phd in 3 months

• The PhD Journey - Stages of a Doctoral Degree

The PhD Journey

Written by Mark Bennett

A PhD typically involves between three and four years of full-time study, culminating in a thesis which makes an original contribution to your field.

The process of getting a PhD is made up of quite a few components and milestones, from the literature review and writing up your dissertation right through to the viva examination at the end.

This section is a guide on how to do a PhD, providing in-depth advice and information on some of the main challenges and opportunities you’ll meet along the way!.

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7 stages of the PhD journey

A PhD has a few landmark milestones along the way. The three to four year you'll spend doing a PhD can be divided into these seven stages.

• Preparing a research proposal
• Carrying out a literature review
• Conducting research and collecting results
• Completing the MPhil to PhD upgrade
• Participating in PhD teaching, conferences and publications
• Writing your thesis
• Defending your PhD results at a viva voce

We've expanded on what you can expect from each stage below.

1. Preparing a research proposal

Strictly speaking, your research proposal isn’t part of your PhD. Instead it’s normally part of the PhD application process.

The research proposal sets out the aims and objectives for your PhD: the original topic you plan to study and / or the questions you’ll set out to answer.

It also explains why your work is worthwhile and why it fits with the expertise and objectives of your university.

Finally, a PhD proposal explains how you plan to go about completing your doctorate. This involves identifying the existing scholarship your work will be in dialogue with and the methods you plan to use in your research.

All of this means that, even though the proposal precedes the PhD itself, it plays a vital role in shaping your project and signposting the work you’ll be doing over the next three or more years.

2. Carrying out a literature review

The literature review is normally the first thing you’ll tackle after beginning your PhD and having an initial meeting with your supervisor.

It’s a thorough survey of work in your field (the current scholarly ‘literature’) that relates to your project or to related topics.

Your supervisor will offer some advice and direction, after which you’ll identify, examine and evaluate existing data and scholarship.

In most cases the literature review will actually form part of your final PhD dissertation – usually setting up the context for the project, before you begin to explain and demonstrate your own thesis.

Sometimes a literature review can also be evaluated as part of your MPhil upgrade .

Research vs scholarship

Research and scholarship are both important parts of a PhD. But they aren't the same thing - and it's helpful to know the difference. Research is the original work you produce with your thesis. Scholarship is the expert understanding of your subject area that enables you to conduct valuable research.

3. Conducting research and collecting results

Once you’ve carried out your literature review, you’ll move from scholarship to research .

This doesn’t mean you’ll never read another academic article or consult someone else’s data again. Far from it. You’ll stay up to date with any new developments in your field and incorporate these into your literature review as necessary.

But, from here on in, your primary focus in your PhD process is going to be investigating your own research question. This means carrying out organised research and producing results upon which to base your conclusions.

Types of PhD research

The research process and the type of results you collect will depend upon your subject area:

• In Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects you’ll focus on designing experiments, before recording and analysing their outcomes. This often means assembling and managing complex numerical datasets – sometimes in collaboration with the rest of your laboratory or workshop.
• In Social Science subjects you’ll be more focussed on designing surveys or conducting case studies. These will produce quantitative or qualitative data, depending on the nature of your work.
• In Arts and Humanities subjects you’ll often have less raw data, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be working with ‘hard’ factual information. You’ll analyse texts, sources and other materials according to an accepted methodology and reflect upon the significance of your findings.

Whatever subject you’re in, this research work will account for the greater part of your PhD results. You’ll have regular meetings with your supervisor, but the day-to-day management of your project and its progress will be your own responsibility.

In some fields it’s common to begin writing up your findings as you collect them, developing your thesis and completing the accompanying dissertation chapter-by-chapter. In other cases you’ll wait until you have a full dataset before reviewing and recording your conclusions.

4. Completing an MPhil to PhD upgrade

At UK universities it’s common to register new PhD students for an MPhil before ‘ upgrading ’ them to ‘full’ doctoral candidates. This usually takes place after one year of full-time study (or its part-time equivalent).

