Ive 6 weeks left for my thesis submission, but Im nowhere near the end of my writing. The entire project has been unrealistic (read unfocussed disaster) and covered perhaps too much material and so somewhat confusing to structure. Also I have not seen my not so supportive or useful supervisor since July 2009.

The opportunity to pay part time fees at my university to continue past my fourth is possible, but the four years of this nonsense both from the work and having to deal with the infantile ego of my oppressor, is pushing me to consider walking away, although Im not sure of the affect on my future.

Are there others out there in the vastness of cyberspace feeling the same.

you just described how i feel. only difference is i last saw my supervisor in May!

keep calm and try to work out a structure.. i keep saying to myself, keep calm.. and that helps maintain my sanity. in my case its because i promised to hand in a complete thesis.. am planning to do so on Monday and nothing is working!!!

but anyway.. keep calm..

we'll be fine..:-)

Hi Notime

Don't give up!!!

You are so close - keep going!!!! Extend your candidature for another semester, you'll feel a lot better if you know you have more time. Send an email to your supervisor saying you want to extend, and you need their help to finish.

Keep going, one day after the next - it's not worth giving up now, and it you leave you'll regret doing all that work and not finishing. Yes, it gets worse the closer the end gets, but just keep going.

And Jojo, sorry to hear you're stressing too - hugs!

I'd also echo to not give up and carry on! After four years you shouldn't walk away from your research (particularly when the problems are beyond your control eg. your supervisor).

My thesis has also taken a lot longer than I expected due to a number of problems, one issue being covering too much material (probably enough for three doctorates). Frankly, I know more people who have taken over the standard 3/4 yrs to complete their thesis, than those who have submitted in good time. But I can totally understand about wanting to pack the whole thing in, but after four years you're probably at the point where it nearer to the finish line, than the starting line, so I would urge you to carry on.

It might be worth taking a few days to really assess where you are in your research and which areas you can cut out. Really try to pin down what you need to do to get your work to a submittable standard, and don't worry about perfectionism (you can always iron things out with corrections).

"Covered too much material" is fixable. Work harder than ever to write up; if you can submit something in 6 weeks it will probably pass! Don't give up now the finish line is too close....

Hi Notime, You might want to take a look at another thread which relates to 'Failed PhD - Any Advice?' You will read about a litany of academics causing significant problems for students in reserach. You've learned useful techniques and know something about how to write up results at this point. Please take a look at this thread and be shocked at the closed mindedness of universities twards students when it suits their own political agenda. If you genuinely feel that you can't go on...then don't, why hurt yourself? The PhD doens't define you as a person, its a part of who you are.

I can imagine your situation. Writing thesis without motivation is something mentally painful. Can you do 'work from home' ?
Probably that can give you some relief !

Communication is always important, even if you "think" what others ( supervisor, comitee, etc) think about yourself.
Try to make clear that you feel the time is not enough, maybe you can get some positive feedback if people finds you going insane.

Thesis, at least the draft you submit to your comitee members need to be just clear enough (nowdays with so many helpful software it would be a shame to make grammar mistakes, so fix those first) and serious enough. Try to write your thesis in the most clear way, not like a journal paper. Your results, and logical conclusions are the things that matter the most. Only if your comitee members are not busy (quite unrealistic) they would read the whole thesis. I bet some of them would read few pages of your introduction and then skip it fast. They know they will probably ask you to make some corrections anyways, it is almost granted, so you take that time to edit once more, without the stress of the viva ( although in my case is a little bit more complicated than that, check my newest post)

ASK FOR HELP, don't isolate, you'll be surprised of how many people is willing to help you. Ask peers to read your thesis ( it also helpful for them).