{"id":550,"date":"2016-02-06T15:03:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T15:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=550"},"modified":"2016-03-07T16:36:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T16:36:44","slug":"how-to-submit-a-phd-thesis-by-rebecca-fallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=550","title":{"rendered":"‘How to submit a PhD thesis’, by Rebecca Fallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Fallas<\/a>\u00a0is a full-time PhD student who has just submitted her thesis on ‘Individual Responsibility and The Culture of Blame Surrounding Infertility in Ancient Medical Texts’. We asked her if she had any advice for other PhD students approaching submission – here’s what she wrote!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2018You know the transitional phase of childbirth, where a woman says she can\u2019t go on and the midwife will say that means you\u2019re nearly there? Well I\u2019m hoping that is the same with this thesis.\u2019<\/p>\n

About a month before submitting my thesis I found myself uttering this sentence (working on ancient infertility inevitably means that any analogies I make are related to childbirth in some way). This was at the stage where the tiredness had really set in but it was also the point where the end was in sight and I finally began to believe that my thesis could be completed before the deadline for submission.<\/p>\n

As anyone will tell you, the final few months before submitting a PhD thesis are a whirlwind. There are drafts and redrafts being pinged back and forth between you and your supervisors. That section of a chapter that you\u2019ve been (often with good reason) putting off for the last three years can wait no longer. There are corrections to be made, references to chase, a bibliography to check and arguments to refine and all you really want to do at this point is lie down in a dark room and pretend the world doesn\u2019t exist (this may have been just me but I suspect it\u2019s fairly common).<\/p>\n

Although slightly manic, as the thesis came together I actually found I enjoyed the final stages of thesis writing. Admittedly this may have been an academic version of Stockholm syndrome (where kidnap victims start to identify with their captors) but I learned a lot in those last few months before submission. Having had some time to reflect I thought I would share some of the tactics I employed to get my thesis written, things which helped me to keep my sanity \u2013 and one thing which meant that I nearly missed my deadline.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get organised.<\/p>\n

In the final few months before submission your world shrinks somewhat and your thesis is likely to become, if not the only thing in your life, one of the few things that can grab your attention. Although this is true to some extent throughout your PhD it does step up a gear at this point. Knowing that this would be the case a couple of months before submitting I decided to get organised.<\/p>\n

In terms of thesis this meant going through all the criteria for submission from how to set out the title page to downloading the form that I needed to complete when I submitted. I also made sure I had all the paper and ink cartridges I would need for printing. I also sorted out all the non-thesis things that needed to be done before submission. I wrote birthday cards, booked appointments and did anything I could that would mean I needed to keep as little as possible in my head and fewer things to distract me.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Thesis brain\u2019<\/p>\n

Unfortunately being so focused on one thing means that inevitably other things fall out of your brain. This might be a case of not being able to remember simple facts or completely forgetting people\u2019s names. In my case it was forgetting that the university library doesn\u2019t open on a bank holiday (let\u2019s be honest, forgetting that it actually was a bank holiday). If your brain deems it non-essential it may well refuse to recall it.<\/p>\n

I termed this phenomena \u2018thesis brain\u2019 and if it does happen to you rest assured you probably aren\u2019t losing your memory and it is (mostly) reversible once you\u2019ve submitted. The other positive of \u2018thesis brain\u2019 is that it gives you some interesting stories to tell post-submission (one of mine includes two suspected cases of Ebola \u2013 don\u2019t ask).<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Plan some time out.<\/p>\n

With a deadline looming it\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of thinking \u2018I don\u2019t have time to stop\u2019 but you do and it\u2019s essential that you do. This doesn\u2019t have to be a big night out and to be honest you will probably be too tired at this point anyhow. Take an hour out to have coffee with a friend or dinner with family or anything that involves communicating with another human being. Admittedly, had I read this advice six months ago I would have thought two things: a) what an obvious thing to say and b) it\u2019s ok for you to say that but I really don\u2019t have time. However, in the middle of submitting a thesis it\u2019s easy to forget and although it\u2019s taken me a long time to learn this, taking that time out will make you more productive in the long run, I promise.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Beware of the inevitable guilt trip.<\/p>\n

