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hello everyone! just wanted a quick catch up with everyone. not heard from Armendaf in a while. i hope he is okay :$

my viva preperation strategy at the moment, is consisting, of :

summarising the important key points from each page of my thesis into a word document.
and also summarising each page into one sentence.


how is everyone else coming along?

Hey Lara, I've sent you a PM.

I got through the 100,000 word barrier yesterday, which was quite nice...not that I'm anywhere near finishing!

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hey miss spacey! thanks, but i cant see the pm :-( i went to my inbox., and it said , one new message waiting, and told me to delete some. which i did. i deleted old emails. but i dont see your pm, nor does it say, new pm awaiting :-(

wow well done on breaking through the 100,000 word barrier. so that means you're practically done. cause thats like the word limit isnt it for a thesis?

I'll try sending it again, the last message I got didn't show up as new, I just noticed it (maybe a little glitch).

Yep, 100,000 is the limit, but I still have to so much do, and I hate editing down my work.

I'm reading through some of my earlier work and think 'OMG, that's sh*te!'.

Has anyone heard from or seen Armendaf? i wonder how he is. i hope he's okay. the last message he told us he was going to have his viva in a few weeks. i suppose he must be busy sorting out post viva stuff.

i hope we hear from him one day.

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Hi Folks, I just recieved an email from my supervisor, informing me of my viva date, which is on the 28th september!!! :) truth be told, i'm actually happy and relieved! it was really hard living in limbo land and not knowing when my viva was going to be. i'm looking forward to getting it over and done with! and finding out what my examiners think of my thesis.

i'm going to make a proper plan now for the next month. i've emailed all my friends and have told them, i wont be seeing them, or accepting any invitations, and told them dont be suprised if you dont hear from me, i'm in jail lol. i'm going to lock myself in my study room. :)

one month is more than enough time. i've read my thesis like 3 times! summarised each chapter... i am not feeling stressed or anything. going to think positively. and whatever happens, happens, it wont be the end of the world. i'm just going to give it my best shot!!!

thanks everyone for their support throughout this limbo wait. i really appreciate it.:)

i'm going to finish summarising the last 2 chapters of my thesis. and then write out answers for potential viva questions.

i'm soooo glad i've been studying for the past months. even if it was just abit each day. as its really added up. everyday is definately more important! instead of telling yourself you gotta study 100 pages or study for 8 hours. because i had the mentality, of doing something at least ,each day. i managed to summarise most of my thesis - these past few months. im so glad i did that. cause if i started today. i would be panicked!

i have a clear idea of what i have left to do to prepare for my viva. now just gotta take it one step at a time....

Glad you have a viva date at last Lara. It sounds as though you are well prepared, and have plenty of time to polish things off. Good luck with that, and good luck on the day!

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aww thanks BB, i really appreciate that!! i'm starting to feel a little anxious and nervous now!! but will try to focus on just accomplishing my daily activities. take it one step at a time. Thanks again for the very kind, encouraging and supportive words! :)

Hey Lara! Good to see you've got a date as last - Woo!! You sound in the right mindset and one month is a good amount of time to get all your knowledge together. Do you know who your examiners will be?

Hi Lara,

Woohoo, it's moving ahead at last - a viva date!! That sounds just the right amount of time to prepare, not too long to get bored with revision but not too soon to get in a panic. A month back in jail isn't long, in the wider scheme of things! As Missspacey asked, did they tell you who your examiners will be?

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Thanks Missspacey!! :) Yep you're right one month is a good time. No I dont know who the examiners are, I have emailed my supervisor asking him who they are.

How are things going with you and the writing?

Thanks Ruby! I am just thinking, i'm gonna give it my best shot and let the cards fall. Yep you're right, enough time not to panic hehe. hehe thanks!! nope waiting for my supervisor's email to tell me who the examiners are. :-)

how are things going with you? you are so close to finishing!

