Hi Hoxton. I agree with Ellebelle, chickpea and butterfly. I think your supervisor is just being careful. It is always easy to get engaged with other projects, and for sure some of them may be even more interesting than your PhD. My supervisor is also young. I did a lot of experiments and data gathering in parallel for my PhD topics, some of my topics were abandoned, because things did not work. And I did little of writing. Today I am struggling because of that. I don't know what is your case for sure, please understand. However, my advise would be focus on PhD project or topics one by one (depending if your PhD is a monograph or by publications). We are students, and thus may not realise how much time we need or how to get our thesis done on time, because of we lack experience. Thus, we need supervision. After you finish, you may do as many projects as you wish at one time. If you think you are good enough to work on several projects, good on you. It means, you are able to finish your PhD earlier and get a post-doc and work on things you like earlier.
My opinion is based on my mistakes. Also, because of our supervisors are young I strongly recommend to contact other researchers regarding your PhD project. Good luck!

Hi Ellebelle! nope, I have not heard about it yet.. and I have no idea if a few months will help. I agree, the time passes by very quickly. I am happy for you that you are getting closer! Good luck with finishing up! and let us know about feedback.

wowzers, that's impressive! so you can write a paper in a few days? When I was an undergrad and Master student most of assignments as well as thesis writing was much easier. I did all of them on time!!! and with PhD all I do is delaying and extending (and getting depressed). I feel like my brains are frozen. Currently I am finalizing a chapter, which is about 14k words, including ~100 refs. My writing is so slow, because I am not confident with my interpretations (and I change concepts very often), I do often revisit my data and I am using too many classification parameters, which I need to simplify (just got this advise from my supervisor). The chapter took me sooo long to write it up, but it is getting closer. I have got revisions from my supervisors a few times, I need to fix a few things and move. I wish I could write 10K in a week :)

A couple of months ago I found a strategy of 90 mins work and 20 mins break. I like this one, though I do not follow it precisely. Also, I like to work during evenings. It does not happen every day, but if I work late for some reason it is more efficient. I do not have breaks and I want to finish things before I go to bed. I guess it helps me to make decisions faster, do not hesitate, because the day is almost over. Also, during the day at uni or at home there are too many distractions.

All the best, guys!

Hi Ellebelle. Thanks for your wishes! Though, I am not sure if I get the extension yet, as I have been a PhD student for a long time.
I believe you are on a right track. Sometimes I have these feelings like "what if" they don't like what I have done too :)

Good luck!

Hi guys,

Your project sounds interesting, Marg! I guess I would not mind have some creativity skills too :) I find PhD is the hardest thing I have ever done. I had no idea that PhD would be so much harder than the Masters. that's because of we need to juggle with all the multi-tasking jobs that arise with it. haha true. it's only the beginning! I wonder WHEN will my work in academia become easier? probably never ;))

Thanks, Marg, the advice is actually useful and multi-disciplinary. I agree, that the results part should be solid before we move to the discussion. I like to work step by step. In my discussion, I also used quite a lot of references to interpret my results. I guess, I need a bit more clearer section with comparison to other studies. as my sup says link back to a bigger picture that was introduced in the introduction...

Today I have fixed 2 figures with interpretations, and a little bit of text. Still need to do the implications part and the conclusions.

Interesting question, Marg. not sure who I am :))) I think before PhD (in my previous Life) I was "brick-by-brick" writer. and for sure, it is more quick and productive and less stressful for me.
With this crazy paper, well... I think I was here and there :) it was a mess... and it took me a long time to write it up. I had 2 large chapters last year, which were hard to read. I thought they will be 2 chapters of my PhD, but then they were cut and collapsed into 1 paper, with additional data acquired. 2014 was very stressful...
then I started a new document, and put it section by section.
I hope to write "brick-by-brick" my next chapters/papers.
I also do an outline! I think it is a very helpful thing! and it is better to make it as clear as possible.
My close friend is like you! she writes parts and then combines them altogether :) you must be an artist!!

thanks, glowworm. hope, your corrections will be sorted shortly.

Caro, congrats with new place!

