How long does it take on average to write up?

Also what level of support would you expect?

I have been trying to write up since October but I am not going anywhere particularly fast, I have about 70 pages now (including large diagrams/graphs) which is about a 1/3 and I was hoping to have finished by the end of may. It is obvious now that is not going to happen now.

I'm a scientist - I'm hoping to write up in about three months???! I don't expect any support - don't even expect anyone to read the thing...ever

I was kind of hoping for a west-end musical for mine, but the hollywood idea is a nice ambition

I can assure you it won't be.

I might base mine on 'the lion king' musical, that was awesome

Yes, I know, just shows how badly I underestimate things. Even walking to catch a bus - I never leave enough time...

I have just submitted my first draft. waiting for my mock viva in 15 minutes.

I took just over two months to write mine but that was because I spent time writing a state of the art paper (it got accepted) for two months before that and it then turned into my literature review chapter.

I think the literature review is the biggest job in the thesis. After that perhaps your methodology chapter is the next big job. Then it is just you justifying your work. If you did the work and know your research inside out then the writing should follow painlessly.

You just have to stay motivated and continue writing even when you get bad comments on it.

Liar...Lol

Had my mock viva yesterday. Firstly the mock examiner hadn't read the thesis so was only able to comment on high level issues and part of the analysis. So the mock viva was not very representative of the actual thing. Quite useless and not worth the preparation I put in.

Secondly I made a jocular comment that the only reason I did an ethics procedure was because my supervisor insisted on it. And even though I said I was kidding and answered the question, the examiner said that the statement was a sign of an immature researcher!

So I guess once I become a researcher, I will have to loose my sense of humour! Then again, the examiner was from the part of Europe famed for it's lack of humour so maybe it is just a culture clash!

so was the mock examiner from Ukraine or Germany?

HEY- you xenophobic brit! Ukranian's have tons of humour one they fuel it with vodka.

ok sorry, it must be germany then!!! lol

Germany... mind you my best friend is from Dusseldorf and she is the sweetest thing but she was here for ten years getting her qualifications so.

However the examiner was German and very typically so. Though the lack of humour thing is probably just her as opposed to anything else. I am sure there are many happy, fun, dis-organised, relaxed Germans in the world.

How many chapters do your thesis have? Of course this is directed to finishing up members. Mine is 7 chapters long.

85,000 words, christ. I probably have about 10,000 in total since October.

Mine is based on 10 chapters, I have a structure, etc so it is more a case of filling in the gaps.

I was hoping to do about 30 pages per chapter, but in reality it is more like 16.

As well as suffering with motivational issues (although that won't be an issue for much longer seeing as the money is running out), I also suffer with confidence issues and think that my work/writing just isn't good enough to achieve a PhD. Besides the fact that I have been researching on a subject that doesn't come to me easily and I struggle to understand what is actually happening outside the mathematical figures (PhD is in engineering, I studied Mathematics as an undergraduate degree), that and the lack of support is really getting to me at the moment.

Hi all, at the moment mine is also 85,000 words over 10 chapters but I am struggling a bit to produce a cohesive piece of work at the moment... I have been working on each chapter individually but now trying to ensure it works as one piece, and have to resolve some structural issues, dammit.