Thank you Hugh and Chickpea for your supportive comments. I just did not have the chance to rest as job application deadlines are looming and I have to prepare for another conference. If it were not for these non-negotiable deadlines, I would have taken a few days off :(

I have been a bit better today, almost finished a job application and proof read a conference paper. I am taking a couple of hours break now before getting stuck back into it. I have fallen into the habit of taking long long naps since returning, and I am trying to stay awake for a full day to reset my body clock.

Hugh I have that fear of breaking my momentum as taking time off normally does that to me too! I have a lot of social events this weekend so I will be taking the full weekend off and hopefully that should relax me a little (and will be a nice reward for getting job apps submitted!)

Ah that is good news! I am hoping I have a similar experience as I need to cut words from somewhere. Well done and keep at it :)

I have still not touched my thesis since before I went away; upon my return I have been spending a lot of time completing job applications and trying to finish a paper for another conference. I still feel so tired from the traveling too. I hope I feel more awake tomorrow, but I think part of it is the thought of not even having time for my thesis at the moment in that, it is making me feel a bit gloomy!

I had this issue (participants aged 16-19) but I recruited with no mention of incentives. It was a longitudinal study, and towards the end, I provided them with an Amazon voucher and certificate which they had no idea they'd be getting and that was fine- this was not always the plan though, as our ethics committee doesn't tend to pass applications which offer incentives.

In regards to refreshments, check with the school first. The institutions I worked with would not allow me to give snacks, just bottled water for health and safety reasons. This meant me and my partner had a lot of snacks to get through during my first week of data collection! haha

Hi Hugh, I agree with Chickpea here, see what your supervisors say :)

My LR is two chapters and totals around 23k but I am hoping to get it down to 20k. My supervisor did not have an issue with it but they have been making comments on my findings chapters about cutting down the word count and noting the odd area of repetition.

I arrived home from the conference late last night. I did not work on my conclusion whilst away as initially planned as it has been such a busy week, but I did do some proof reading of a paper for an upcoming conference taking place abroad in a few weeks. I was going to take today off to recuperate from the conference, but I just have so much to do that I feel calmer actually working than not!

Yes and no... Whenever anyone says this to me or 'Oh, so you're nearly finished?' I have a montage playing in my head of all of the editing I have to do! Three of my chapters need quite a lot of work which I have made a spreadsheet of amendments to work through- one of them is half written, the others need updating, sections cutting, more relevant stuff adding etc. my appendices need some editing, and finally I need to actually write my reference list as I haven't done it yet :/

I am flying out to an international conference this evening, and plan to work on my conclusion while there so I can jump straight into editing upon my return. I feel as though I just need to keep my momentum and not think in too much detail about everything that there is left to do otherwise I will feel overwhelmed and just take a nap instead haha

How are you doing?

If you are in the UK, put Hampshire at this is the place of publication for the UK. To be honest it doesn't really matter which one you put though :)

Hi Hugh and Chickpea,

I managed to get down to the very last section of my conclusion which NEEDS to be very brief as my word count is getting ridiculous now :/

I put the PhD to one side on Tuesday and I am now proof reading/editing an article that received major amendments a while ago, proof reading a conference paper that I am presenting in July, and finalising a presentation I am giving abroad next week. I am actually finding it quite relaxing as I know that when I am done, lots of loose ends will be tied leaving me with just my thesis to focus on.

I usually take 10 days off in the summer, but I have not scheduled any time off this summer as I feel as though I am strapped for time with the thesis draft deadline. I may take a long weekend though at some point once the conferences are over with :)

They have always been rubbish with timely feedback Hugh! I am not as bothered by it as I used to be though as they will be seeing the whole thesis draft in a few months, I just hope they do not take a long time with that either. In my first year I pestered a bit and they got really ticked off despite me being in the right (it delayed my upgrade), so I now have to just let it slide unfortunately :(

I would also like to moan about the days not being long enough to get everything done. Also, my sup has had a chapter of mine for months now and still waiting for feedback.

I dream of the day I hand this PhD in haha

I had already recruited when I switched to a participatory approach, but I felt it helped minimise attrition. Prior to that, I had a few participants withdraw and cited reasons such as concerns over saying or writing the wrong thing and feeling as though they could not commit long term. When I implemented it, no more withdrew. In an evaluation of the research, many of them expressed that my participation was reassuring for them.

I stopped using tomato timer for the reason others have mentioned. I moved to 'timertab' (search google) where you can set a count down timer for however long you wish to work for. I tend to do an hour, then if I feel like continuing, setting it for another hour. This works well for me :)

In terms of keeping motivated, I have deadlines for each chapter and for editing time once the chapters are complete. I break this down into monthly, then weekly, then daily goals. I write in a notebook everything I have done each day in bullet point format to keep me motivated as it shows me that I have actually made progress!

Thank you Hugh, I think I need to try the non-academic book technique- I forgot non-academic books existed!

I find this thread very motivating too and it certainly makes me feel less isolated in the process.

Yes YOU WILL MAKE IT ! We all will :) We need to remember this.

It has been ok, I finished my marking pile and I have nearly completed a section of my conclusion with two more sections to go. Though, I think once I have done this section I will dedicate the rest of the week to journal article edits/conference papers etc. to try and get those tied up so I have a few less things to think about. Been feeling really tired and lethargic over the past week and I think it is because I am not sleeping well, but I do not know why I am not sleeping well...ah frustrating!

I am arriving two days before the conference starts so I can spend some time exploring :) How has work been today?

I set my own deadlines also but if it does appear to take longer I am no longer strict with myself and extend them by a week or two. If you feel a chapter needs longer, it is worth putting that extra time in than having to spend a long time correcting mistakes that you would have caught by taking more time! On a positive note, I have found that sometimes chapters do not take as long as I thought too- I recall spending nearly 3 months writing my first findings chapter, so I gave myself a two month deadline for my second one, and it took 3 weeks as I was more familiar with the structure etc.

Hugh and Chickpea- thank you for your well wishes for the application :) just trying to pick the right time to approach my sup for a reference as I am concerned they will be disappointed that I am applying for a very part time RA job instead of a post-doc etc. and may be a bit annoyed about it. If I was successful with my application though, it is just a short term stop gap to keep some funds coming in while I finish the PhD process (fixed term contract).

Hugh- I am going to an international conference to present my work! Equal parts nervous and excited about it though...I even put some things in my suitcase yesterday haha