Hi Lara,

I'm fine, and thanks for asking! Just doing my corrections, which is why I'm sitting at the computer on a sunny Saturday afternoon....:-( I can't believe I passed my viva back in May, it seems ages ago now. Some rather vital paperwork got lost after the viva, which delayed me getting the report plus corrections somewhat. It doesn't help that my DoS and I disagree rather strongly with the whole premise of a couple of the 'corrections', though obviously we can't really say an examiner is completely wrong and pick an argument about that right now, or it'll never get finished! It's quite a challenge to give them something that is satisfactory enough to get the thesis approved and signed off. By Christmas would be nice, admin procedures permitting!!!!!

Luckily, I have the carrot of several publisher's details waiting for me once I've finished the corrections. My sup wants the PhD stuff to be wrapped up before I start getting involved in other large projects like a monograph, but it's really nice to have it in the back of my mind when the corrections seem a bit deadly boring. It's nice to know that eventually the whole PhD experience will be a thing of the past, something you'll have to look forward to!

Good luck with the revision, I bet you know what you've written inside out by now, and also have lots of extra references at your fingertips to impress the examiners with. I had lots of post-its stuck in mine, with extra book and paper refs just in case they picked up on what I thought were glaring gaps in my thesis and I could show I did know about the wider field, it just didn't get written in. I didn't use them in the end, but it made me feel more confident during the viva.

I wonder how Armendaf is doing? Ok, I hope....

@Lara, I like your attitude (I need to adopt it!). As you say 'let the cards fall', or as Dale Carnegie says "Co-operate with the inevitable. If you know a circumstance is beyond your power to change or revise, say to yourself: 'Is is so; it cannot be otherwise". (I'm current reacquainting myself with Mr Cargenie as I've become a terrible worrier!).

I can't believe you don't know who your examiners are though - that's just not cricket!!

Well, my PhD is going s l o w l y, but it's got to be finished in the next month. I like some of my thesis, and hate other parts...but mostly just overwhelmed with ennui about it now.

@Rubyw, the issue of a corrections report is a bit of a mystery to me - could you tell me if the examiners quite specific about what they want corrected? I don't fancy lots of back and forth exchanges if I end up with corrections (which is likely). Also, are you publishing your thesis 'as is' or are you going to re-write it? As I'm finishing my writing, I'm not sure if to just publish it in its present state (assuming it passes!) or spend another 6 mths making it more reader-friendly and adding additional research.

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Hi Missspacy,

I know what you mean about the boredom, the last stint is so unbearably tedious. The best thing to think about, I found, is to keep reminding yourself that it will soon be over and to dredge up any last vestige of energy and motivation you can muster. Good luck with it.

Regarding the corrections, some of mine are very specific, asking for odd sentences to be modified or clarifed. That's fine as they give the phrase or word, plus appropriate page and line number to work on, so it's easier to address their points. However, a couple of 'corrections' are quite long, without being terribly specific about what they actually want me to do, other than 're-think my contention' about certain points I've made. As someone remarked, they can't ask me to change my mind about my arguments, or do extra reading, as that would be more research and major corrections, so it's proving rather challenging. All I can do is strengthen my existing arguments in certain places to address those points. I can't bear the idea of them coming back with even more minor corrections either, but am mindful that one particular examiner may do that. I think I'll be depending heavily on my DoS to check some of the corrections, and am also going to do a covering letter stating precisely where each of their requested corrections has been dealt with in the corrected version.

With publishing it, I'd prefer to spend time adding extra bits and expanding some parts that weren't necessary for the thesis. It should make it more interesting to do, as I'm still a bit sick of it, I'm afraid. I didn't get access to some people for interviews, but think it's more likely for a book. I think getting well-known people in it and also spending time making it more reader-friendly is a good idea, it should expand the potential market for it. I may also take out some bits, possibly sections of personal interviews, I'm not sure yet - people who agreed to be used for a thesis may not want their experiences published in the same form for a book, I'll need to check with them as it all happened ages ago. Plus some stuff may need to be updated. I'll see how it goes.