3 months to go, so much to do, so little energy left...

N

well i have almost finished all my lab work, i have gone back to my parents home because i cannot pay my rent anymore,
and i am supposed to submit in 3 months.
i have been doing data analysis for the past month and i have not been writing much.
last year i have been downgraded to a Mphil because i had made little progress over the year and had lost all motivation (partly because the relationship with my supervisor was very very negative, lots and lots of problems over the past 3 years....)
but after i finished most of my lab work i gained confidence again and thought i would try for a Phd if my supervisors thought the quality of the data was good enough.

now I am supposed to be writing full time by now but it seems very difficult for me to write because english is not my first language and i have never really written in an academic way before.
i don't think my writing is up to a PhD standard and i don't think i can be finished in 3 months (which is even more demorilizing)
and sadly i haven't been writing much over the past 3 years and a half, not even half of my materials and methods...

now it seems that staring at the cat licking her fur is much more entertaining than writing about my work....
serious writing phobia here, how am i gonna do this????????????

any idea, advices???? pleaaase?




PS: and i'm also getting fat, that doesn't really help the self-estime issue... :/

J

Does your university have a writing centre?  They can help with things like structure and some have special services for students who do not have English as their first language. At the uni where I work we even have someone who will help staff with academic writing so these services are not just for undergrads. 

A friend sent me the powerpoints from a presentation she went to about writing for PhD students which suggested breaking it down into smaller chunks (using mind maps) and then doing them one at a time - it helps not to see it as 80,000 (or however many) words. I use that method with any writing (I've been putting off writing a paper - 4-6,000 words) and once I broke it down I did 728 in a few hours so now I know I can do it by looking at each bit as a few hundred words.

W

Firstly, you've been downgraded to an Mphil (unless I have misread your post and you've been actually upgraded to a PhD again), so it doesn't need to have quite the broad scope of a PhD - but I'd imagine the quality of writing needs to be just as good. Secondly, and more importantly, you have 3 months. So that means that you just have to get on with it no matter what. Jepsonclough, as ever, has provided you with some excellent advice: use the academic writing support network at your uni.

Exacty what chapters have you worked on so far? Have you planned out all the chapters that you need to write? The overall structure of your thesis? Can you get an extension on your submission date? I'm not sure 3 months is going to be long enough unless you're very disciplined and your supervisor is really behind you.

If you can't get an extension, I would just start to write the chapters, not worrying about them being top quality initially, and just fire them off, one by one, to your supervisor. That way, provided you get a quick turn around time, you can guage what level they're at and roughly what you need to do with them - then action this asap. Unless you've done all of the background reading that you need to do, remember it, have a very good understanding of your field and are good at writing a discussion, I'm not sure you can do it in that length of time. The editing, the proofing, the re-writes - it all takes time. But then, that's just me and what I'd be like with only 3 months. Best wishes.

N

thanks for the answers,

In the end it's just a confidence issue,
It's gonna be hard to finish in 3 months but i already now more or less what i'm gonna write because I have almost finished all my data analysis.
i wrote a very bad litterature review in my first year, that could help me write my intro
well, i better go back to work and ignore the loud music from the stupiid housemate....gosh drum and base is sooo irritating..

15238