Forcing you to register for a ‘lesser’ degree may seem strange, but it’s actually an important part of the training and development a PhD offers:

• As an MPhil student you’re able to comprehend your field and produce new research.
• As a PhD student you’re able to go that crucial step further and produce the significant original contribution to knowledge that defines a doctorate.

The MPhil upgrade is when you take the step from the former to the latter.

The MPhil upgrade exam

Upgrading from MPhil to PhD registration usually involves a form of oral exam – similar to the viva voce that concludes a PhD. But, unlike a full viva, the MPhil upgrade is less formal and only covers part of your thesis.

In most cases you’ll submit a small amount of the material you’ve produced so far. This could be a draft of your first chapter (or part of it) and / or your literature review. You could also be asked to reflect on your progress in general.

You’ll then sit down with your supervisor and someone else from your department (familiar with your field, but unrelated to your project). They’ll offer feedback on the quality of your work and ask questions about your findings.

The aim of the process won’t be to examine your drafts so much as to confirm that your project has the potential to justify a PhD – and that you’re on track to complete it on time.

‘Failing’ a PhD upgrade is actually quite rare. Your university may ask you to repeat the procedure if they are concerned that you haven’t made sufficient progress or established a viable plan for the rest of your project.

What is an MPhil?

The MPhil (Master of Philosophy) is also a research degree, but its scope is more limited than a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy). And no, just like a PhD, an MPhil isn’t necessarily a Philosophy qualification. Our guide covers all you need to know about the difference between a MPhil and PhD .

5. PhD teaching, conferences and publications

During the PhD process, you’ll have lots of opportunities to take part in extra-curricular activities, such as teaching, academic conferences and publications.

Although it isn’t usually compulsory to participate in these, they can be an incredibly rewarding experience and will look great on your CV.

Teaching during a PhD normally involves hosting undergraduate seminars or supervising students in the lab, as well as marking work and providing feedback.

Academic conferences are an excellent way to network with like-minded colleagues and find out the latest developments in your field. You might even be able to present your own work to your peers at one of these events.

Publishing during a PhD will help you increase your academic profile, as well as give you experience of the peer review process. It’s not normally a requisite of your PhD, but publications will certainly help if you plan on applying for postdoc positions.

6. Writing your thesis

As the culmination of three or more years of hard work, the thesis (or dissertation) is the most important part of the procedure to get your PhD, presenting you with the opportunity to make an original scholarly contribution to your discipline.

Our guide to writing your thesis covers everything you need to know about this lengthy research project, from structure and word count to writing up and submission.

We’ve also written a guide to the PhD dissertation abstract , which is an important part of any thesis.

7. Defending your PhD results at a viva voce

Unlike other degrees, a PhD isn’t normally marked as a piece of written work. Instead your dissertation will be submitted for an oral examination known as a viva voce (Latin for ‘living voice’).

This is a formal procedure, during which you ‘defend’ your thesis in front of appointed examiners, each of whom will have read your dissertation thoroughly in advance.

Examiners at a viva voce

A PhD is normally examined by two academic experts:

• One will be an internal examiner, usually appointed from elsewhere in your faculty and department. They won’t be directly associated with your project, but will have sufficient expertise to assess your findings.
• The other will be an external examiner. They will be a recognised expert in the area you are researching, with a record of relevant research and publication. Most universities in the UK allow you to invite an external examiner of your choice, provided there is no existing conflict of interest.

Your supervisor will help you prepare for the viva and will offer advice on choosing an external examiner. However, they will not normally be present during the examination.

The PhD timeline

Ready to take the next step?

There's lots more information about how to get a PhD in our advice section . Or, if you're ready to start looking at different projects, why not check out one of the thousands of current PhD opportunities in our database?

Not sure how PhD study will differ from a Masters? In this guide, we take a look at how the two qualifications compare, including applications, course structure, assessment and more.

Every student will need to write an abstract for their PhD dissertation. Here's everything you need to know about what an academic abstract is and how to write one.

What can you expect from a PhD? What's life actually like as a postgraduate student? Read our guides to the doctoral research experience.

The viva voce is the final oral exam at the end of a PhD degree. Our guide explains the usual viva format, covers common questions and explains how to prepare.

