Morning Linda and Natassia! Hope you're both fighting fit and get lots done today.

I'm continuing with my analysis chapter, I really need to make some significant progress on it today. I also have a job interview to prepare for (yay!) - it's not til 7 Nov but they want me to read up on a particular theory and think about 2 questions before the interview so I need to spend some time on it. So I'm going to spend most of the day on the chapter, and finish up with some basic reading for the interview.

Hope you all have a good day!

I agree, thinking beyond the course is important. Maybe think about where you want to live, the kind of organisation you'd like to work for, and the kind of role you'd like to do. That might help you to decide which course would be most likely to lead to that kind of work. It doesn't matter if you aren't exactly sure at the moment, or if you change your mind later - but if you have no idea at all you are more likely to end up regretting your choice, I think.

Hello all.

Today, I will mainly be looking at the analysis chapter that I still need to write - I want to sort out the structure/content and start filling it in. It would be great to have written up a good chunk of the analysis I've already done by the end of the day.

Good luck everyone with your work!

Hi Linda! Sounds like you're in the same sort of position as me - working away but not feeling like achieving much! Oh well, if we keep going I'm sure we will get there in the end.

I've done my first two goals. Am now going through notes from my supervision meeting and thinking about the chapters I need to work on. Slow but steady...

I'm about an hour and a quarter from my university, and I agree with what previous people have said. It's perfectly possible, assuming you're not doing a subject where you need to be in a lab every day or something. For most of my PhD I spent two days a week on campus, though now I'm writing up that's dropped down to once a week or once a fortnight, depending on when I have meetings etc. Early on it's good to be on campus more often to get to know the department and, more importantly, for the department to get to know you. I know I've missed out on a few things by not being there more regularly - the social events, the extra little bits of work, some informal chats that might have sent me in different directions with my research. But not much, and on balance I don't think it's been difficult at all. Online access to journals has made it all so easy.

Wow, the thread's been quiet for a while! Hope everyone's getting on well with the work, and other things.

I spent last wek tucked up in bed with a bad cold - it really knocked me out, and I can still feel the effects now, but I can't waste any more time. I managed to crawl onto campus on Friday to meet my supervisor to talk through my draft thesis, and now I have lots more work to do to it. My supervisor seems to be slightly worried that I'm drifting a bit, and I'm worried about that too - time to focus and make some fast progress so I can get this blimmin thing finished.

Goals for today:
1.) Do some admin bits I've been putting off
2.) Write up notes from Friday's meeting and send to supervisors
3.) Plan out final analysis chapter and start writing up analysis that's already complete

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Button, hope you feel better soon! But do take a complete break from even thinking about work while you're ill, the number of times I've forced myself back to work when I've not been completely better and then felt worse than ever....

Natassia, it sounds like you're making really good progress, if you feel your writing's improved and your supervisor has been won round to your method. Congrats! I'm glad your horse is getting better too.

And Linda, yes i think you're right about complete chapters plus notes instead of scrappy drafts, that's what I'm aiming at. And well done on the progress on the chapter, sounds like you deserve to finish early today!

I'm still working away at my thesis draft. Not feeling too bad about it, despite all its gaps. I have four days off after today as well (friends visiting) - been really looking forward to the break, I don't feel at all fresh or sharp-thinking at the moment.

Oh, poor horse, hope he's okay!

Today is deadline day (although I could stretch it to tomorrow morning if I really need to) to get a reasonable draft of ym thesis sent to my supervisors. It's nowhere near complete - of the nine planned chapters, I have complete drafts of four chapters, reasonably complete drafts of two more, and the rest is mainly notes. My supervisors are not going to be impressed, but I really have been working hard, it's just the way it goes. Oh well. Plan for today - get draft ready to hand in, and fill in as many gaps as possible in the time available.

Oh, I know exactly what you mean about becoming word-blind, Linda, I'm starting to feel that way about some of my chapters now. And also I find it so hard to even be arsed to look at it all properly at the moment!

Natssia, good luck with your supervision tomorrow - I'm sure it will all be absolutely fine, but I totally understand the anxiety about it.

I've just finished knocking a journal article into chapter shape. Took a lot longer than I wanted, but I think it works. There are a couple of sections that still need writing in it, but I've just left notes to show what I intend to include. Next job is returning to the unfocused data analysis chapter - not looking forward to that. Maybe I'll walk to the shop for some chocolate and fresh air before I carry on!

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Hi Linda. Hope you had a successful day yesterday! And it is very quiet here at the moment, hope it's a good sign and people are getting lots done!

Mine was a bit pants really. Very slow, I barely seemed to make any progress at all, despite my huge deadline tomorrow and the fact that I'm only half way through the thesis (if that). Very disheartening. But maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself - what does it really matter if I don't give my supervisors as finished a thesis draft as I'd like? I've got to be realistic about the stage I'm at, there's no point convincing them falsely that I'm further ahead than I am. If the thesis takes a few weeks longer to finish than I hoped it's not the end of the world.

With that in mind, I'm going to focus now on getting the draft I've got into a readable state for the supervisors. The plan for today is to spend the morning editing a journal paper into a chapter - I'm hopeful that won't be a long job, it's mainly deleting sections and adding bullet points to show what's missing. This afternoon I'd like to do the same to a draft analysis chapter that's ground to a halt due to a poor focus - if I can refocus it, it should be okay.

Hope other people are making more progress than I am!

Morning everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend.

I spent the weekend working - am now on chapter 4 of my thesis (methods). Unfortunately I only have three days left - eek - never going to have even a nearly complete draft to hand in on Wednesday! But I'll just keep plugging away and hand in what I can.

Goals for today:
1.) Go swimming - DONE
2.) Finish work on rewriting/editing methods chapter
3.) Type up changes
4.) I f I have time, plan the changes to the next chapter

Just done that. Thanks very much!

Hello all

Can any kind person get this journal paper for me? My university doesn't seem to have a subscription to the journal.

Hargreaves, T. (2011) Practice-ing behaviour change: Applying social practice theory to pro-environmental behaviour change. Journal of Consumer Culture, 1, 79-99, doi: 10.1177/1469540510390500
http://joc.sagepub.com/content/11/1/79.abstract

Thanks very much in advance!

Morning all

I made good progress yesterday, nearly finished my Methodology chapter, although right at the end of the day I realised I needed to make some changes to the stuff I'd just rewritten. I should be able to get that all done by lunchtime, and then this afternoon I'll start work on my Methods chapter.

Hope you all get lots done today!

Hello!

I managed to get the basics of my methodology chapter planned out last night, so today I need to press on with reworking it. I probably won't get it all done today but I need to finish as much of it as I possibly can.

Good luck everyone!