Hi all post write-uppers.....
I have just got through my upgrade and I am busy finishing off my testing,about to do my analysis. The analysis has to be finished by 1st September as my Prof. is presenting my work at a conference then. After that, I am planning on writing up and submitting by May 2010. Is this reasonable? I will be presenting a sub project (fMRI) in Atlanta, USA next April, which I have already completed and analyzed but apart from that I will just be analysing and producing a further 4 studies to be included in my thesis and writing.
Is this enough time or am I really optimistically deluded?
PN

Your post is confusing. You say you will complete the analysis by Sep - in which case you should be able to write up by May. But then you say you will be analysing and producing a further 4 studies for the thesis - which sounds like a lot of extra work so it's impossible to judge whether you really have enough time or not.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. My whole research is a big study, out of which, 5 research studies are formulated. The first will be presented in September but the others will just form the basis of my thesis. So, my thesis is 5 studies extracted out of my data collection. The thesis basically will be standard PhD length so I really wanted to know if it is unreasonable to complete a write up in 8 months? I am not planning to publish until post-doc, which will be the studies themselves.
PN

I think it's certainly enough time if you really finish all the analysis by September. In my case, the anaysis kept going and going and I did a lot of very new analysis 2 months before my delayed submission. I could not have predicted I would do that. But your timeframe does sound very doable if you having nothing new after Sep. I also waited to publish.

i would say that if you are not doing anything else other  writing up then you are most likely to finish, but if not then you may not be able to. I am discovering that each time i schedule to produce section / subsection in a given period of time, it always takes more time than anticipated  for a number of reasons. sometimes i run out of steam and i just can't write, but then at times its about the nature of what i am writing- which may require extra focus. i say this because i hate all the theoretical stuff and i usually find it takes longer for me to engage with it. As it is, i am left with 6 months before submission and i am beginning to feel the extra pressure big time. good luck(up)