On the subject of taking time out, this seems the perfect time to mention guilt<\/em>. For me, and probably a lot of people, writing and guilt go together. From asking myself why hadn\u2019t I read\/written this before now, to ‘what on earth was I thinking taking a week off last Christmas?’: I could beat myself up about anything. About two months before submitting I realised that I was spending too much time and energy (of which I had little to spare) on asking myself why I hadn\u2019t done something already rather than getting tasks completed now.<\/p>\n

In the end I told myself there was time to beat myself up after submitting (although to be fair after the thesis was finished it didn\u2019t matter anymore) and right now it was about getting on with it \u2013 this telling-off was the best thing I ever did and freed me to get on with finishing the thesis.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is no right way to complete a thesis.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are guidelines to follow and standards to be met but how you go about getting there is unique to you. Just because Bob wrote his introduction in his first year and looks at you in horror when you say you haven\u2019t written yours 5 months before submission does not mean you are doing the PhD wrong, just that you\u2019re approaching it in a different way, and that\u2019s fine (really it is). Also if, like Bob, you did write a perfect introduction by the end of your first year that\u2019s also fine but do try and keep the looks of horror to a bare minimum \u2013 they are not helpful.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do not \u2013 I repeat do not \u2013 finish proofing, print, bind and post off your thesis on the submission date.<\/p>\n

This is what I did and it was nearly my undoing (and yes I should know better). I was very lucky that this did not go terribly wrong. It will take you longer than you think to print out your thesis. In my case, this was a three-and-a-half hour printing marathon which involved much shouting at my printer (which I still cannot look at without an involuntary shudder) and cleaning the entire house because I could not stare any longer at the printer willing it to print quicker.<\/p>\n

This resulted in me turning up at the binders 15 minutes before it shut. They (very kindly) ended up staying open 30 minutes later than normal during which time they had to deal with a slightly hyper and very tired PhD student (I still owe them a box of chocolates). Then there was the sprint to the post office before it shut at 6pm.<\/p>\n

Do not do this. However, if this does happen to you remember you are not alone.<\/p>\n

7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Recognising that the end is in sight.<\/p>\n

One of the scariest things about a PhD is that it is your project and only you can write it. This is not merely scary: it can be overwhelming at times. However, in those final few months I realised that while the impending deadline was still scary, my thesis no longer was. Despite all its faults, all the things I might have done differently and all the things I still don\u2019t know (I have a long list of all three) I had written a thesis. Four months before I submitted, I genuinely didn\u2019t believe this was something I would achieve. However, very slowly in those last few months I began to feel that, although I still had no idea how it was going to happen, finishing my thesis was something I could do.<\/p>\n

Those final few months are tough, there is no way around that, but for me they were also the most rewarding part of the entire PhD. In the final stages of thesis writing everything happens fast; all of a sudden, chapters go from being drafts to being finished, you find a place for the pesky bit of evidence that needed to be included but didn\u2019t seem to fit anywhere and that perfect quote to open Chapter 5 suddenly appears from nowhere. There is nothing like seeing a project you\u2019ve been working on for so long come together in this way. However, in the midst of submitting a thesis it\u2019s easy not to recognise this and to ignore all the little accomplishments because all you can think about is what is left to do.<\/p>\n

And perhaps this is the most important message I would pass on to anyone heading towards completing their thesis. No matter how stressful it is or how tired you are, take enjoyment out of seeing your thesis come together and from the knowledge that the end is in sight.<\/p>\n

by Rebecca Fallas<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Fallas\u00a0is a full-time PhD student who has just submitted her thesis on ‘Individual Responsibility and The Culture of Blame Surrounding Infertility in Ancient Medical Texts’. We asked her if she had any advice for other PhD students approaching submission – here’s what she wrote! \u2018You know the transitional phase of childbirth, where a woman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phd","tag-viva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}