You can submit your thesis even on the last day that you are registered, so that you have the time to revise your work. Different universities may have different rules, so it is a good idea to check with Registry, but as far as I know once you have submitted you are automatically re-registered until you have your viva and completed any corrections you are given, at no extra cost.

If you feel that your thesis is not good enough to be submitted now, I think that it wouldn't be very wise to go ahead. If I was in your situation I would arrange a meeting with both my supervisors and bring 2 copies of the latest draft of my thesis with me. I think that it is in no-one interest that you submit if there is even a remote possibility that you might fail or given major corrections.

Are you a funded student? Usually you are put under a lot of pressure to complete if you are funded by them or one of the research councils, but even though, as long as you submit by the last day of your registration that would be enough as far as I know. However, I would check with Registry and your funding body if any.

Hi Livvie, thank you for this. I did try all you have said, but the result is always the same. Perhaps is just me - I am completely hopeless with this vista thing!

However, just in case there are other people around with the same problem I found out that Adobe acrobat x pro allows you to up-load and combine all your word docs in one single PDF file. However, even the student edition is not cheap. But I discovered that you can do the same using Expert PDF 7. It comes at a fraction of the price and you can up-load as many docs as you need, so I made a quick trip to PC world this morning and I have already tried a mock final PDF version of my thesis!

I would have never got there without your suggestions anyway, so thank once again! 

I am AHRC funded, and I got 9 months paid maternity leave when I had my child two years ago. Now I think that they pay only for 6 months. As the AHRC continues to pay your fees and you continue to be registered while on leave, your Uni will consider this period as full time working period (or at least this is what happened to me). So you should be aware of this. If you take a suspension of studies you will not receive any monies, and you will not be registered for that period. So, if your Uni mirrors what the research councils do, you probably have the same options. I suppose that it depends on whether you really need the monies or if think that you will need more time to complete (e.g. if you do not have any help for childcare etc).

As someone else has said previously, I would consider postponing having a child. It is doable, but it is very stressful. Now, I am very close to submission, and I have a great feeling of relief, but I didn't feel the same way this time last year. It took a while to re-start and being able to focus on what I was doing, but obviously these are very personal choices.

I think that I was lucky in a way, because I managed to do all the fieldwork and research before I had the baby, otherwise I would have had to leave, as I had to travel a lot to different places.

I hope that this is of some help :$

Hello and thanks a lot everyone! I didn't know that you can upload several files in a single PDF document. One of my friends has Acrobat create PDF, so I should be able to practice with it later on this afternoon. I had tried everything else before, but nothing seemed to work. I will let you know the result of my trial session.

Thank you Ady, you are very close to finishing too. Time passes very quickly when you are close to completion. This formatting problem is just very frustrating. I am sure that it would take 10 minutes to sort things like the table of content out, but it takes forever to me! I attended workshops at my Uni, but they were all for Office 2003 or 2007, not for vista, and if you do not use these things every day, you are unlikely to become skilled anyway...

Hi all,

I am putting the thesis together. With the Masters thesis I just printed out the individual chapters, but now my Uni requires an e-copy in a single PDF file.
I want to use roman numeral to number the first pages -e.g. table of content, abstract, etc. and then change to Arabic from the introduction, but every time that I paste the files in the new document vista automatically renumber the whole document either in Roman or Arabic numerals.

Also, I would like the footnotes numbers to re-start from 1 at every chapter, but again, it automatically renumber them whatever I select.

Is there any magic wizard that can help me with these? Help!!!

Thank you!

First of all congratulations for submitting your thesis. I have: 1) first page with title, name etc. 2) thesis declaration, 3) acknowledgements, 4) abstract, 5) table of content, 6) list of abbreviations/ Notes of guidance, 7) chapters, 8) Appendices. I am not sure yet if I am going to insert a quote page, but I did so in my Masters thesis, and I put it just before the introduction. I hope it helps!

I can totally relate to Pineapple29. I greatly enjoyed my first and second years, when I was totally independent in shaping the PhD project and carrying out research. The emotional roller-coaster started when I started to write the thesis and thus my sup became "more" involved. The kind of supervision that I received has been appalling, but I am sure that he would jump on the chariot and claim to be part of it should I pass the viva. Equally, he would be the first to reject the whole project if I were failed. Needless to say, the whole situation, coupled with a completely unsupportive department, has put a serious indent in my self-confidence, and possibly also in my reputation as a researcher. I think that I managed to come this far (I am due to submit soon), only because of the positive feedback from external academics - that are specialists in my area, whereas my sup is not - family and friends.
I feel a bit numb at the moment. I think that my research worth a PhD, but obviously I am fully aware that a lot of things can go horribly wrong for a variety of reasons. It definitely is an experience that changed my outlook on many things forever.