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How I wrote my PhD thesis in three months

But writing my PhD thesis had to be different, I told myself when I could finally see the finish line. I couldn’t afford to procrastinate . My PhD scholarship was about to expire, I didn’t have the money for a prolonged stay in the UK, and I didn’t want to be on the island anymore. So, I decided I would leave Cardiff in three months, bought a one-way ticket back home, and then opened the folder “PhD stuff” on my laptop. It was thesis o’clock.

Was I mad? Writing a PhD thesis in three months? Others have done it, so it wasn’t impossible. But sure, X is a great writer, Y had a job waiting for him, and was there anything Z couldn’t do? I wasn’t X, Y, or Z, but I couldn’t waste a second on doubting myself. I had all the materials for my dissertation, so it was only a matter of putting everything together.

Here’s how I wrote my PhD thesis in three months (the distilled version, without the doubts, tears, desperation, frustration, panic, revision fatigue, proofreading mania, and so on). I hope you can use some of these tips to speed up your thesis writing process.

Gathered and organized all the materials

I had the literature review, two papers accepted for publication, some reports, and most of the figures , tables, and appendices that would go into my thesis. I started by organizing all the materials I had and completing the missing bits.

Created an outline

Creating an outline for my doctoral dissertation was easy, as I had had three years to think about what it would include. Once I got the outline approved by my thesis advisor, I was ready to start writing.

I could not emphasize more how important it is to create a detailed outline of a PhD thesis. Once you have it, you cannot feel lost on your thesis writing journey. So, all the time you use for creating an outline, revising it, and getting it approved by your thesis advisor will be well worth it.

Wrote the core chapters

My two peer-reviewed papers became the core of my thesis. Writing these two chapters based on my publications was relatively easy, and it gave me momentum.

The third core chapter was harder to write than the previous two. I needed to turn my research into a coherent whole, instead of simply turning a paper into a chapter.

I started by creating a detailed chapter outline. Then, I copied and pasted under each bullet point all the material I wanted to use—figures, tables, maps. Next, I summarized my ideas and then turned each one into a paragraph. Finally, I tied all the paragraphs together using transition sentences. I didn’t stop to worry about repetitions, awkward language, and typos at this point.

Wrote the two easy chapters

Completing the “Geological Setting” and “Data and Methodology” chapters was easy, as I had used this information for presentations and posters throughout my doctoral program. Writing these chapters gave me a confidence boost—the bulk of my thesis was done, or so I thought at the time.

Wrote the introduction

Based on the literature review I already had, I started drafting my introduction, perhaps the most difficult chapter of my thesis. I had too much information and it was poorly structured. But after a lot of rewriting and revising, I managed to create a chapter draft.

Wrote the discussion

No doubt, this was the hardest part of writing my PhD thesis . The discussion had to be the common thread of my three core chapters, which were pretty disconnected to begin with.

I started doing a lot of brainstorming and struggling to draw connections between otherwise disparate ideas. I had to read many papers and books again and look up new information.

At this point my stress levels soared and no place seemed quiet enough to allow me to concentrate. Working from home was out of question, as there were too many distractions (read “snacks and comfortable places to sleep on”). So, instead, I decided to arrive at the office very early and write as much as I could during the quiet hours of the morning. By noon I had usually made good progress, so I would go for a brisk walk to clear my mind. In the afternoon I focused on tasks that demanded little brain power, such as reference formatting.

One more thing I did while I wrote my discussion chapter was not checking my email till after lunch. It’s incredible how much progress I made when I didn’t allow myself to be distracted by new-email notifications.

Wrote the conclusion and abstract

Completing these two parts of my thesis was easy once I had everything else ready.

Revised and edited my PhD thesis

Revising was far more painstaking than I had imagined. I don’t remember how many revision rounds I did, but they were quite a few.

At this point I started having doubts; I could almost picture myself failing my PhD examination. But after the editing stage, my confidence was back. It was a decent thesis, I thought, though it was far from perfect. But it had to be good enough—I was running out of time.

