Do you think this is worth it? Is anyone else thinking about it?

I have some research money left over from a prize that I won and I am thinking about asking if I can spend it on this. I'm still a little unsure though. Some of the proofreaders I have seen advertising seem more like editors and this isn't what I want - I just want it double checked for typos and consistency rather than having any of the content specifically edited because that seems a bit like cheating.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this.

Dunni - that sounds so frustrating. I hope it doesn't take too long for them to get it sorted.

Just wondering - for you how long was it between getting comments back on your first draft and final submission?

Ady - I can totally relate. I am also waiting for feedback on my draft which i will get early June and every day I feel as though my thesis gets worse in my mind. I also noticed a couple of typos which I know is normal in a draft but I keep berating myself for them and thinking my supervisors will be really unimpressed!

I have been trying to do little bits of editing and apply for jobs but I feel like I should be doing more.

Hope you get feedback soon and that it's what you are looking for.

Hope everyone has a good weekend (up)

Pink numbers - yes I have lots of annoying writing habits! In one of my chapter my supervisor circled a particular phrase each time it appeared and it appeared 12 times!

I am so exhausted. I have worked literally every waking hour this week and my draft is still not up to scratch. I have a deadline to send the first full draft to my supervisors on Monday. I have edited and tweaked for hours on end but I feel like it looks as though I haven't done that much. I am hoping I have just looked at it too many times and it looks like I have put in the time that I have. Fingers crossed. This is such a mission! It's so good to have people here to share it with as no one else seems to understand why I have to spend all the hours of my life working on it at the moment.

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

At my uni the word limit is 100,000 including bibliography and appendices. And my bibliography is taking up almost 8,000 words of that. Rather frustrating.

All I have to say is that it is great that you all have some sort of system. I don't know what I was thinking at the time but i really had no system whatsoever and everything I read was haphazardly highlighted, scribbled on, handwritten notes made and then chucked into a folder. Needless to say writing up has been fun. Just don't be as disorganised as me and it will be fine (sprout)

well done Ady!

I have also just started editing and will send a full draft to my supervisors on Monday. Really hope it is almost there! Mine is 84,459 at the moment excluding bibliography and appendices so I think I am going to be right on the limit. Having said that I am sure there is a lot of babble I can cut out! Have edited two chapters so far and edited out a lot already. Hopefully I'll have some left!

Good luck everyone for the week ahead
:-)

Yay - congratulations! That's fantastic. Hope you will have a bit of break to recover :-)

Well done finishing your draft pink numbers - that is awesome and really impressive given all of the additional stress you have been dealing with. Not long now!

Hope you get a viva date soon Dunni.

As for me - I have got off to a reasonable start editing. My supervisors are now approaching examiners which is exciting if a little daunting!

Hope everyone gets a little bit of a break over the weekend.

Hi everyone,

Just caught up on this thread and it is great to hear how everyone is going! Huge congrats on your paper KB and good to hear you have been getting through such a difficult time pink numbers. I can't imagine the stress. I hope that you continue to get positive news from your friends and family in Japan.

As for me - writing has been going really well. I now have a final draft of everything and am just working on my conclusion. I had a meeting with my supervisors today and got some really positive feedback on two chapters. They have said I will be submitting in 9 weeks! I just need to do some editing as it is too long, and add missing references, then obviously some glorious formatting and final proofing. So relieved that the end is near!

Hope everyone has a good week. Bye for now!

Hi Catalin,

I am currently applying for jobs, some in academia and some not. Well, I've just started really. I applied for the first one a month ago, got an interview but didn't get the job. I wasn't too disappointed though as it was good experience. I just applied for another tonight. It feels strange applying for jobs after such a long time. I am due to submit in June and I am now fundingless so I thought I better get onto it!

I have been avoiding jobs that say you should already have a PhD but applying for those open to applications from people close to submission.

Good luck :-)

Hi,

Thanks again for all the replies! I spoke with my supervisor and she told me that as my methodology and lit review chapters are really comprehensive, my introduction will be a really short chapter (around 3000 words or so). So this is why she is suggesting such a short time to write this since most of what others might put in an intro chapter has already been written. And the conclusion she said the same as I already have a long discussion chapter after the four empirical chapters but there needs to be a shorter conclusion chapter at the end with policy implications etc.

So that explains it. Phew!

Thanks for both of your replies!

I'm not sure why she is suggesting such a short time for it. I can understand the conclusion as I have already written a really comprehensive discussion chapter so it is just going to be a very short one to finish it off. But the intro seems like it will take longer. I'm also not sure what goes in the intro as it feels like I've covered almost everything already. Agh!

Hi all,

This is a pretty arbitrary I know but I just wondered how long these chapters took to write for those who have written them, by comparison to empirical chapters. I am in social science and my research is qualitative. The empirical chapter have taken me ages due to the masses of data I have (and the fact I'm a bit slow and a chronic procrastinator, but that goes without saying!)

My supervisor keeps telling me to write these right at the end and that they will take me no time at all. She suggested a day or two for the introduction and 3 or 4 days for conclusion since I already have a main discussion chapter. I am trying to trust her on this but I'm feeling dubious! So I just wondered how others had experienced this?

Thanks :-)

Rewrite of chapter 6 is now done and I'm feeling WAY happier with it. Now on to the next one and then after that I just have to write the introduction and conclusion. Phew!

I have been forcing myself to work for 6 hours a day in the public library with no internet access and I'm getting more done than I ever did spending 10 hours in the office with the internet and email at my disposal! I am exhausted but I am so determined to get this done.

Hope all of you are going well :-)