Hi guys,
Ive decided that I need to make better use of my time because I have become the worlds greatest procrastinator. So I thought that bearing in mind I plan to submit October 09, I should start making a plan of what I need to do and set myself some (realisitc) deadlines.
Just wondered if anyone had any advice/tips on where to start, how to break things down, or if there any websitres/templates that I could use to get started? It all just seems to big at the moment to even know where to start!

I found this "dissertation calculator" recently, it is made with US PhD students in mind, but I liked the idea - http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/disscalc/

That tool is great! But were you googling PhD calculator when you found it???

no, I was googling "completing your dissertation" or something along these lines;)

Oh dear, according to that claculator I should have just finished my draft chapters but in fact I'm still doing the analysis.

Well I am only a full year behind according to that calculator! I actually thought it would have been worse - possibly even two years behind... I feel good now

AnnieG
[Registered User]
11 March 2008 10:03 no, I was googling "completing your dissertation" or something along these lines;)

Was this before you posted on here "where can I purchase a PhD" under an assumed alias? :-P

Best of luck.

keep your objectives realistic is the most useful advice. it seems that you are going in the right direction anyhow.

I was so excited to see someone else trying to submit in oct 09 as I am hoping to do the same and so far managed to make a plan on my own and it looks good (so far) Lets keep in touch doctor? through the forum and see how it goes. BTW I'm in social sciences. According to the so called calculator I'm behind 3 months as by Jan 2008 I should have drafting chapters. so not worried yet but there are loose ends that I need to tie up and might take longer than I think!

Snap! I am aiming to complete in October 2009 - probably closer to December 2009 though.

Now about that internet connection....

I got slightly excited when the calculator told me I had a whopping great 1460 days left to complete. Obviously just backdates it to your start date as opposed to telling you what you actually have left. In reality I need to knock a 1000 days off that first estimate...... *sighs*

Making a thesis plan has undoubtedly been the most useful thing I've done in terms of writing up. It's rather, er... organic, and subject to change at a moments notice, but has been a sound basis for all my chapters thus far. I'm writing a science thesis, and I organised it from the middle outwards; 4 structured 'results' chapters, an analytical techniques chapter; an introduction and a discussion. I found it useful to make a master folder, 'PhD thesis' or something equally imaginative, then made 7 folders within that. Into each folder I moved all the relevant electronic papers and absolutely anything I'd ever written and any diagrams I'd made that were even vaguely related. By the end of an afternoon I had a (very skeletal) outline of a thesis! Try it, it really works, and is a great confidence booster.

Just read the post from "slackjack" few minutes ago and was encouraged by it to do more on writing part I had a similar folder called Thesis but probably it didnt make much difference to writing cause it didnt have those e-copies of articles and somehow it was just there for a long while now. So thanks that was a good idea for me, I will do that by the end of today (hopefully as my deadlines always need twice more time)