I was polishing off the undergraduate dissertation this weekend ready for the deadline today. Suffice to say, went to the supervisor this morning begging for a extension. Imagine what my time keeping will be like when I start the PhD in the Autumn. 4 year PhD here we come!

I guess the question is, am I doomed to 3 years of a supervisor who queries every choice of word, every comma, full stop, quotation and this is just for 12,000 words. Do they go any easier on 100,000 words?

Yes, fluidity is an issue for me, particularly on a separate Lit review I have to do. I thought this would be easy but it is proving quite tricky. In fact assembling the literature is quite straightforward. It's producing a flowing document that is the tricky bit. My supervisor, who to his credit is pushing me so that I learn the skills for a PhD, is very particular about the way I am using articles and my structure. Any top tips for producing a well structured Lit Review?

Hmmm haven't quite cracked that one yet myself. One thing I do find useful is to put the main points/ sub-headings on post it notes spread over the floor so that I can play around with the order of the sections and find the most logical order before chopping up the actual document.

Lecturers in my department are no longer allowed to give deadlines...

I meant extensions to deadlines, doh

Which begs the question, is anybody here affected by the industrial action (or indeed taking part?)

I'm amazed that you can get an extension on a undergraduate dissertation especially on the suppose day of submission!!??? :oO Didn't you need a note from your GP or something???!!!!

[Sorry, I don't mean to sound like an old git but my Uni was incredibly strict about undergraduate deadlines. If you were a single minute over time (without a proven valid excuse] your assignment/dissertation was immediately limited to a maximum score of 40%.]

Not like it was in my day

"Well, of course, we had it tough! We used to have to get up out of our student digs in the middle of the night, and lick the science department clean with our tongues! We had to eat half a handful of freezing cold gravel, work twenty-four hours a day in the lab while surviving on a fourpence student loan every six months, and when we submitted our assignments, our lecturers would slice us in two with a breadknife!"

[Apologies to the Monty Python team]

I got a week extended deadline for my disertation, because some little vagarants broke into my car and stole my bag with all my project data and references etc in it.. I was not a happy boy!

In reply, they tend to be flexible with us on deadlines because we are part time students (i.e. work commitments). They're not exactly marking them anyway at the moment!

excuse the typo there.. i meant vagrants!

They are also aware how much my dissertation means to me. I am trying to get it published.

To complete the story, I editted it over the weekend and had a final draft ready. At the time I had the pre-weekend draft with my supervisor, expecting only having to make a few final tweaks before hand in. My supervisor came back with comments on the day of submission with a bit more than a few tweaks. Hence, I asked him for an extension. I already know it's a first, but I'm being pushed to make a clear First. The other problem is, the longer I drag this out the shorter I cut my revision time so there is no advantage for me having an extension.