I'm inclined to agree with Mind (see BBC article below, thanks RubyW) that resolutions can be counter-productive. I have a radical new anti-resolution, which is just to forgive yourself for being crap, and for failing to do things like keeping resolutions. I had a bit of a breakdown yesterday, feeling like I had wasted these four years of PhD and feeling angry at myself, which is not very helpful, so this year I'll be easier on myself, including for past inadequacies. Does that sound silly?:$

Hello all8-)
Good to be back in front of a computer screen and checking this thread!
Rubyw - that's great feedback about your thesis being original and interesting. Congratulations! I've had similar comments about mine before, and although I'm pleased on one hand, on the other I get worried about the viva, that it might be too 'far out' for the examiners! Have you had any thoughts on this? Best of luck with this last month or so of corrections. You are so nearly there!
Lara - sounds like you've had a good, well-earned break. After all, if you start the viva prep too early it might end up getting forgotten again:p...I think you've left a sensible amount of time (not that I'd really know not having been through it yet!)
Ashamedly, I STILL haven't submitted my final draft. I decided that there was no point sending it to my supervisor just before Christmas, so better to work on the references (which are in a terrible state) and send the thing over in a better state for the new year. I still haven't finished the conclusion, so I'll try to do that today.
I had a lovely Christmas though, and am now engaged!:-x And I found out that I have received a fellowship for next year, not officially a post-doc, but basically the equivalent. Am so excited and pleased. Starts April, so I must try to have my viva before then at least...
Right, on with that conclusion...2 hours before lunch, hopefully get 1,000 words done. I'm planning to just write a short conclusion trying to get across but not elaborate on the main points, and expand/revise after I've got feedback.

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Hi Maggie and others,

OK, that makes sense! Best of luck with the PhDs and I hope this thread helps! :-)

Butterfly, well done!! You're probably printing the thesis out as we speak!! Did you only have to show your supervisor a first draft, and not a second before you handed it in? That's great! I'm working on my second draft, which is very different from the first. Not ideal!
Hope the handing in goes smoothly, and that you have a great vacation!

Rubyw, thanks for your good advice! I feel much better - yeah, final draft is STILL only a work in progress! And as long I prepare myself for the fact that I might get a lot of 'constructive criticism', I can write with less pressure. I hope your feedback is not too overwhelming when it comes, and that you have a good break now that you have the second draft in.
I think last week was just a really bad, PMTish week for me. Good news is, that I have finally finished the nightmare Chapter 7. It has taken too long, but on the other hand, it was very difficult. Still not perfect, but I think I need feedback before I do any more to it.
Now I'm going to tackle the short concluding and introduction chapters. Exercises in concision (am running out of words)!
Does anyone have advice for which to go for first? I imagine the conclusion right?
Now I'm going to assimilate Chapters 2-7 into one mammoth file and print it out to reread in order to refresh my mind for planning the conclusion. (And hopefully not discover how disjointed/contradictory the whole thing is. Nor that I am already over the word limit).

Hi, I was in the same position as you - missed funding deadlines before I started. Theoretically, you can apply during your first year but it's trickier. I ended up paying my full fees for about 2 years, plus fieldwork fees (one third) for 1 and a half years. I have a big loan! But I was funded abroad for fieldwork and again for writing up. Basically I had to leave England to get funding, but my topic allowed it. I'm not sure what your topic would be.
It has certainly put a dent in my pocket, but there's no way personally I would have waited a year to try to get funding. Actually, I already had the fieldwork funding in place, which is why I started the PhD is such a hurry. A bit complicated.
I'd say if you're in two grant applications, take a risk and go for it!

Rubyw! Well done! You put me to shame. I'm still nowhere near finishing my second draft, even thought we initially had a similar deadline. I felt rather demoralized when my tutor said that it would take about 6 weeks to do final bibliography, pictures, formatting, footnotes etc. which slowed my progress this week. I was hoping to hand in in February, now it'll be pushed back again taking these 6 weeks into consideration.
Ah, it's been a bad week altogether for me!! My supervisor wants the complete second draft to read so I haven't had feedback on my revisions for months, and they've been quite major revisions. I'm worrying that I've gone off in the wrong direction, or made the thesis worse.
Need some festive cheer and encouragement perhaps!
Lara, hope you get started with the viva prep fresh from having had a break!

Hi KatSvo
I've been through a similar thing before.
I would say, you're English seems perfect! Certainly good enough for a letter or email. I might suggest sending a letter if you have time.
I don't think you need to look around for particular templates, just ask your current uni for some of their letterhead stationary, write the Profs address on the left (or is it right?!), type it nicely etc.
As for contents, just say why you are writing, what you are currently doing, your brief academic history, current research interests and what you would like to study under him/her and why. Some sentences like "I would be really grateful if you would consider proposing me for this blah blah." Also attach a CV of course. Don't try to be too formal, just polite and get the facts across.
If you are worried about your English, just ask a friend to read it before you send it.
You'll be fine!
Hope that helps!

