I know it's only for the last few months, but be careful Pamw that you don't burn yourself out working too hard at weekends. I have a friend, also part-time PhD, who works 4 days and has 1 day off for the PhD, and she needs her weekends to rest from work etc. and do other things. She simply wouldn't be able to push herself to work (work + PhD) for 7 days of the week with no proper rest.

Good luck!

Well I'm not working, but I manage the PhD on about 5 hours a week. Occasionally I can stretch to 10 hours, but more usually it's at the lower end of the scale. I know this isn't good, it's not what I planned when I started the PhD, but my neurological disease flared up hugely in summer 2004, and I've struggled ever since.

My PhD is in history and involves doing historical research in archives. But I've managed to work around that by getting copies of the records I can work through at home, either photocopies, or on microfilm (I have a film reader at home), or digital photographs.

It's very much a case of quality time over quantity though. I wouldn't recommend doing a PhD this way, but I have nearly finished, and hopefully will be successful.

Sounds like you've got a good system Kmille. Only having to write a modest number of good pages a day is an achievable goal, and if that will take you to the end in time then brilliant. Re page counts I wrote my chapters separately, in different Word files, and only joined them together into a combined file last week. It was quite a big moment, scary to see the total word count (which did come in at the figure I was hoping for), and nice to see the total page count. I still have a bit more research to finish, and another 5000 words from that to plug in, but I'm definitely on the home straight now.

My official university deadline is 10 months away though, and I'm part-time so I have time to play with. And I started writing early. I found the writing very hard and my supervisor was very scathing initially in his comments. But I got through that. It's good that your supervisor is working so actively with you to improve the chapters as you write.

I know the core literature in my area but due to brain damage and neurological disease have trouble remembering much that I've read, including much of the extra material. So that's going to have to be taken into account at my viva. I'm focusing on getting the thesis under my control though. That's my baby, I know it as well as I can know anything else, and I sure as wotsit am going to defend it to the best of my ability ;-)

If you don't get a quick reply I'd recommend phoning them up about it. Or going to see them in person. Phoning might be easier though. Good luck!

I'm not bored as such, but want it out of the way. I think it's become tiresome, and now that the finishing line is in sight (less than a year to go before my 6-year part-time registration runs out) I'd rather have it out of the way than spend any longer than necessary on it. This is quite a new feeling for me. Until quite recently I was thinking I'd probably get an extension, which would be easy for me to get on medical grounds (long-term seriously ill, and have lost a lot of time during the official registration period), and that I'd need that time. But now I can see that it would be possible to submit I would much rather do that, and get it out of the way.

But I have to keep pushing on. I have quite a substantial piece of research to finish and plug in to add another 5,000 words. Finding the transcribing portion of it very tedious, and it doesn't help that the ink in the documents is incredibly faint. But thinking positive, maybe this time next year I'll have submitted and it will all be out of the way!

I'm inclined to agree with Hazyjane about the balance between paper reading and thesis reading. The thesis should be the core focus, and indeed this is how many people can prepare in a very short time. Too much paper reading is likely to distract from what should be the core focus, and weaken its presentation, rather than help. Revising viva questions is a good strategy, but shouldn't take that long.

Mind you I'm not at the viva preparation stage yet, but it's becoming more paramount as I near the end of the thesis.

With difficulty in my case! I was a full-time funded PhD student over a decade ago but had to leave that after falling ill: it was impossible to continue as I was, even though I hadn't been properly diagnosed by then so didn't know what was wrong with me. Now I'm trying again (and near the end of the PhD) I can only study part-time, and even then I manage on very few good hours each week. I also have long patches of many months when I can't do anything at all. I have to try to save up time for those. I've only taken 1 official medical break though. My current funding council will only allow a maximum of 12 months break, which I need to use wisely over a 6-year part-time PhD.

Feel free to send me a private message if you want to discuss coping strategies more. My illness is a progressive incurable neurological disease, very similar to multiple sclerosis but much rarer.

I'm not sure about that. I've deferred my student loan ever since the mid 1990s due to not working for disability reasons. But for 18 months only I received a PhD grant (right at the end of my part-time award AHRC gave part-timers a stipend too) and that had to be declared to the Student Loans company and seemingly taken into account as income.

