Hello there,

I am 2 weeks away from submitting my thesis. It has been a bumpy ride with supervisors leaving, replacements being made and working full time for the last 12 months while writing up but I think I might almost be there with it?

Ok, so its not perfect - I finally came to the conclusion that it never will be and that I have to draw a line and hand it over, but it is a thesis.

I'm trying to connect the chapters more fluidly and make sure that I have done what I said I would etc but I'm now pretty sure that what I'll hand it will be the best that I could do given the situation....if only I could find the motivation to stick at it for this short time. As I say, its only a couple of weeks but I'm finding myself thinking beyond the hand-in already. For such a long time it felt like it would never end and now that it is coming close, I'm beginning to lose sight of what I should actually be doing to get it done.

Has anyone else been through something similar?

My logical head tells me to get myself into gear but I'm floating about not really getting anything done. So frustrating - must focus!!

Morning,

I too am in a very similar position and have actually avoided coming on here in the past few months as I figured that if most people were stressing with the countdown to submission without having a full-time job I was never going to be able to complete with a full-time job.

I have been working full-time for the past 7 months (outside of academia). After quite a commute I rarely have time during the week to make significant progress (i tend to do the formatting/referencing side of things during the week which requires less concentration) so the majority of my weekends are spent working solidly on the thesis. I aim to submit at the end of this month and more than anything I am looking forward to having a 'normal' life where I don't feel guilty for relaxing, socialising or doing anything non-thesis related.

Like you, I have finally realised it will never be perfect or even good in my eyes, which is quite liberating in itself. I too struggle with focussing at times but I guess this is because of sheer exhaustion and the fact that it is hard just to dip in and out of something like this.

I've made a list of the final things which need doing - and now it feels like this is the final list of final things. Even if they are really small things such as check a page number for a reference put it on a list because I find the process of ticking it off motivates me to get more parts ticked off.

Sometimes I panic that I am not panicking! Maybe you have naturally wound down because you know that you will get everything done on time. Anyway, I hope this helps - let me know how you get on.

Good Luck!

Not there, but I can imagine how difficult it is to sign off on the thesis. I have a terrible habit with projects of submitting them and then thinking of changes I should have made.

Thank you for your replies.

Yes, the post you have written echoes my experience / thoughts exactly. I hope that you get on with yours well over the next couple of weeks and that we both submit by the end of this month. Let me know how you're getting on too - it might help to spur us on as the light at the end of the tunnel approaches! :)

Hi Grit84,

I started a thread called My Final Push Diary, which quite a few people joined in with. It gives an idea of what we were all going through up to submission so it might be useful for you. I was working almost full time as well and found it a struggle to finish but like you I realised I had to draw a line and hand in something, which I did, and am now waiting for my viva date. Just keep at it, make sure you factor in time for proofreading and printing and look forward to that sense of relief when you submit. Good luck.

Thank you PamW, it is definitely reassuring to know that there are others going through the same thing at the same time. Its so easy to forget that and feel like the only one. I'll certainly take a look at your group. Good luck with the viva! :)