Hi Maggie,
Glad to see someone else picking up the idea of the accountability thread!
Did your achieve your goals for that day? It sounds like you are doing really well, just in your 2nd year right?
I'm trying to keep up an accountability journal on the original thread...since Lara has gone not so many people seem to be active on there, but there are a few of us! If you fancy posting on that one instead it would be great to have you. :-)

Oh dear! Visitors went yesterday and I still haven't finished chapter 7. And what's more, I lost an hour's worth of writing this afternoon when I overwrote the wrong file.
BUT trip on Dec 13 has been cancelled, so now I have a few more days for work! Isn't that sad to be glad about a cancelled trip?

what a useful thread! Liminalplace, I think that a lot of us look around at our fellow PhDers and think that we are THE worst of the lot. I certainly thought that, but my friend from another university claimed that they were THE worst, and now you think so too, so we can't all be the worst!
I am just like you, and I think it's not a time management issue. Or that's only the symptom, not the cause. I started researching a little about the psychology of procrastination, and it can have all sorts of underlying causes which affect not just time-management but decision making, confidence etc. I still haven't found a way to conquer it, but acknowledging the problem is half the battle, right? I can be a bit easier on myself. I think it must affect the quality of my work though, and it certainly affects my quality of life, so that is rather troubling, even if I always produce something in the end.
Well, back to work! And 11.30am in the morning...not too bad right?

Ah well, I've turned into an old fogey and wild nights aren't quite my thing. I was meaning more just extended supper sessions, oh and one gig (very uncommon these days), but still, they take a toll if happening every night! But good advice -one thing I never skimp on is sleep!

Well I haven't posted for a while. We've had 3 days holiday here in Japan and although I made it to the library, I gave up since it was such nice weather and I couldn't seem to untangle the problem I was trying to write about, so thought I'd let it unravel in my subconscious. In the library now however, still trying to finish dastardly chapter 7 before visitors arrive for two days tomorrow. There goes my Dec. 2 deadline for the final draft - I haven't even started the Intro and Conclusion chapters. Now I have given myself a Dec. 12 deadline - there, it's official. Actually, if I don't meet it, then my supervisor won't have time to get back to me and I won't have time to make the corrections for the ultimate goal of handing in first week of February.
So, doing a countdown, I have allocated 4 days each for writing the intro and conclusion and 3/4 days for revision reading and planning. Then that leaves a buffer of 3 days (optimistic!) for reading through entire thing for consistency, formatting inserting diagrams, references and so on.

How was other people's experience with handing in the final draft? Did you have to make major changes afterwards before submission?

:-)

Thanks for all the interesting replies. They have certainly thrown light on the situation, but I'm still not sure about whether I should spend a lot more time/effort publishing etc. to try to get into academia. I'm considering research for other more practical purposes as you suggested Rubyw.
Missspacey, thanks for the link! It was rather disheartening, but perhaps realistic. What did other people think?
Anyway, the general conclusion seems to be that working in academia is much preferable to doing a PhD, especially in terms of isolation, although it of course has its own problems. That's interesting that you think there are more similarities than differences, Zelda, although I haven't done any teaching on my PhD...
One thing that concerns me is the inward-looking nature of academia: my own forays into using my research in the 'real world' during the PhD were greeted less than enthusiastically with many, and I feel that this sort of activity produces a lot of resentment amongst more institutionally-bound academics.
As to whether you need passion for your research (Bewildered) or a desire to teach (Rubyw) I feel like this raises the questions of whether it is sensible that the same person is employed to do all three roles: lecture, supervise and research.
As usual, this has raised more questions than answers! Thanks for all the comments again.

(sorry this is rather irrelevant but does anyone know why the paragraph breaks I inserted haven't come out in the thread subject text?)

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I'm trying to finish up my thesis, and despite enjoying the fieldwork I am finding the whole experience grueling. I know I'm not the only one who feels this! But my query for this thread was whether it's fair to extrapolate this feeling to my possible future life in academia?

Going into academia was not the reason I did my PhD, but still lingers in the back of my brain I suppose as a default option. But when I think of going into academia, all I can imagine is my current situation and immediately recoil, thinking "I don't want to be doing this for my career".

Then I try to reason with myself, saying "Well, if you get a lectureship, you won't be all alone in your work, you'll have colleagues, you won't be tackling such a massive project, you'll be lecturing, researching, writing and supervising eventually..."

Then the thought of lecturing fills me with horror (one of the effects of focusing on my area in my PhD being to make me forget about the rest of my discipline, making me feel like I know nothing), and then I look at my institution's academic staff and think, I'd probably be better off working alone!

I suppose it's one of those 'won't know until you've tried it' situations. I just wondered what other people thought about this, whether, for example, they really wanted to go into academia but the PhD has made them reconsider, or vice versa.

I know there have been lots of threads on life after PhD and hope I haven't overlapped too much, but would be keen for opinions on this specific point.
Thanks!(up)