Mine was way below the limit though. Now I have no stipend again I am definitely eligible for deferring :)

Um yes. I've had too many problems over my PhD (serious ill health) that I've ended up being possibly too honest at times! But it's got me the flexibility/support I need. Actually my supervisor has told me I'm too honest in my writing - I admit to problems/deficiencies/weaknesses when other people would cover them up. But I still want to do that :)

Can I join in as a part-timer, albeit one with a very firm 6-year deadline? I'm half-time so I'll divide all my times in half to get the full-time equivalent. I'm virtually at the end of the PhD, just about to produce my nearly complete full draft of the thesis for the first time. Just have a bit of research to finish and plug in afterwards though.

Re your questions:

1/ full draft -> submission: 10 months (fingers crossed) - so 5 months F/T equivalent. Part of that time is to allow me to finish more research and plug in the results. Part of the time is because my supervisor can take an extremely long time (many many months) to get back to me with feedback ...

2/ All my chapters were at least second draft. Most were fourth drafters. All had received rigorous criticism from my supervisor and had been revised as a result. I started writing early and have gone through at least 4 concentrated phases of writing over the time period.

3) It took me 2 months (so 1 month F/T equivalent) to write the key versions of most chapters around 10,000 words long. A couple came in around 15,000 words though and they took 3 months (so 1.5 months F/T equivalent). I have 7 chapters in my thesis.

4) What major submission? A chapter? The full thesis? They'll just be seeing one full thesis with one final chance for more feedback. But the component parts were reviewed by my supervisor multiple times. Or do you maybe mean journal papers? Two drafts at most go past my super.

Do allow for supervisors to take an eternity to get feedback to you though. They may turn things around quickly, or you could be very unlucky. You've got to factor that into any timescale.

Apart from reading them so you don't have to write is there any other justification for the reading? If not stop! Or at least don't pull out another paper to read until you've written something, even if it's just a page or similar. Make bargains with yourself and make progress that way. Even if it involves chocolate! Or drawn up a list of things to write.

Going over recent papers isn't going to help you explain YOUR results. And it's not going to get your thesis written. You need to start from what you've done and cover that. The more other papers you refer to the more you're going to dilute what you really need to say.

I know this is easier said than done. But I'm speaking as a fellow procrastinator! ;-) I've had to drag myself up from difficult patches too many times. It's easier not to get on with things. But you need to find a solution that works for you: something that will get you starting writing again, even in a small way.

Deadlines are usually a major motivation for me. Terror usually gets me going! I'm also coming to the end of a 6-year PhD, though mine is definitely part-time (6 years is the time allowed for part-timers at my uni).

Joyce's advice is really good. I'd also recommend that you don't start at the beginning of the thesis, or any specific chapter. Just write whichever bit is most appealing (or least unappealing?). Breaking the ice is often the hardest thing - that blank page syndrome. But if you start with something, even if it's way through the thesis and not at the start, that might help you crack on to the next bit.

The other thing I do a lot, and a slight variant on what Joyce said, is to draw up lots of lists of things I could be getting on with and subsections. Then I rank them in terms of most appealing downwards, and start picking them off. It's helped pull me out of a patch where I haven't been able to get on with writing at all.

Something else that works for me is recording my thoughts on the computer or a voice recorder. My reasoning for this is that I can often think more clearly and quickly than I can type. So if I get the thoughts recorded I can then play it back and type it up. And again it's a start, and getting somewhere.

Good luck!

I'm a part-time student in a department with quite a large number of students. Generally we're working on quite different topics, some related thematically, but otherwise different, so it's possible to discuss ideas and methodology without any risk of someone nicking your idea. If I was a student in an area where there was potential for closer overlap I'd probably keep things more to myself. But as it is, I find it beneficial to knock around ideas with a few close contacts.

That's exactly how I felt when I left my PhD, 100% sure that it was the right decision, even if I grieved for it afterwards.

Glad things are resolving themselves for you. Good luck in hunting for you a new position.