Proofread my PhD thesis

This stage was quite enjoyable, though not as enjoyable as writing thesis acknowledgments . I had fixed the most blatant errors during the editing stage, so proofreading was relatively easy. But as self-proofreading is not foolproof, some errors will remain in my thesis forever.

Formatted the document

I had used MS Word and had many figures and tables, so putting the document together was a hassle. My laptop kept crashing because of the size of the file, and working with styles in Word was a nightmare. Completing this stage was more time-consuming than I had expected, but when it was done it was time to celebrate.

That’s how I wrote my PhD thesis in three months, but it would have been easier if…

I used a reference manager, chose a word processor other than Word, had my thesis professionally proofread, and socialized during these three months instead of living in automaton mode. And it would have been good to know writing always takes longer than you think. Trivial tasks in particular (such as formatting tables) can become time sinks if you don’t put a cap on the number of hours you are willing to dedicate to a task. Also, knowing the law of diminishing returns helps you limit the number of revision rounds you do.

If you find none of the tips above useful, maybe you can use this one: To avoid procrastination when writing your PhD thesis, focus only on the task at hand. Worrying about how people will judge your PhD thesis slows down your progress and adds unnecessary stress to your life.

Does your PhD thesis need editing or proofreading? Send me a message at [email protected].

Related posts:

• The best academic writing books: My list
• PhD dissertation to book: Roadmap and advice for authors
• The art of writing PhD thesis acknowledgments: A guide for economics students

Last revised on 7 September 2022

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• Write Your PhD Thesis In One Month Or Less

Thesis/dissertation writing need not be a multi-month ordeal that makes you pull your hair out and roll up into a fetal position. The trick is to get a head start , set goals and deadlines, and work steadily—not feverishly—toward that ultimate satisfaction of handing your magnum opus to the graduate school. The first three sections of this article are devoted to ways that you can get way ahead of the curve from the very beginning of your graduate program—BEFORE push comes to shove.

1.) GET STARTED RIGHT AWAY— YES, REALLY .

NEWS FLASH: you can start working on your thesis or dissertation almost from the moment you decide on a lab/advisor .

In the beginning, there were papers …

The starting point for any newbie graduate student is to read boatloads of relevant papers so that you can learn your advisor’s repertoire of experimental techniques or areas of interest, what has been done so far in the field, what questions remain to be answered, and where your research will contribute.

Keep in mind that these seminal papers will be heavily integrated into your thesis or dissertation:

a) The introduction, in which you give all the pertinent background to set the stage for your research and make everyone on your committee (and beyond!) understand why it’s important

b) Data chapters, where previously published data lend validity to your findings, or are at least taken into consideration as you interpret your data

Let’s back up. How do you find these papers? Hopefully, your advisor will provide you with a few of the original papers that got the ball rolling. Find out what papers cite them . You can perform Boolean searches in Pubmed and Google Scholar (great tips explaining how to do this can be found at Boolean.pdf ).

Note that in Pubmed, you will need to go to “Advanced Search,” where the builder constructs the Boolean search for you (Figure 1). Pubmed offers another great strategy: you can set up citation alerts that notify you via e-mail every time one of these pivotal articles is cited. Pubmed has a tutorial on how to do this here: myncbi.html . You can control how often you receive these alerts, or adjust later based on how inundated your inbox becomes.

FIGURE 1.  PubMed’s Boolean Search builder.

Google scholar offers a similar citation alert service. Go to Google Scholar, http://scholar.google.com/ , and click on “Alerts” (see Figure 2). From the next screen, click “Create Alert” (Figure 3). You can set up alerts based on Boolean searches (Figure 4), or by author . Also, since many principal authors have varied interests, you can customize by using a combination Boolean/search-by-author approach (Figure 5). Enter your e-mail address, and you’re good to go.

FIGURE 2.  Setting up alerts in Google Scholar. First, click “Alerts.”

FIGURE 3.  Setting up alerts in Google Scholar, part 2. Next, click “Create Alert.”

FIGURE 4.  Setting up alerts in Google Scholar, part 3. Setting up your search criteria using Boolean operators.

