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It looks like I won't have much time to allocate to any trial/error when it comes to preparing my thesis for submission. Still writing up and already quite behind with everything. Your experience would help me and others in the similar situation great deal to save time.

Is there anything you wish you did while writing up instead of leaving to last few weeks? Have you discovered better ways of saving time with anything? Were you
criticised for anything on your thesis presentation at viva? How did you decide what to include in appendices and what to leave out? Etc etc.

Also, has anyone submitted their thesis in a slightly different format than uni's requirements?

Thanks a lot :-)

Hi 404,

I have nearly finished my thesis and hope to admit over the next several weeks.

I think a crucial issue is interaction with key stakeholders to assure they are happy with it. For example if you intend to submit in a somewhat different format as is usual in the university, assure that the key people ( administration, prof etc.) are happy regarding that. Communicate with them and explain why the format is different and what would be the benefit of that. make sure that all the forms and paperwork are OK.

I think grammar is very important, at least in my case a lot of effort has been put in reading and re-reading to assure that everything is correct. My supervisors / prof have been very strict about grammar, and surprisingly, less focussed on the actual content (however, this could also be because they are happy regarding  the content already).

Oops,

that should be "hope to submit" :$

thanks for that Rick. Good luck with your work and let us know how it goes.

Hi 404

I should be handing in my thesis in the next couple of weeks .. Make sure you write down your refrences as you go along. Do not put them to one side and say you will do it later so that you finish your thoughts, trust me otherwise you will end up wasting alot of time looking for all those references that you had used lol.

Appendices, you will know how important it is to put in main work or appendices once u get to it. generally, tables which you dont think will add extra information to your work (because you have graphs) or vice versa then just put in appendices.

:-)

Thanks Amanda, good points. I've been using EndNote for references so hopefully it won't let me down.

But now that you mentioned tables etc, I could perhaps ask something I've been meaning to ask on a separate thread. I have asked for permission for images and tables that are not mine, to include in my thesis. I can't seem to get any replies from one person with regards to using their image for months now. Quite an important image, can't decide to keep in or out. Hmmm. Any ideas?

I only have 2 months left to submission, hence my panic. thanx

mm.. well. what i have been doing is adapting them, so it obviouslly depends on the image and if you can do that or not. But i take it to paint and add an extra thing on or remove something, then write at the bottom (adapted from so and so). The other thing i have been doing is if i dont adapt it is to actually write at the bottom (Taken from so and so) my supervisors have not said anything about me doing this so i am assuming this is ok.

I submitted at the start of March and I'm waiting my viva. With regards to referencing figures and tables that you are using/slightly modifying in your thesis from other people make sure you reference the original source; adapted from Alberts et al 1993. I don't think you have to ask the authors about copyright as technically your thesis is examination material prior to the viva, so as long as you reference you should be fine. I'm still trying to clarify about post viva with the electronic submission people at my university.

Mostly the other bits I'd advise you do are:
1) Use spell check even if you have to teach it all the technical words in your thesis.
2) Make sure any page breaks are right and have added or lost pages/page numbers mine did this several times
3) Take at least 2 days to reference and do it at the end, as the last thing with lots of coffee. If Endnote falls over you don't want to have to re-format your document first.
4)Write in your references as you go along and highlight them i.e. (yong et al 2002), then when you come to insert all the Endnote references its easy to find where you want to put things in and which reference
5) Learn to use formatting style so that Word will automatically do your table of contents, figures and tables and will auto-update if things shift about.
6) Back -up everything and be mega paranoid! Put it on multiple computers/laptops and CD's / USB sticks.
7) Make sure you've put all the university regulation pages in ; i.e. the copyright statement and the declaration otherwise the submission office will just send you straight back to Go. Like monopoly.
8) Get someone to proof read you thesis. Not your supervisor, get someone who will read it for the sake of the quality of the English,  such as your other half, parent, best mate (bribe with beer/choccy), another phd student at a similar point. There is nothing wrong with using your supervisor but they are normally sick of seeing chapter drafts from you so tend to skim over any english mistakes.

I'm sure I could come up with loads more but those are the main things that spring to mind. Happy writing guys.

:-)

I definitely agree with yellowtreble in getting someone other than your supervisor to read it. Even though I've read mine over and over, it's amazing what a fresh pair of eyes can pick up. Even someone who doesn't have much knowledge of what you're doing can spot things that are really obvious, but much harder to spot when you're reading the wretched thing for the umpteenth time!

Dont miss bits out of your thesis, like me, I missed out a figure! (see thread). Definitely get someone else to double check all the "little" things, like Figures/Tables/References etc.. I guess I rushed all that in the end...:-(, so my advice: no rushing..

Hi 404,
In my experience it's not worth deviating from your institute's requirement in terms of format at all- it just ends up in delays.

My bit of advice? Not to be too perfectionistic and make sure you are reasonably happy with everything, rather than getting one part/ chapter absolutely perfect. if there is then time left you can polish it all up a bit more... the things you do want to be perfectionistic about are references and whether the numbers of the figures you refer to in the text are still the numbers of the actual figures you are referring to.....

Hope what we've written on the Vitae website is helpful too- but I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if there are any tips to add there;)
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1240/Writing%20your%20thesis.html
I guess for you the 'knowing it is finished' bit might be of most use.

good luck!

Tennie

great suggestions, thank you