Thank you so much for taking the time to get back to me with some helpful advice. My tutor has suggested that it is ok for me to submit the rewritten thesis as it is but I am very nervous about doing this and so I am now looking to put more information in the appendices as you have suggested as this makes sense. I only have 2 months till I need to hand it in. It's difficult as if I reduce the word limit, which will be a feat, I am sort of going against the advice of my tutor who says, yes it is long but it should be ok to submit. I had been told I can go over the word limit by 10% maximum. I have not heard of turnitin and when I submitted last year this was not part if the process. I don't know how flexible the university are at all, partially because I don't have contact with any of the other phd students. Thanks for your help.

Hello, I am very new here and I am asking for some thoughts and advice.

I have been doing my PhD for several years whilst also working full-time. I submitted my thesis for examination and my tutor felt it was good enough for submission. I had my viva and was given a 'rewrite and resubmit' with 12 months to complete this. The examiners reports suggested I add several new areas into my thesis and reduce one area. The amount of information they wanted me to add gave me concerns as I was already pretty much at the word limit when I submitted my thesis the first time and the area they wanted me to reduce is relatively small. I have now re-written the thesis and I am on my final edits. I have sent it to my tutor who is happy with the re-write. My big concern is that it is currently well over the word limit (35%+). The uni guidelines state that exceeding the word limit may disadvantage me but they don't say how. I am worried I may fail by going over the word limit so much. I have raised this with my tutor but their view is that if I have added all that has been requested by the examiners then this is ok. There are areas I could cut out to reduce the word limit further but the examiners have not suggested that I take these areas out and I am worried about removing parts of my thesis the examiners are happy with. I can't check with the examiners about the word limit as I am not allowed to have contact with them. Any advice would be appreciated as my 12 month deadline is now within sight. Is it possible to get an outright fail for exceeding the word limit? When I have my second viva, after the resubmission, could I be given a further 6 months of corrections (allowing me to reduce content with guidance from the examiners?) or do you just pass/fail after resubmission?

thanks