======= Date Modified 06 Aug 2012 06:43:22 =======
Hey,

I now have a completed PhD draft which I think meets all of my examiners requests and is a massive improvement on the first submission. (Yay!) Just waiting on supervisor feedback with these final changes.

I would be grateful for any final tips during this last few days prior to submission :) I think I'm going to spend most of my time proofreading, making doubly sure that I've integrated all examiners corrections and integrating final supervisor comments. Assuming I will need to comply with uni regulations on formatting etc. Maybe booking a date early next week for binding? Oh and writing that 1-2 page summary of changes I've made since first submission.

I'm feeling calm and relaxed at the moment, but this time next week, I'll probably in a right state! Feeling generally quite numb and wondering what my examiners will make of these changes...... Doesn't feel real.

Well done Pineapple!! You have done so much work and it is great that you can see improvements as I am sure your examiners will too. My final week was a bit of a haze. I spent time on checking the formatting (especially after PDF-ing the doc as things change by dropping over a page etc), checking contents page numbers had been updated, checking over the examiners changes and making sure my interpretations were justifiable, re-checking the uni requirements with the latest regs (in-case these had changed), writing my covering letter, filling out the uni submission forms, downloading a final PDF thesis onto disk for the uni, booking printing/binding with enough time to check all pages present before hand in. If you have cited lots more refs then make sure these are all included in the ref section aswell.

I found this last week to be a little nerve-wracking as I was worried about everything being correct. I was paranoid about the examiners not liking my changes and rejecting my thesis. They are not there to try and fail you. They have allowed you this opportunity to tidy up your thesis and focus your work so I am sure they are looking to pass you. Once it is handed in, what-will-be-will be! Feel proud of what you have achieved :-)

======= Date Modified 06 Aug 2012 13:12:09 =======

Thanks for this. Good idea about booking for thesis binding....

Still doesn't feel real!!

Well I'm finishing the last few bits today then we shall see what will be. I have just over a week before submitting formally, but I want to ensure I've done everything I can do to ensure a pass.

This time, it feels like I'm submitting for PhD, whereas the first time, I was so convinced it would fail I stopped caring and was in a right state! But judging from my examiners positive feedback, I'm feeling super motivated to finish and pass.

This thesis is completely different from my first submisssion. Sups strongly recommended I dropped one large half of my thesis to narrow down my thesis topic (which my examiners requested), so I basically had to rewrite the entire thesis in a few short months and delete half of my literature review chapters and one large result chapter and beef up the part of the thesis that remains.

I'm not feeling tired anymore though (despite getting up really early to crack on with thesis stuff)- I'm feeling super motivated and ready to move on from this, especially as I'm starting to see that there is something good about my thesis after all . Seem to be functioning on pure adrenaline at the moment.....

I haven't got to the stage where I'm worrying about what my examiners think, but I'm sure I'll be facing that hurdle soon enough.

I'm desperately trying to focus on the positives and just keep going. As the lovely fish Dory so rightly stated- 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming'

I've also deleted my facebook account over the last few months and I'm discovering that I'm so more focused on my thesis now without facebook distractions.

Anyway, must get back to it. Thanks for the support everyone! (gift)

Just hope they award me with a PhD after all this. To fall at this last hurdle will be unbelievably devastating. So need to ensure I've covered all of their recommendations.

Wow, Pineapple! Your post is so full of energy! (Makes me want to go out and do something great today too!)
Have a great, productive day! Sounds like you've cleared this last hurdle!(up)(up)(up)

I just wanted to say well done(up)(gift)

Good luck Pineapple, I hope it all goes well! (up) after all your hard work and ups and downs you deserve it more than anyone :-)

Ooh yes, good luck Pineapple, I hope it's all going well! Sounds like you've taken huge strides forward, so fingers crossed!

Thanks everyone for thinking of me (and for lovely PMs!). Much appreciated.

I'm submitting in a matter of hours and I'm desperately trying to hold back the tears. I've worked so hard on this thesis and I know this is a much better draft than my original submitted thesis. I really hope my examiners recognise these improvements. They seemed to really like my findings from my error-ridden thesis first time round, so I'm hoping I've done enough this time round.

Unlike last time (when I was seriously panicking!), I just feel really tearful and very numb about this whole process.

Just hope it's good news, but if it's not, then at least I know I've given it my best shot.

let it go Pineapple, you've done your absolute utmost and deserve a good outcome. Best of luck with the submission today(up)