Rather like the one goal thread I am going to post updates on how I am getting on with just less than six weeks to go. I think it will help me keep motivated and make me see what I am actually doing. Feel free to read, ignore and comment.

It seems as though we are due to submit at around the same time! I, for one, will be watching this thread to see how things are going :-)

Good luck PamW! Sounds like a great idea, the one goal thread has really helped me with my work!

Hi there,

Do you mind if I join? I'm in the final push although feel as though I've been there for some time. Also, still feel like there's loads to do. Got my external sorted and final, final submission date is in 7 weeks which is making me feel a bit sick!
Battling away re-writing empirical chapters at the mo. Have to re-write lit review, discussion, intro from scratch and amendments to methodology and incorporate supervisor points in some of the chapters too! Why then with so much to do, do I have writer's block today, yet I've been sitting at computer for hoursssssssssss :-s

Good luck to all who are pushing......My thoughts are with you.

Bb

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I might post in here too.

I am aiming for a mid-september submission in order to make Christmas graduation. It's no difference to me really if I need an extra month or two over that deadline (I'll still be finishing within the 3 years) but for some reason having a Viva in january and having to wait until summer graduation in July 2013 sucks ass.

I am now on my last chapter. I'm humanities and each chapter of my thesis (5 in all - 20,000 each) is like a mini case study with its own lit review, methodology, theory side of things, and then interdisciplinary analysis of the texts in question.

With the chapter needing to be no more than 20,000 I'm tentatively aiming for 5000 a week for a FRiday deadline of sending the 5000 words to my sup. This week has been the mini lit review and shaping together a coherent overview of the sociological theories I'm using. I spent the first 4 days reading and free writing, and yesterday and today has been focused on shaping it.

I have a rule of not giving anything to my sup before drafting it 3 times. I'm sticking to this!

I have written 5,600 so far and I'd say 3,500 of that is final draft stuff.

Friday (this first week at least) is doable.

Larrydavid, the more the merrier.
I have really got a lot to do in the next six...no it's nearer 5 weeks! My last chapter isn't properly written yet, but I've been told the ideas and research behind it are the best out of all my chapters so I'm feeling positive. I managed to do quite a bit of writing today and have really got into the flow of the argument.
I'm aiming to have it finished by the end of June which then gives me a month to go back over everything and tie up loose ends, format all my graphs, images etc and have it all nice and ready for submission.
Unfortunately tomorrow and Friday I have to work at another job but I have all the weekend free to work on the chapter.

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Well at the end of the 1st week of my 4 week plan to write this final chapter I have sent 5166 words to my sup. All in all I think it reads fairly well.

If I finish this chapter in 4 weeks that will give me 2 months to do final overall redrafting of thesis - it is all written so it will be mainly checking references and referencing style is consistent. That sounds reasonable doesn't it?

As they say in my part of the country, "keep 'er lit".

After a weekend of having to do other work - essay marking, etc I am spending today working on my final chapter. I don't think I'll get it finished but I hope to make good inroads into it. I also have to finish a job application which is taking too long as the online form won't let me put in all my previous employment.

I've done some work on my chapter today but I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to do in the next month or so. I've not even got a complete draft yet. I've found it so hard to work with all the other things going on in my life and I am now panicking seriously. I've got 5 weeks to go. Can I do it? If I get the thesis finished to some extent I don't mind getting major corrections as at least I'll know where I stand.

Yes you can Pam (up) - I sent you pm

i'd like to join in as well guys if that's ok. i have about 6 weeks left to write my final Discussion chapter (Chapter 9) and do final rounds of amendments to my previously written Chapters 1-8....

....seriously losing the will to live at the moment so would appreciate being part of this support group! This last push is so hard. Talk about intellectual and cognitive constipation!

C'mon, we can do it!!!!! (up) :-)

Welcome aboard Snelison. I'm glad it's not only me! But if we all work hard and keep positive and support each other we will get there in the end. I always thought most people had a completed and edited thesis about two months before submission and then just spent that time proofing etc, but as with everything I do, it's a mad panic at the last minute. I keep thinking why didn't I do more work over the past few years when I was just lounging around watching telly and eating cakes for long stretches at a time.(joke!) i just feel like I have been lazy over the past five years but then if I had I would not be here today with a nearly completed thesis.
Today I am motoring ahead with my last chapter now, even though I had a late start due to being so tired I didn't wake up till nearly lunchtime. I work better late into the evenings though so I will be putting a full days work in - just not 9-5.

Thanks PamW! lovely to meet you!

I think (from what I can tell) that most people have a mad dash at the end. The fellow PhD 'inmates' i've known over the years (including myself!) tend to submit chapter by chapter to their supervisor over the 3 years, so that towards the end you have a few chapters (the earlier ones usually) that have had several rounds of sup feedback and subsequent amending, and then the last couple of chapters that are not quite so 'there' if you get my meaning. especially if you've done a sequence of mini-studies.

basically it seems we all end up in a big old stress-ball mess towards the end! but at least we are all in it together! and i totally empathise with the 'wish i had done more earlier and not procrastinated as much' frame of mind. ah well, coulda, woulda, shoulda!! haha! ;-):-)

I think this thread might help me too...

I need to have a full draft by end of July, submission date 24th Sept...
Two chapters left to write, pretty much from scratch
Amendments to six chapters (not major amendments for most)

Past four days have gone to pot, my brain's just given up.

*internet group hug* we can do it!!!

hi all,
6 weeks til submission for me. Every time I look at my calendar the looming date makes me feel sick! I've sort of finished one of the empirical chapters I was re-writing for ages it seems. On to the next chapter re-write but hoping this one won't be quite so arduous. Then edit and reference check and off to supervisors for final thoughts by middle of next week. I have a wedding next Friday so want them to have a read before supervisory meeting the week after. Still soooooooooooooo much to do. Working hours have been stupid lately and it just feels like Groundhog day, everyday at the mo. Very tiring. Anyone else feel like they're turning into a blob sitting for so long?? I certainly do....
Good luck to us finalists!! (up)