FIGURE 5.  Setting up alerts in Google Scholar, part 4. The combined Author/Boolean operator search in Google Scholar.

ORGANIZING your boatloads of papers…

Let’s back up again. Realize that unless you are a genius, you will probably have to revisit these nuggets of wisdom several times during your graduate career, particularly when you have a better grasp on the research. Also, unless you are a genius, you will find yourself wondering, “What was that paper that explained________?” This is where being organized will save you TONS of time.

I am a big fan of saving paper and not printing out reams of articles to be read and then stuffed into filing cabinets . I highly recommend a citation management program, such as Endnote . Find out which program your advisor uses (see if he or she will let you install the program on your computer). Some departments even offer this software free of charge. Not only are all of the citations in your library searchable, but you can also file them into folders based on the subject matter (Figure 6).

FIGURE 6.  Filing papers in EndNote–beats a filing cabinet!

As you do your literature search, you download the citations into your citation manager. Most e-journals have a “download to citation manager” link. Google Scholar also recently added a very nice “Cite” function that lets you import citations directly into your citation manager (Figure 7).

FIGURE 7.  Google Scholar’s Cite function.

You can also search PubMed from within Endnote, which saves you several steps (Figure 8). In addition, the program has a lovely feature called Cite-While-You-Write that links with Microsoft Word. No more the parenthetical “ need citation !” statements in your text. With the CWYW feature, you can pull up all of the papers in your Endnote library that pertain to your text, and with the click of one button in Word—voilà! Citations inserted (Figure 9)! You can format the bibliography later, when your behemoth is completely written—yet another convenient, automatic feature.

FIGURE 8.  Searching for papers from within EndNote.

FIGURE 8.  EndNote’s Cite While You Write function.

2) Intermediate documents: the thesis/dissertation proposal and grant applications

Think of your thesis or dissertation proposal and any grant applications as being a big first step toward the first chapter of your final document: the introduction. Preparation of these documents entails a thorough review of pertinent literature to set the stage and explain the rationale for the research you are proposing. So by this logic, you should have taken a very large bite out of the first chapter of your thesis or dissertation by the time you take your preliminary exams.

3) Methods: you do them every day, why not take the time to write them up?

In the STEM fields, theses and dissertations require a chapter devoted to methods. You have your own set of experimental and/or statistical techniques that you presumably learn from your advisor, then troubleshoot and tweak based on your specific needs. You know how you write detailed notes on the conditions of each experiment every time you do them in your lab notebook? (RIGHT?!) This is all information that you can take even an hour per week to write up in your thesis document. Check out the previous papers from your advisor to get ideas on wording, and then re-work it so it’s your own (citing relevant papers, of course). By the time you actually for-real start writing your thesis or dissertation, your methods chapter can be practically done already!

4) After the greenlight…careful planning and sticking to a schedule!

You’ve received the greenlight to “start” writing your thesis or dissertation from your committee. Now what? Well, you have a good chunk of the intro done already, right? Your chapter 2 is practically done as well! Be sure to check out the deadlines not only for getting your document to your committee, but also for depositing it with the graduate school. Wouldn’t it stink to defend your thesis in April, but not graduate until December because you missed the deadline?

Now, I will tell you a huge time-saving tip . Before you start (well, continue) writing, find a colleague who has recently turned in their thesis or dissertation and still has their final word document kicking around . Ask your colleague for permission to use their document in the following way: you are not going to copy anything in that document… EXCEPT THE FORMATTING.

You know the part where the clerk at the grad school pulls out the ruler and measures your margins, page number position and other random stuff while you hold your breath? All of that will already be in your colleague’s word document. Why re-invent the wheel? Just use the document as a template—delete ALL of the text and leave the margins and other formatting alone. (Of course, check over everything carefully before you deposit your document!) Anything you’ve written up to this point can easily be pasted into the template.

Next, agree upon deadlines : “I’ll have chapter 1 to you by________.” If you have been working ahead on your document and your reference library as described above, it should take you about a week to finish up chapter 1 (your introduction) and chapter 2 (methods). Can you do a chapter per week for each of the remaining chapters? Put the deadline in your calendar, and stick to it. Then, based on how much time you are still expected to spend in the lab, decide a set number of hours per day that you will spend on nothing but writing.

