to be on for about ten minutes before the fan starts going and it emits so much heat! I'd get a desktop if I had the space but I do like the portability of a laptop...

I do most of my work at a shared office at uni, and do one day a week at home. I prefer working at uni as I don't get distracted as easily and it's good to be able to talk to my friends about PhD stuff. Tend to leave my reading out loud for home though! ;-)

I'd really recommend Andy Field's 'Discovering statistics using SPSS'. It's really helped me during my PhD as I'm hopeless with statistics! :-)

Morning everyone! Hope you all have a productive day today. :-)

My goal is to start writing my final discussion/conclusion chapter. For some reason I'm finding this the hardest chapter of them all. I think it's because I've got lots of things to say but not sure about how to structure it, and I'm aware that the examiners are likely to flick to this chapter first so it needs to sound reasonably good. But I've decided today that I'm just going to write, not panic, and worry about the structure later.

I'll join in with an aye! I used to enjoy it but now find it so draining having to keep rewriting sections until I'm happy with them.

Well done! I can't wait for that day (hopefully in a few months) when I submit my thesis, it must be a great feeling. :-)

This is a really good idea for a thread, I'd like to join if that's ok. I keep getting writer's block which is really annoying me - got absolutely nothing written yesterday. But I'm determined to make up for it today, just going to write and not worry too much about how it sounds. Am aiming to add 1000 words to my current chapter today. :-)