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Final year support thread

Z

I am right there with you Hugh! I set myself the goal of getting a discussion section finished in my final findings chapter today...but it is now past midnight and I keep thinking of extra discussion points to add in. I then enter a process of 'should I? Shouldn't I?' in terms of 'should I open this can of worms?' knowing that it will probably drive my word count incredibly high, but then finding good reasons why I do need to include it etc.

In terms of 'linking everything back' Chickpea, I have found that despite doing an incredibly thorough literature review, I have to include additional literature throughout my findings chapters and it would not be possible to include everything I have mentioned in my literature review. The literature review is going to undergo a thorough rewriting in a couple of months though (dreading that!)

C

Quote From Zutterfly:
I am right there with you Hugh! I set myself the goal of getting a discussion section finished in my final findings chapter today...but it is now past midnight and I keep thinking of extra discussion points to add in. I then enter a process of 'should I? Shouldn't I?' in terms of 'should I open this can of worms?' knowing that it will probably drive my word count incredibly high, but then finding good reasons why I do need to include it etc.

In terms of 'linking everything back' Chickpea, I have found that despite doing an incredibly thorough literature review, I have to include additional literature throughout my findings chapters and it would not be possible to include everything I have mentioned in my literature review. The literature review is going to undergo a thorough rewriting in a couple of months though (dreading that!)


Yes, I think it would be hugely difficult (and would make for a massive chapter!) to revisit all that's in the literature review. I think I'll just try to keep hold of key points I've found in the literature, and discuss my findings in relation to those. I think the discussion will be a challenge in terms of making sure there are no dead ends left - interesting ideas that don't go anywhere or are never addressed again!

Z

I spoke to an old undergrad tutor of mine recently at a conference and she said it wasn't really an expectation that everything in the findings/discussion should link to everything in the literature review which calmed me considerably! You are right Chickpea- if one attempted this the literature review would me enormous! I have found myself sometimes (embarrassingly) scratching my head over some points in the discussion then realising that these particular points are in the literature review and that I need to refer back to them. I have found myself forgetting what I have written since I wrote it a couple of years ago!

C

I know - I am glad I got a literature review of some sort down while the papers were still fresh in my head - it would be impossible to write anything substantial about some of them now! It's good that your old tutor said not everything needs to be linked up - one of my worries has been that something will strike the examiner as an interesting/important point and then I'll never refer to it again!

H

I'm struggling with having lots of results but not able to include all of those in the discussion ... or else it'll be a lengthy discussion, difficult to read and digest ... I wonder if its ok to leave some things in results without bringing them in the discussion?

Z

Quote From Hugh:
I'm struggling with having lots of results but not able to include all of those in the discussion ... or else it'll be a lengthy discussion, difficult to read and digest ... I wonder if its ok to leave some things in results without bringing them in the discussion?


I am doing integrated results/discussion (my thesis is in the social sciences) so I tend to state the finding then discuss the finding throughout so I can't really offer advice on that front :/ The proportion of data that I have had to leave out of my thesis is more than what is included within the thesis which leads me to worry that in the viva, examiners will mention something that I have not included in the final thesis but that is sitting in my 'notes' documents.

H

Quote From Zutterfly:
[quote]

I am doing integrated results/discussion (my thesis is in the social sciences) so I tend to state the finding then discuss the finding throughout so I can't really offer advice on that front :/ The proportion of data that I have had to leave out of my thesis is more than what is included within the thesis which leads me to worry that in the viva, examiners will mention something that I have not included in the final thesis but that is sitting in my 'notes' documents.


I think me too. My supervisor is of the opinion that less says more. But I do get his point, because one of my chapters was 20,000 words and that is difficult to read.

H

Btw how long have you all allocated for your supervisor's feedback on the first full draft thesis?

One month?

C

I was thinking maybe a month, Hugh. It seems to me like it would be an awful lot of work to read and comment on an entire thesis, but my supervisors have moved at the speed of light with my chapters so far.

H

Quote From chickpea:
I was thinking maybe a month, Hugh. It seems to me like it would be an awful lot of work to read and comment on an entire thesis, but my supervisors have moved at the speed of light with my chapters so far.


That's good! Mine takes ages. Maybe I need to allocate 2 months to it tbh. One chapter takes about 2-3 weeks at the very least.

C

The closer I get to the end of my funded period, the more I think I am going to be combining working and doing the final tweaks to my thesis anyway! I know everyone's different, but I've discovered it actually makes me feel better about it to think that I don't have this huge set-in-stone date ahead of me, so I think I'm going to concentrate on getting all the chapters written and then see what happens with the timing for doing final edits etc.

H

Quote From chickpea:
The closer I get to the end of my funded period, the more I think I am going to be combining working and doing the final tweaks to my thesis anyway! I know everyone's different, but I've discovered it actually makes me feel better about it to think that I don't have this huge set-in-stone date ahead of me, so I think I'm going to concentrate on getting all the chapters written and then see what happens with the timing for doing final edits etc.


That is a good way to look at it. Plus it takes the immediate pressure off a little bit, which I think is useful. I'd rather take an extra 4 months than risk affecting my mental health.

C

Quote From Hugh:


That is a good way to look at it. Plus it takes the immediate pressure off a little bit, which I think is useful. I'd rather take an extra 4 months than risk affecting my mental health.


Yes, that's how I'm seeing it. I realised that all along I've been focused on this 'three years and not a day longer' thing, and actually so much of the process has been unpredictable and uncontrollable (recruitment/data collection in my case) that I either internalise loads of stress at this stage or I just focus on getting it finished, even if it does have an untidy end that overlaps with starting a job!

H

Quote From chickpea:


Yes, that's how I'm seeing it. I realised that all along I've been focused on this 'three years and not a day longer' thing, and actually so much of the process has been unpredictable and uncontrollable (recruitment/data collection in my case) that I either internalise loads of stress at this stage or I just focus on getting it finished, even if it does have an untidy end that overlaps with starting a job!


I found the most frustrating parts to be also be when I didn't have control over recruitment, and recruitment for one of my studies took six times longer than I had anticipated or planned for. It is utterly frustrating, and that is why some people finish on time, because they spend less time on collecting data.

C

Quote From Hugh:
Quote From chickpea:


Yes, that's how I'm seeing it. I realised that all along I've been focused on this 'three years and not a day longer' thing, and actually so much of the process has been unpredictable and uncontrollable (recruitment/data collection in my case) that I either internalise loads of stress at this stage or I just focus on getting it finished, even if it does have an untidy end that overlaps with starting a job!


I found the most frustrating parts to be also be when I didn't have control over recruitment, and recruitment for one of my studies took six times longer than I had anticipated or planned for. It is utterly frustrating, and that is why some people finish on time, because they spend less time on collecting data.


Absolutely with you there Hugh, and sorry this was your experience too - I have subject envy now for those PhDs that involve using pre-existing data!

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