Man I would really struggle with a 70k limit!

After writing my conclusion I think editing my literature review will be the first point of call which I am dreading :/ It is so difficult as I think there is always that fear of the examiners asking 'Why have you not included...?'

There has always been a rumor in my department that if the thesis is over 80k (very max is 110k) that the examiners will get annoyed and you will get major corrections. I asked a few academics in my department about this and they confirmed it is just a silly rumor- what I was advised was that a longer thesis only gets frustrating when information is repeated and when it lacks coherence. I think the key is then being able to justify all of your content.

Hugh- my LR is in two chapters; one is about 11k and the other is 14k, but I am hoping to cut the 14k one down a little as there are a couple of 'rambly' sections!

My current chapter is 20k :o my two previous findings/discussion chapters are also 20k and 15k. My supervisor hasn't had any major issues with the length of these chapters though, and reassured me to not worry abut word counts until later.

I will need to do some serious chopping of my thesis when it is complete though. I have budgeted about 7k for conclusions, but even then it takes me 10k over the very maximum word limit. I have ideas of where I can cut from- one being my two part literature review as one part of this is 15k. I had a skim over it the other day and a lot of it is no longer that relevant and can easily be made more coherent and concise.

I think (personally) it is more important to see how it 'flows'. If those longer chapters would no longer make sense divided into two, it is probably best to keep it as one.

Chickpea- we won't be working at Tesco...surely PhD graduates work at Waitrose? ;) I joke, I joke!

Recruitment and data collection will end, I promise! I know the feeling though, as mine began in April 2014 and ended in January this year- I felt the same at the time! It is good that you have given yourself some extra time. The chapter I am finishing up turned out to be a long one and it took me over my own deadline for it. I have found it the toughest one since it is the last findings chapter and it felt like my 'last chance' to squeeze everything I wanted to be in the thesis into it. How long will your big chapter be? Hang in there :)

It does sound suitable in the context of your research. I would though spend some time looking slightly outside of Bourdieu's notion of social capital as scholars have developed social capital further to foster different definitions, e.g. Putnam (2000), bridging and bonding social capital.

Guys, I feel the same way about being eager to finish. It has been a beautiful day but I have literally sat at my desk all day marking before working on my thesis.

I am currently editing the chapter on paper before applying the amendments. I am hoping to send it off tomorrow! myoldmonkey- I plan to give myself a week off of the thesis once this chapter is in to focus on the paper and marking. I also want a break from looking at it before I tackle the conclusion! How are the summaries going?

So this week, I hope to have sent this chapter off to my sup, make some headway on the paper I am writing and get through my marking pile. I should also try to spend a day on some major revisions I got from a journal but I keep putting that off. What are you up to Chickpea?

In a few days! I went over my initial deadline of the end of April due to illness :(

Good luck with polishing; I plan to do that tomorrow and Monday. Today I have been dragged away from it as I am writing a paper for publication which I am chipping away at for the rest of the month.

The summary approach sounds really sensible along with setting word counts. I plan to also submit in October too as this gives me plenty of time (I hope) to go back and edit. I also need to cut about 10k out of my thesis. I have some ideas where I can cut down content though. I also think I will rewrite a couple of earlier chapters as now the findings are almost complete, some areas I have waffled on about are no longer relevant, whereas other things that I did not include are VERY relevant. This is the part I am dreading the most!

We need the 'crappy drafts' to get anywhere near the finish line I think! I have recently been looking back upon chapters I wrote last year and realising that they need LOTS of editing. Some of them don't even make sense!

My week has been ok, I am close to finishing my final findings chapter to send to my supervisor, but I have had to shove it to one side as I agreed to do some undergraduate marking. I am working over the weekend to try and get closer to my own deadlines before I look at the marking pile. How about you? When is your deadline? (and I am asking this in as least pressured way as possible!)

Welcome myoldmonkey! How is the final year treating you so far?

I agree with Chickpea here. Also, just to add my own experience to this Dunham, as an undergraduate I actually was under the impression that you could remain in one place or commute to nearby cities since all of my tutors at undergrad level either lived locally or in nearby cities where they had also gained their PhDs.

Chances are if you have had this experience with him, other staff members will have had it too. His complaining about how 'busy' he is is his problem, not yours. There seems to be a bizarre culture in modern times of trying to win some sort of imaginary competition of 'busyness'.

Is this a permanent position or temp? If it is temp at least it won't be forever. Since he doesn't seem to be the type to listen, maybe just ignore, completely, anything he says about how 'busy' he is - completely pretend you did not hear it and change the subject. This will possibly make him feel a bit embarrassed as it will send a clear message that you do not care for his moaning.

I'm with Treeoflife, Chickpea and Hugh on this. I am close to completion but I am starting to sway more towards something outside of academia but based in a university e.g. professional services. I really don't want to be moving every year or two and coping with the stress of temporary contracts. However, ideally I would like to obtain a research/teaching job for the first couple of years after graduation but then move to something outside of academia and permanent after. By that time I would like to be looking into putting down some roots and buying a home etc. and permanent work is often required to do this.

Tudor Queen, I stopped trusting people in academia after my first year of my PhD. It had already started to crack during my MA. I think it is healthy to protect yourself. There is a lot of politics, mind games and back stabbing in academia.

My overall question was very broad and not really a question, it was an exploration of attitudes/opinions/decisions over time, then I have three questions underneath that 'umbrella' so to speak that are slightly more specific.

Don't be mad at yourself, I think when times are as bleak as they are now in this economy you probably would have been mad at yourself for not seeing the job offer through this far. However, you had no indication that they were being disorganised and untrustworthy until now because they have strung it out so much. You couldn't have known that early on in the process as you probably, as many of us would, assumed that they were just experiencing a few genuine delays in their planning, but it has now gone on for so long that you are entitled to come to the conclusion that they are messing you around a bit!