I would suggest asking your advisor for blocks of time to hole up at the library, or wherever it is that you do your best work . Then do it. You will be working weekends, no doubt, but try to work steadily and avoid all-nighters. Adjust as necessary—you may need to have an additional meeting with your advisor to request more time away from lab.

Do have a colleague read your document installments before you give them to your advisor . Run spell check and do all the basics before you offer up your baby to the red pen of death. If you really struggle with writing, or if you are not a native English speaker, there are services out there that will clean up your document on a by-the-hour basis. Spare your advisor the frustration of correcting simple errors.

Now, a caveat.

Just because you have a deadline that you are sticking to like an embedded tick does not mean that your advisor will adhere to similar deadlines in getting you edits and feedback . Many advisors, bless their hearts, are procrastinators (erm…busy with grant deadlines, writing their own papers, editing, and other important stuff that advisors do). Don’t sweat it… the ball is now in your advisor’s court, and you will now move steadily on to the next installment.

Which is due by __________in your calendar.

3) BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!

And this time I do mean “backup”—as in your document. There is NO excuse for losing your thesis or dissertation . You should have MULTIPLE copies saved: on your computer, in Dropbox, on an external hard drive, etc. These copies should be clearly marked with dates in case you have to revert back to a prior version. They should also be marked after being edited by your advisor or others.

4) The final weeks

This will be a stressful time unless you are extremely lucky. It usually goes something like this: “Move this section to page 89.” Then two days later: “Put it back where it was.” Your advisor is stressed too—so try to take everything in stride.

If at all possible, try to get your thesis printed off for your committee a day or two in advance . This allows a cushion for the inevitable printer meltdown or copier jam. In my case, I got my final edits at 11 pm the night before my dissertation was due. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of changes to make, and there were no printer fiascos. I finished the edits by midnight and had the whole thing printed off by about 2 in the morning. Although I won’t say that I wasn’t completely stressed out and about to melt down myself…

You want your dissertation to look nice for your committee and to be easy for them to handle and write in . I’m a fan of bindings—I used three ring binders with pockets so that I could also include a CD with a copy of the document. But that’s not for everybody. Spiral bindings are just as good, but again, require planning because you’ll have to take your stack of documents somewhere like FedEx Kinkos. Even though it can be like herding cats to track down all the members of your committee, try to personally deliver your documents to them—not only for security’s sake, but to remind them of who you are.

I kid. Sort of.

5) After the defense

You may have loads of changes to make to your thesis or dissertation based on your committee members’ comments . You feel elated and relieved to have your defense over with. After the effects of the all-night post-defense bender have worn off, try to work diligently on the edits so that you don’t run up against the grad school’s deposit deadline. Make an appointment for a pre-check of your document to catch any formatting errors well in advance of the deadline.

Once you have deposited your thesis or dissertation with the graduate school (congratulations!), investigate how many bound copies you need. Most departments require a bound copy, as will your advisor. Then you need one, of course, and then there’s your parents…

University towns usually have at least one book bindery in addition to services on campus. There are online services as well—but be careful to check their ratings. You generally have to figure up the number of color-copy and high-resolution pages you have versus regular black and white. You send this estimate along with a digital copy of your dissertation and your selections for binding color, lettering, etc. There is something deeply satisfying about finally holding that beautifully bound book—that YOU wrote—in your hands at last.

In summary, it is possible to write your thesis or dissertation in under a month with good preparation, organization, and planning . The end result makes it all worthwhile. Keep in mind that if you move on to a postdoc or any other position that requires writing papers and grants, these same strategies apply.

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How long does it take to write a dissertation, published by steve tippins on july 11, 2019 july 11, 2019.

Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 05:00 am

How long does it take to write a dissertation? The most accurate (and least helpful) answer is, it depends. Since that’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, I’ll use the rest of the article to address the realities of how long it takes to write a dissertation.

How Long Does It Take to Write a Dissertation?

