Thank you all. And ta for the well wishes - I am mightily chuffed. I expected this last draft to give me weeks of stuff to improve, turns out it was just a couple of days. Phew!

At your prompting, A bit of Googling has found some university regulations. Handily, my department doesn't have any listed but another in the same school does so I'm basing it on that - and, indeed, they do say exactly where to put them. They also have the declaration too which had totally passed me by.

And cheers for the advice on the quote page, they don't mention that. I'll need to have a bit of a think about whether to do it or not.

I've just had the final draft of my PhD thesis back from my supervisors and it should be ready to submit next week.

On a couple of trivial matters, though, I could do with a bit of guidance.

Is there any convention as to the best place to stick acknowledgements? After the abstract before the contents? At the end, after the appendices? Does it appear on the table of contents?

Also, is there a general consensus on having a quote page, for want of a better moniker? I would like to put a verse before the thesis which reflects my feelings toward it (nothing gushy just some Television lyrics). Is this acceptable or a bit sixth form? If it is okay, the same question as above, where would it go?

I'd be grateful if anyone had any advice on these, cheers.

My PhD was part interview based (part participant observation with the people) and I really regretted it at first but I just found that I just got into it. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like you have so you have to grit your teeth and get through it.

As with so many things in life, the best tip is probably to be in the moment. Unless you can really justify it as productive and useful, try to stop yourself from pessimistically anticipating the future or negatively dwelling on the past. There's no point worrying about sounding silly be going really over the top to ask someone to interview nor cringing at all the little things you wish you hadn't said. This is just something you've got to do and, I'm sure, at the end of it, you'll have data that's far better than you thought.

Put it this way, I suffer from panic attacks and extreme anxiety, and I'm very shy. Yet I still managed to do this for a year and a half without too much trouble. I bet you can do it too, just try to switch off.

Sadly, that wasn't me in the link!

Cheers for the input so far guys.

I had given thoughts to it on an ethical level and, no, I wouldn't see it as my depriving someone. The choice isn't mine, I'm leaving that up to those who pick the candidates. I know that I would benefit from it immensely, and would produce some valuable work that could contribute in some small way to making this country a better place, so I'd be content. A PhD isn't about the letters for me, it's about doing new and useful research. I am worried about perceptions though i.e. will I come across like a dick and jeprodise any chance of getting into the department in the future (and because of my relocation this is the only nearby university that does work in my area - hence my having such limited opportunities).

I am nearing the competition of my PhD, sociological research. This should be done in the next few months, I'm just waiting for my viva. After this, I had planned to carry on researching.

However, I have to leave my current university and head back home for family reasons. This limits my options for posts and there is currently bugger all going. I had been in touch with a professor and we talked about going for an ESRC Post Doctoral Fellowship but just missed the deadline and their new Future Leaders scheme doesn't go live until April 2012.

In the meantime, I have noticed that this university have a certain allocation of funded PhDs (a stipend of thirteen grand plus fees) in my area. I have a project plan which develops my previous research, and is similar to the Post Doctoral Fellowship idea. Would I have any chance applying for this funding to conduct my research?

I would be doing exactly what I wanted to do anyway, the PhD would just be so many letters. I am pursuing a second career as a hypnotherapist so that money would be enough to sustain me. I would not be daunted by the work having found this one pretty straightforward, so far (touch wood).

I would be interested to hear what anyone else thought about this before I put myself out there and apply...