Yes, I was advised to use the STAR technique when completing the application form! Previously, I have only used it during interviews rather than on the application form.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

Hello, this is my first post! I'm a final year professional doctorate student. It's been a really challenging year but it FINALLY feels like things are starting to come together. I have a 'submit-able' draft of 5 chapters (i.e. submitted to supervisors), and what I call a 'turd' draft of the other two (i.e. too crappy to send to supervisors, has some dot points and incomplete sentences, but essentially all there!), so it's really just a lot of editing left for me. My big stress at the that my secondary supervisor is heavily pregnant and has been sooo slowww returning chapters (we're talking months, not weeks). Of course I understand why she's slower than usual, but she keeps saying she will get to it and then not delivering. She's going on mat leave in ten days but thinks she'll still be working with a newborn. My primary supervisor is aware of what's going on but doesn't seem bothered. Sigh.

The other stress is that one of the requirements of my degree is that I have to complete a small applied research study on one of my clinical placements. It isn't included in the main thesis, but it goes in as an appendix. Long story short, I have had so many setbacks with this project, such as rejections from an ethics committee, two staff members resigning etc. I've been told by may people that none of this was my fault or forseeable, but the bottom line is my placement is about to end and I haven't done the project! I'm currently trying to lobby the department to let me meet the requirements of this component through a proposal but they are being difficult. I have another meeting this week and have my fingers crossed they are so sick of me they give in...

Thanks for reading :)

This may seem like a silly question, but for those of you who have written your thesis abstracts, how long are they?

My brain is really worn out and hence, I am struggling with this very straightforward task!

Funnily enough I just drafted mine on Friday. At my uni (in Australia) we have to submit a 500w abstract two months prior to submitting. Looking at past students theses, they have just used that in the thesis. I found writing mine a really helpful exercise for proving to myself I understand my thesis, lol.

Zutterfly - My abstract was one page long but the length was specified in my university's guidance on thesis formatting and submission so it might be worth checking if there's a standard required length at your university!

We have a word count and it has to fit on one page (can be single spaced too). Everyone goes over the word count but keeps it within one page, and they accept that. So I'm going with that. I had a look at theses in our department.

I find writing abstracts really hard! Writing well with a limited number of words while trying to get across complex ideas is really difficult! The word limit for abstracts at my uni is 300. Which seems like nothing. Agh!

How is everyone? I have 18 days til submission. Panicking ever so slightly....

Thank you everyone- there is no set word count at my institution it seems, but it did fit one page and my supervisor seemed ok with that :)

IntoTheSpiral- Halloween is my deadline to hand my full draft in to my supervisor, and by full draft, I mean everything very polished as if I was submitting it for real! I have 4 remaining chapters to apply feedback to and edit, as well as polishing my appendices (which are hundreds of pages alone) so I am panicking also, even though I have more time! What are you working on specifically this week?

My abstract rules were also 300 words on one page.. but I did 500 on one page and no one noticed ;)

Haha mine is just under 500 on one page but there are no guidelines on it. I have looked at completed theses and theirs were roughly 500 on one page too.

Does anyone have any advice for dealing with the ups and downs of the final year? Some days I feel really great, like I'm so close to finishing and proud of myself for getting this far. And then (like today) I'll have a meeting or some kind of unexpected bad news about my project and I feel terrible. Normally I'm pretty good at dealing with the research rollercoaster, but this year I'm just so tired and want to get off :(

Hi Teegs

The ending is pretty hard going, isn't it? I'm just trying to remind myself that it IS the ending - this period will come to an end, and it will be soon. It's like being in a dark tunnel and feeling like you're getting nowhere, when in fact the way out is just around the next corner. I think there is so much pressure on that we're bound to feel every up and down as a major swing. But it'll soon all be behind us - hang in there!

I have always heard that a PhD just needs to be finished not perfect which helps a bit with these final stages. I also seek comfort in the fact I will be getting a proof reader to give it a once over before I officially submit which prevents me agonising over little sentences.

I keep reminding myself that in a couple of months, a polished version is going to be with my supervisor and I can just forget about it for a bit.

Thanks for the support. It's been an exhausting week of ups and downs. Tuesday felt like a massive blow, but I got lots of good news on Wednesday/Thursday so it's evened out. But even readjusting to good changes feels overwhelming! I'm just so tired...

Something I've found helpful actually is to remember that this isn't the end. The PhD is nearly over, but it's the start of a research career not the end of one. The work I've done in my PhD is not the research that is going to define me, I'll do better work in the future. I mean, the PhD is a research training degree. You don't start off knowing how to do research, and so, your "poorest" research will come during your PhD.

Also, I agree with the whole "it just needs to be finished not perfect" but I've heard someone say recently, that you "abandon rather than finish a PhD". Which I have found INCREDIBLY helpful. Even if I spent another 2 years working on this beast, I don't think it'll ever be something I describe as finished. It'll be submitted and done. But never finished. There will ALWAYS be more things you can do. More literature you can discuss, more analysis you can do in a slightly different way, other approaches to conceptualising the data etc. etc. etc.

What it needs to be is submitted. And mine, needs to be submitted in 15 days. I've abandoned 4 chapters (of 10 so far). Drafting the discussion and conclusions today.

And teets90 - I am exhausted too. Term starts a week on Monday. Teaching starts in 18 days. I am NOT ready for either of those things. If I sat and thought about it for to long, I'd probably curl up in a ball and weep. But, just. Keep. Swimming.