Based on my experience, writing your dissertation should take somewhere between 13-20 months. These are average numbers based upon the scores of doctoral students that I have worked with over the years, and they generally hold true.

I have seen people take less time and more time, but I believe that with concerted effort, the 13-20 month timeframe is reasonable. 

“Based on my experience, writing your dissertation should take somewhere between 13-20 months.”

University Requirements

Once you hit the dissertation stage, some schools require a minimum number of hours in the dissertation area before you can graduate. Many schools require the equivalent of one year of dissertation credits to graduate. 

So, even if you can finish your dissertation in three months, you will still have to pay for nine more months of dissertation credits before you can graduate. However, unless research and writing is your superpower, I wouldn’t worry about having to pay extra tuition.

But this requirement does offer some insight into how long it takes to write a dissertation. Based on this requirement, it’s reasonable to expect that writing your dissertation will take a year of more. This is consistent with my experience.

However, this timeframe is based on several assumptions. First, I am assuming that you are continually working towards finishing your dissertation. This means that no family emergencies, funding conundrums, or work issues get in the way of completing. Second, there are no major changes in your dissertation committee. Third, you will have access to the data that you need. 

Assuming these assumptions hold true, this article should give you a general idea of how long it might take to write your dissertation.

How Long Does it Take to Write A Dissertation? Stage-By-Stage

Let’s break down each stage of the dissertation writing process and how long it takes. 

Prospectus 

This is the hardest one to judge, as this is where you lay the groundwork for the rest of your dissertation and get buy-in from committee members. Normally this takes from 3-6 months. Not all of this is writing time, though–much of it is spent refining your topic and your approach.

Why does this stage take so long? For many people, starting to express themselves using an academic voice can take time. This can hold up the review process as your committee members ask for writing-related revisions before they even get to evaluating the content. Don’t worry, once you learn the academic language things will start to flow more easily.

One common mistake students make is lack of specificity, both in their writing in general and in their topic focus. 

Proposal (Chapters 1-3)

Chapter 1 is often an expansion of your Prospectus. However, you’ll be expected to develop your ideas more and have even more specificity on things like your research question and methodology, so don’t underestimate how long this chapter will take.

Chapter 2 can take some time as you will be digging deep into the literature but I think this can be done in 3-4 months. One caution, some people, and committees, like to start with Chapter 2 so that you are immersed in the literature before completing Chapters 1 and 3. Regardless of where you start, 3-4 months is a good estimate.

Chapter 3 requires an in-depth explanation of your methodology. I suggest working closely with your Chair on this one to avoid multiple submissions and revisions. Get clear on your methodology and make sure you and your chair are on the same page before you write, and continue to check in with your chair, if possible, throughout the process.

IRB Approval

While this step can be full of details and require several iterations it seems that allowing 2 months is sufficient. Most schools have an IRB form that must be submitted. To save time you can usually start filling out the form while your committee is reviewing your Proposal.

Collecting Data

This step varies a great deal. If you are using readily available secondary data this can take a week but if you are interviewing hard to get individuals or have trouble finding a sufficient number of people for your sample this can take 4 months or more. I think 1-4 months should be appropriate

Chapters 4 and 5

These two chapters are the easiest to write as in Chapter 4 you are reporting your results and in Chapter 5 you explain what the results mean. I believe that these two chapters can be written in 2 months.

Defense and Completion

You will need to defend your dissertation and then go through all of the university requirements to finalize the completion of your dissertation. I would allow 2 months for this process.

Variables That Affect How Long It Takes to Write A Dissertation 

When students say something like, “I’m going to finish my dissertation in three months,” they likely aren’t considering all of the variables besides the actual writing. Even if you’re a fast writer, you’ll have to wait on your committee’s comments, 

Timing Issues

Many schools have response times for committee members. This is important when looking at how long it takes to finish a dissertation. For example, it you have two committee members and they each get up to 2 weeks for a review, it can take up to a month to get a document reviewed, each time you submit. So, plan for these periods of time when thinking about how long that it will take you.