I did several research trips abroad, including one long fieldwork trip. I applied and received monies from the AHRC, but also from my Uni on separate occasions. In my experience you can claim travel expenses, monies for library and archival material (e.g. digital copies etc.), courses, workshops that you want to atttend, and accommodation, but for obvious reasons you are unlikely to receive monies for meals.
As I said, in my case they were fieldwork trips that involved archival research, and thus they were directly related to the thesis, but you can obtain funding to study a language or for any kind of specific training if you demonstrate that it is essential for your research. Funding is usually very limited, so you need to budget carefully for it and demonstrate that the trip is relevant for your project. The process is usually pretty quick, in my case I had the results within 4 to 6 weeks. Good Luck!

I think that it is a difficult balance between trying to make yourself and your research achievements known, and networking but without disclosing too much of what you are doing. Most departments give postgraduates the opportunity to have a personal web-page, but even if not there are many other ways to do it (through academia.edu for example).

I don't think that there is anything wrong in letting other academics know what you are researching, but I would be careful about giving away too many details on methodology, sources, etc. I had nasty surprises from experienced academics, and competition nowadays is fierce.

On the other hand if you do not disclose anything you risk to find what you have been researching maybe for a couple of years, published by someone else! So, again it's a fine balance and a very personal choice.

I could have written Ady's post myself! And indeed I can recognise myself in all the other posts as well.
I should feel elated, because my sup seems very happy with my final draft, but I just keep finding holes and things that don't work. I think that it is more a battle of endurance rather than anything else, particularly the writing up period. I think that it is pretty normal. I thought I would feel a great sense of achievement at this point - although the viva is yet to come - but in reality I am just tired and am looking forward to moving on with my life.

I totally agree with Sneaks. Quite often organization is not the best skill of academics. My sup said he would take three weeks to read the final draft of my thesis, but after a month he didn't even manage half of it. So I wouldn't take your former external' s behaviour as linked to the quality of your thesis at all. But I understand how you feel. It's the uncertainty of the final result that is really nerve-wrecking, and I feel very much the same, although I didn't submit yet.
However, you do have something job-wise to look forward to, and it will help you to focus on more positive thoughts. Keep us informed! ;-)

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Hi Pineapple29, the guidelines in my Uni says 100,000 words max., but if you are overworded you can apply to Registry and explain why you cannot cut any text. As far as I know they never refused a thesis on the basis that it was too long, and if your Uni accepted it I cannot see why it should be a problem for your external. So do not be too upset about this. A different external may be a good thing, although it may take more time to achieve your goal.
It is also in the interest of your department that things go well, so do get in touch with your supervisors and talk with them about possible options. And I agree with BB, start to look for a job and try to divert your attention to something else, although I know that it's easier said than done.

Well, I am in the group too. I remember that last year in February I used to get up at night with the idea of sending an e-mail to Registry to say that I wanted to quit. I don't really know how another year passed, and I am due to submit by June. I submitted the last complete draft of my thesis (or at least I hope so!) to my supervisor, and I am waiting for feedback. Obviously there is no certainty that the thesis will be considered good enough to be submitted, or that I will pass the viva.

This is one of the pleasures of doing a PhD. And you will get little sympathy outside academia, as people who didn't do it do not understand the presssure you are going through.

Nonetheless, I am have come a long way since last year. As my thesis heavily relies on original archival documents, I didn't have a proper overview of what I was going to achieve at the end of the project when I started to write. But at a certain point I realised that I couldn't continue to work on individual chapters for ever and I decided to put all chapters together. Reading the whole thing was empowering. I felt a real sense of achievement, although much work was still to be done. I managed to work much faster after that, and I also managed to spot problems that were not evident when working on single parts.

There are still times when I feel frustrated and anxiety takes over, but I am also much more confident that I have done my best whatever the result.

C.
(mince)

I think that the majority of people here had this crisis at some point in their PhDs, myself included. I wouldn't be too concerned about disappointing your family, as long as you take a decision and you try to do your best either ways. This is your life, and only you know if it is the case to call it a day or go ahead. I can tell you that this time last year I was absolutely convinced that I wanted to quit. I handed the final draft of my thesis to my sup this morning, and aim to submit by June. Obviously there is no guarantee that i am going to pass the viva, but if you want to know who is the winner you cannot leave the field before the end of the battle.

I think that you need to regain your motivation and self-confidence. You should set short-term goals and work towards them (e.g. take part in conferences and seminars). You can only eat the elephant by small bites! As someone else has already said in the forum, comparing yourself to other PhD students is not a good way to move forward. They may just be more superficial in their approach and thus give the impression that they are quicker, and every project is different anyway.
:$

You can certainly apply for funding even if you are p/t. Now rules may be different because it's the university that effectively give the funding to the student. When I applied to the AHRC four years ago, they made clear that they preferred f/t students.
You can take maternity leave, but check the rules with your uni to make sure that they will not calculate this period as f/t working period as they are doing here. Until last year there was no effective deadline for the completion of a PhD in our department - and there were f/t students who were still researching for their PhD after 8 years! Now you have to complete within 60 months (f/t) at the latest, no extension will be granted after this time has elapsed.