I am not sure that such a thing exists. In my former university, PhD students were not allowed to submit until they had done at least 2.5 years of work.

Is it a Masters or a PhD thesis? Arts, humanities or sciences/engineering? The answer will depend slightly on your answers to those questions.

Overall, though, it's probably best not to think of a thesis as a very long essay; it is more like as series of essays/reports (i.e. each chapter), each of which has a specific purpose in communicating the overall message of the thesis.

If your aim is to be a HE lecturer/researcher then it's worth bearing in mind that whoever you are, whatever your background, the career prospects suck right now. For everyone. So I think the most likely determinant of whether you succeed or not will be structural issues beyond your control, rather than any personal attributes (actual or perceived) that you have.

The redeeming factor in your situation is that it sounds like your topic would give you a solid plan B if your EdD doesn't yield the dream job you want. Many PhD students who fall at the post doc hurdle are then stuck as it's hard for them to convince non-academic employers of their skill/expertise, but there are obvious applications for that topic outside of academia. So as long as you are going to have a funding stream/income while doing the EdD then you might as well give it a go.

It sounds as if your Masters is not central to your future plans. Finishing it well would have been nice, but there are times in life when one has to cut one's losses, particularly where one's health and wellbeing are at stake.

If you have confirmation of your next move, then continuing with something you 'don't see value in' is likely to be demoralising and very hard. It's going to be tough to let it go, if that's what you decide to do, but in five years time you may well look back and consider that doing so wasn't that big a deal in the long run.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

It's hard to tell whether your primary supervisor's anxiety is a true reflection of you, or more driven by their inexperience/insecurity in their new role as supervisor.

Do you have a postgraduate advisor/tutor at the department/faculty level, who is one step removed and can offer advice? They may be able to provide you with more objective guidance. It would also be worth having your concerns/situation logged with them should problems arise in the future.

An additional point to consider - if you insist on sticking with your 'book' format and the university permit you to do so, you may shoot yourself in the foot when it comes to getting it published, as reputable publishers may see the reuse of a verbatim document as a copyright issue, particularly if you signed a copyright declaration which gives the University some claim over the text in its current form.

My university has a 20+ page document with specific guidelines on how the thesis should be presented (it accepts some different formats, but each of these is well defined and needs declaring up front). Your university/faculty could have similar. It may well have been assumed you had consulted such documents prior to submission - you may have even ticked a box when you submitted to indicate that you were familiar with the regulations. If so, you don't have much of a case to argue.Supervisors may be drawing on their own experience from years ago which are not necessarily relevant to your contemporary examination process.

A thesis is not a book and a book is not a thesis. Most people who intend to publish as a book subsequently have the labourious task of converting their text into a book after their viva. You've probably done things in an order that will be more convenient for you (though at the potential inconvenience of the examiners), so the task of making it more 'thesis-y' is probably easier than your peers face the other way around.

You could refuse but I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

What are her reasons for wanting to do a PhD? Have they changed at all over time?

Some good advice here already, but to re-iterate and add to it:
- Consider a second opinion from someone else within the university such as a postgrad tutor who is unlinked to your project. If you feel your health is a mitigating factor you will need to be open with them about that and be prepared to provide documentary evidence (e.g. medical letter)

- If the situation is not salvageable, there are plenty of positive things you can do next. Get in contact with student support and the university careers service ASAP. Seek advice on what to do next and also how to manage your situation better in the future for whatever your next move is.

- Do not despair about your lack of other experience. Use the next 4 months carefully - as well as finishing off your masters, try to start making connections, getting a bit of experience here and there, even if just work-shadowing for a day or two. Everything will help in the long run. If you feel that academia is no longer an option, try to see this as an opportunity to try out different 'identities' until you find one that fits.

- It's going to be hard, but don't define yourself as 'failed PhD student', in your own head or out loud. Frankly, outside of academia, most employers won't care in the slightest if you don't have a PhD, and will recognise your Masters as a valid achievement in its own right. Focus on what you *have* done when it comes to job searching, rather than what you haven't done.

- Take time to recuperate and be kind to yourself. If you have hobbies outside of academia, give yourself some respite in these. If you don't have any, then consider cultivating some, as it may have benefits for your well-being more generally.

- Finally, don't let how you feel right now stand in the way of you getting that Masters thesis submitted. Make what you've worked on so far count.

Good luck!

Is the MRes funded in any way?

Probably, yes. :(

The only other course of action I would suggest is contacting the departmental administrator or the PA to the main supervisor/HoD if one exists.

That said, if they are so rubbish at communication when trying to recruit someone, I would say it doesn't bode well for how accessible the supervisor will be should you take up the position.

Have you done *any* form of verbal practice with someone else? I'd really recommend it, even if only with a fellow student over a cup of coffee. You'll be surprised how much you can remember when actually on the spot and accountable to someone.

On a practical point, put page markers at the start of each chapter in your thesis so you can find them quickly without fumbling around. Maybe also mark key tables/figures that you think might be discussed, but don't get too carried away.

In which country are you based? What kind of scholarship is it? (e.g. government, research council, charity etc)

Conferences are useful, but there's other ways to network (Twitter is rather good) and get experience of presentations more locally.

Conferences run by academic societies will often have a limited number of free/subsidised places for students. There are also random pots of money floating around not necessarily specific to one university for funding travel awards, so keep an eye out for those.

I'm not a bioinformatician but my experience borders on health informatics so I know quite a few people who work in those kind of fields. The work seems to be computationally intensive which is why I was asking what attracted you to the field, as it might not be that similar to what you're used to. But if you already have some kind of coding/programming experience that will give you a better idea of what to expect.

I'm not sure that many bioinformatics roles are 'close to patients' though, so you might be disappointed on that front. A lot of it will likely be very data-focussed and be somewhat detached from both bench science and applied health research (though an understanding of each will be valuable).

Wouldn't a sequencer technician mostly be responsible for running sequencing, rather than handling outputs? By all means continue to apply for roles, but I think there's a good chance you won't be successful unless you have some documented skills/experience in relevant software/programming approaches. Another thing you might like to consider is emailing the people advertising jobs that you aspire to (even if you haven't yet quite got the right CV) and asking them for advice on what training you should undertake.