Marg, I have the same problem. It is so hard for me to be on focus. and when I get interrupted, it is hard to get back where I was... I work from home sometimes. Yes, the weekend is soon, it was planned several months ago :)

Today I worked only half of the day, as I had to help friends. I think I am stuck again, in the end of discussion and conclusion sections (since last week basically). plus, I need to work out the implications. I am confused with these sections. I thought I wrote a story, but my sup said these parts were too much interpretive :))) and I need to focus on evidence from my data. Do you guys have/had such issues? What would be your advice?

Hey Ellebelle,

My deadline is in a month, but I have applied for extension. Basically, I have generated lots of data. I have started a paper in late 2013... and it was really hard to write it. The topic has changed completely from the beginning, I had to get more data to fill the gaps... but now it was reviewed by my supervisors and its almost ready. I hope I can finish it by the weekend. I am always delaying :(
and then I have to write the rest, that is 2 or 3 more body chapters, I have produced data for all of them, and analysed (interpreted) the data. kind of "know what to do". However, there is almost no written text ready... I have learned a lot while writing this paper. and I really hope the writing for other chapters will be much faster.

Regarding your question. I would also recommend to ask your supervisors. What kind of deadline is it? Do you have 1 month before sending the draft to your supervisors? Sorry, if I missed it.

Caro, hopefully you can fix the data shortly. This must be stressful for you. Good luck!

I have heard the stories like this. My supervisor is the same. He thinks I can write-up all the chapters within a month or so. I know some people who did each chapter monthly. But when they say they did all thesis in a month.... well, this is unbelievable but sounds really awesome. And I am afraid this is not my case. OR, more likely, they had some bits and pieces of writing (and figures ready), which they combine into chapters and do a little of "polishing".

Ellebelle, good luck with your finishing! just one thing at a time and it will be over.

Hi guys,

Marg, thanks for your wishes and understanding! and good luck with your discussion! I find the forum very helpful as well. I see people struggling with the same problems and it is nice to learn how they deal with them.
I think I also have this syndrome too :) for sure it is very hard to start a new document. I also have these feelings like "what new ideas/things do I bring to the world?" and that my work is nothing compared to other studies. if fact, this was my major issue..... but as you say, it is very important to convince ourselves. slowly, the writing bits come together and get improved. I am sure there are no people who can write manuscripts in one go.

Hi guys,

Good luck to all of you with your writing progress.

Sorry for not getting in touch. I have not been productive for these days. Week-day mornings went well, but then I was distracted too much with talkings in the office I work in. I went home earlier on Friday to work from home, but did not do anything since then. I was not able to finish the revisions for the chapter/paper I am working on. And I think I really have to (MUST) send them by Monday.

Caro, I feel ashamed, but I don’t have much time left (1 month). I hope to get an extension, if not I will be placed under review. This chapter dragged me down a lot last year, but I am happy that I am almost done with it. The key word is “almost” :) nevertheless, I have other chapters/papers to write-up, and I really hope they will be done much faster. I find the writing-up is the most difficult part of science, but that’s what we should learn during PhD.

Marg, I will be away next weekend too. Let's hope we have a productive week so we can enjoy our mini-holidays!

Glowworm, I totally understand you and your motivation problems. Recently I found a very nice advice: motivation is nothing comparatively to discipline. This really helps me sometimes, because there is no need in motivation, if there is discipline. I think we all look forward getting to the stage you are in your PhD ;)

Enjoy your weekends!

Thanks Glowworm, Marg and Caro! Happy for your goals. Hopefully, altogether we can make it through! Today worked hard on paper/chapter revisions, but could not finish the results part. All I was able to do is to complete an additional section in results. Discussion was quite poor without this section, so hopefully the discussion correction will not take too long.
Marg, thanks for sharing. looks like we are in the same boat :)
Caro, how much do you have left to write?

take care,
Nautilus

Hey everybody! Please take me to the chat! I am on my last year of PhD, and it looks like it will never be finished. I have almost completed one of my chapters (in a paper format), but still need to do the revisions, which take so long... I have to do 2 more body chapters (3 if I have time) and then revise other chapters (intro and lit review are partially completed). Writing this paper took me almost 1.5 years, I had misunderstandings with my supervisor and did more lab work. I am quite scared that the rest will take that long (and I don't have time). I would like to start my thesis diary too :)