Help! Shall I take more time on my PhD

[Itsgettingbetter]

My deadline is September 30th. I have a drafts of varying quality for every chapter, except the conclusion. However, what my thesis currently feels more descriptive than analytical and editing feels like it will take a longer than a week (unless I barely sleep)!

I could take up to a another year but the edit could probably done in a fraction of that time.

However I return to teaching at the university next week (two days per week) and am due to begin a research assistant position the week after that. I'm easily I overwhelmed and not good at juggling things.

Also I'm desperate to end this chapter of my life. I've been a student parent for nine years, from access course to PhD. I want to give my son my full attention and rejoin society but I want my work to be solid, not slapdash

I have a couple of questions.

1. why is the deadline 30th September? is it a hard deadline? You say you could take longer.
2. How much teaching have you actually got next week? Few hours?
3. What if your field?

I started a postdoc position before I had written up my thesis (biological field) and really regretted it. in the end my PI gave me two weeks holiday to get it finished and submitted. It was exactly the kick up the backside I needed and with time pressure, I got my head down and did it.

At this stage, you just want to get it out of the way. You could spend forever making it "perfect".

But in the end (if you are in the UK), there are no prizes for less corrections or a shorter viva.

Good luck!

....and yes, I barely slept, but focusing like that got me in "the zone"

If you're anything like me, if you take more time and get a new deadline, it will still be a mad rush at the end, just a year on!

I moved onto my next job at the end of y3 (full time) with an almost-completed thesis in the background but I left it alone for ages because I couldn't face it. I had applied for the job half way through y3convinced I would be all done and dusted in time.

Then I found it really hard to get my head into gear with the thesis whilst working and so had a last-minute deadline rush a year later (end of y4) whilst also commuting and working.

Don't be me. If you get an extension make a proper plan with your supervisor of how you will work towards getting it finished and submitted in a timely way.

I'm currently also writing up, so I can't give a view from the other side, but I would think that the risk is, if it's not solid, is that you get major corrections and then you still don't get to rejoin society because you've got those hanging over you?

There's definitely an element of work expanding to take up the time allocated to it, but personally I'd take a few more months and get it solid rather than walking into a viva not sure of the quality of the work I had to defend. Having seen a fellow student basically run out of time and submit a good, but under-developed thesis, and then have 18 months for major corrections - it was not a happy experience for him. He did the corrections and he got the PhD, but the experience of thinking he had finished only for there to be another 18 months worth of work to do was pretty brutal, and he never got the 'hoorah, I passed' moment.

You need to talk to your supervisor. How much work is needed to make sure it will pass with minor corrections? There is no point submitting it only to be told you need to do major corrections which could be another 6 months work.

Can you talk to your supervisor? You seem to have a good handle on the situation. You're worried it won't be good enough to pass as not analytical enough. Do you think you might pass with major corrections? Or if you do take the extra time how can you motivate yourself to do the work you need when you'll be busy anyway. Will you be in sameish position in a year? Do keep going rather than have a big break as a pp said it's really hard to get back into it after time off.

You need to listen to your supervisor, surely they have a view as to whether it is analytical enough and ready for submission by the 30th? If they think it is not ready, it almost certainly isn't.

You know only about five people in the entire world are going to read it anyway, so it doesn't actually matter. Get the thing churned out and sent it.

It will never be perfect, it just has to be good enough to pass. I’m not being defeatist or unambitious, but if you pursue perfection it will never be submitted. Your thesis should be the start of your academic achievements, not the best thing you will ever produce, if you see what I mean? So you need to talk to your supervisor to make sure that you will be in the ‘will pass’ category and then just get the damn thing submitted

I’m speaking from the POV of a scientist by the way - it’s probably different for the humanities and arts.

You need to talk to your supervisor for an honest opinion of where you stand with the current draft. In some places I have worked we’ve had two supervisors per PhD student and one of the jobs of the second supervisor would be to read a final-ish draft and comment on suitability for submission.

If you do take a year’s extension you don’t need to use up all of it. Everywhere I have worked students were able to submit earlier if finished.

it’s probably different for the humanities and arts.

No, this is also true for the humanities. No PhD is ever perfect and it never needs to be. It needs to be good enough to pass.

If I were you, I’d take the extension but have a plan in place to get it done over the next few months. As others have said, you need to get it good enough to pass with minor corrections. It doesn’t sound like you’ll have enough time to do that in a week. If you had the final versions of most of your chapters, then maybe, but it sounds like you’re a bit off that point. I found it took quite a bit of editing to get the flow right at the end.

Without outing myself, my discipline is in the social sciences.

My funding has ended but officially I have until September 2020. The RA position is a few hours a week, teaching is 2 days a week, but there will be marking to do.

Regarding my thesis, one of supervisor's - the more rigorous one, has said "it's all there," and that I just need to give more for analysis, which I was aware of. I wrote more descriptive highlighting patterns and now need to reference it all and make it more robust. This will require reading, but obviously thinking along with that, which takes time.

I'm a single parent without much support, the last nine years have been SO isolating so really want to move on.

Like others have said, I know if I take more time the task it will just expand and slide to toward the deadline. Even if I'm a few days late, I just have to keep going.

Have you come across WIASN (Women in Academia Support Network) on FB? It's a lovely group and you may be able to find some discipline specific advice as well as general support from other women who juggle their PhD with work and family.