Hi everyone,

I've completed my thesis draft a few weeks ago, and my advisor has been very busy, so I haven't got any feedback from her. She's promised to give it to me later this week, leaving me two weeks to revise before I have to submit.
I raised my concern to her that there might not be enough time to let her read it again after my corrections. She then said she doesn't need to read it again. I just need to do the corrections and submit it. She asked why I would want her to read it again and I said that's because I don't want to fail.. She told me to have confidence and just think positive.
I always thought that this is a process that's going to go back and forth with my advisor a few times before I submit. I heard many times that in order to pass, your need your advisor's 'blessings'.

For those who have done a PhD, is it normal for your advisor to go through your thesis only once?

Thanks very much any response!

I haven't finished yet, but I am in the process of writing up and I'm just putting together a full draft for my supervisors.

Have you sent her any of your chapters in the run up to completing your full draft? I'm not sure what other people's experiences are, but I have sent my supervisors a draft of each chapter as I've written it. They have given me feedback on that that I'm going to incorporate into the full draft which I'll then send to them to review. They'll only see that full draft once though, I think. Although we haven't discussed that yet.

I guess it also depends how thorough her comments are on your draft. If she's really clear and goes through it in detail, maybe she's confident that she won't need to see it again. I don't think there's a 'one size fits all' scenario here, so it really depends how you feel about your writing and supervisory experience overall I guess.... I hope that helps. Good luck! :)

what field are you in? Mine is molecular biology. Like glowworm said, my supervisors will only see my chapters once and will then look at the whole thesis once. More than this is not needed for me to be honest.

That's good to hear, TreeofLife!

Thanks for your comments guys. I'm in physical chemistry, and I have been starting to give my chapters separately to my supervisor a few months ahead. She had only
just managed to read chapter 1, and gave feedback. Then after that she's just been too busy to read. When the deadline is getting close, she told me to give her a complete draft to look at instead. So for most of my chapters (those with actual science!), she's only going to read once, which is why it makes me worry..
Also, English is my second language, and I have been told that I'm not great at writing by my supervisor before. So all in all, I guess I'm just really not confident in myself? I'm not sure..

Hmmmm yeah, it does sound like you could do with a bit more feedback than you're currently getting. Is she your sole/main supervisor? Can you speak to her directly about your concerns? Perhaps word a polite email expressing your thoughts and worries, especially if she's had issues with your writing before. Who is your personal tutor? It might be an idea to speak to them about it too. It's always good to get multiple opinions and also let others know that perhaps you're not getting the supervisory attention you need, just in case anything happens.

You'll probably be fine, but I know I would be worried about this and want to do something. It's better to be proactive now and see what can be done. Good luck and you can always message me if you'd like to. G

Hi glowworm,

thanks for your reply. I have a co-supervisor, but he is retired and hasn't been participating in any of my research, needless to say the write up part. I don't have a personal tutor, haven't heard any PhD students have one here in NZ. I have expressed my worries contstantly to her, at a point where everytime I see her down the corridor, I would give her a smile and the look that I would like some feedback. I'm pretty sure she gets the message.
I guess I just have to wait for until the end of this week to have my meeting with her and see what she says then.
Thanks very much for offering support. I really appreciate it to be able to talk to someone.

You're more than welcome. Good luck and please do get in touch if you would like to. I'd love to hear how it goes. G

Hi

I also did my PhD in physical chemistry and also gave my chapters separately to my supervisors. I had two supervisors and the main one has only read 2 chapters out of 6. And, in my opinion, i would say that it is not normal to have your thesis checked only once, considering that it is a huge report on three and more years of work!

I don't think your concern is due to a lack of confidence. On the contrary, it is completely justified since English is not your native language. Some of my friends who had the same problem as you, asked for help from a native speaking person to correct their manuscript. It can be your friend but it is better if it is someone from the same field because they will know the technical words. I am aware that it can be a delicate issue to discuss with your supervisor and it requires diplomacy. You can openly tell her your legitime concern about your English, on top of your worries about the scientific aspects. You can politely ask her if she is happy with you asking someone else in your group to help you, JUST for the English. I hope that my suggestion is useful to you.

Good luck!

I did my PhD in mathematics and, despite having passed the VIVA 2 months ago, my supervisor has never read the thesis. He went through the contents page and the introductions to the chapters but that was it. A colleague in the group sent the same supervisor her chapters one by one and didn't get much of a response. If the supervisor is confident enough to let you write the thesis, I think that they assume that you'll write it well and I'm sure you will. If you've made the odd grammar mistake, that's not a reason to fail. Your panel will just give minor corrections. I've read the theses and papers of 3 people who weren't native speakers and most of the corrections I gave were about sounding more English but the original sentences still made sense so it didn't really matter.