Addressing Comments

How long it takes to write your dissertation also depends on your ability to address your committee’s comments thoroughly. It’s not uncommon for a committee member to send a draft back several times, even if their comments were addressed adequately, because they notice new issues each time they read it. Save yourself considerable time by making sure you address their comments fully, thus avoiding unnecessary time waiting to hear the same feedback.

This is the biggest variable in the dissertation model. How dedicated are you to the process? How much actual time do you have? How many outside interests/requirements do you have? Are you easily distracted? How clean does your workspace need to be? (This may seem like a strange thing to discuss, but many people need to work in a clean space and can get very interested in cleaning if they have to write). Are you in a full-time program or in a part time program? Are you holding down a job? Do you have children? 

All of these things will affect how much time you have to put into writing–or rather, how disciplined you need to be about making time to write.

One of the things that can influence how long it takes to write your dissertation is your committee. Choose your committee wisely. If you work under the assumption that the only good dissertation is a done dissertation, then you want a committee that will be helpful and not trying to prove themselves on your back. When you find a Chair that you can work with ask her/him which of their colleagues they work well with (it’s also worth finding out who they don’t work well with).

Find out how they like to receive material to review. Some members like to see pieces of chapters and some like to see completed documents. Once you know their preferences, you can efficiently submit what they want when they want it.

How Long Does it Take to Write a Dissertation? Summary

Barring unforeseen events, the normal time range for finishing a dissertation seems to be 13-19 months, which can be rounded to one to one and a half years. If you are proactive and efficient, you can usually be at the shorter end of the time range. 

That means using downtime to do things like changing the tense of your approved Proposal from future tense to past tense and completing things like you Abstract and Acknowledgement sections before final approval.

I hope that you can be efficient in this process and finish as quickly as possible. Remember, “the only good dissertation is a done dissertation.”

On that note, I offer coaching services to help students through the dissertation writing process, as well as editing services for those who need help with their writing.

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

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x == (s || z). You say it kwontized

Rule of Three: advice on writing a PhD thesis

PhD students sometimes get the same bad advice on writing their thesis. I call this advice the Rule of Three . Typically, they get told that their thesis:

• Will take 3 months to write
• Should have 3 results chapters
• Should be 300 pages

These bits of advice have one thing in common: they are all wrong.

• If you have been organised (see below), it should not take 3 months to write a PhD thesis. It certainly shouldn’t involve leaving the lab 3 months before your hand-in date to write up.
• Theses can have one results chapter or they can have more. How many chapters depends on your project, and your results. Trying to make three results chapters out of one chapter ends up in a weak or overlong thesis.
• A thesis is like a piece of string and it will be as long as it needs to be. Aim for brevity and not producing a magnus opus (see below).

Disclaimer: what follows is some different advice. As with all “advice”, your mileage will vary. It is written for the people in my lab but likely applies to UK PhD students doing biomedical research.

Rule 1: aim for a thesis that is good enough

Who will read your thesis? Two people. Your examiners. OK, some parts – such as the Methods section – will be useful to future lab members (although with electronic lab notebooks this function is becoming redundant). Maybe your thesis will be downloaded by someone from the repository, but essentially, it will only be read by your examiners.

How long does an examiner spend reading your thesis? A few hours. One day maximum. They simply have no more time. Do you really want to spend three months of your life writing something that will be read for just a few hours by two people?

It’s for these reasons that spending too much effort writing a perfect thesis is a waste of time. It just needs to be good enough.

As well as being just good enough, it only needs to be long enough . A big mistake students make is to produce a really long thesis because they think that that is what theses should be (rule of 3). What happens is the examiner will receive the thesis, look at how many pages there are, subtract the bibliography, and their heart will sink if it is too long.

You might now be wondering: is writing a thesis a waste of time?

No, because you have to do it to get your PhD.

No, because you learn important writing skills. You also learn how to assemble a large document (it’s often how students learn to use Word properly or up their LaTeX game). It’s good training for writing papers and other technical documents down the line. Employers know this when they hire you.

But that is about it. So you just need to write something that is good enough to pass.

Rule 2: prioritise papers and the thesis will follow

Papers are the priority. They are more useful to you and to your PI. But this advice isn’t motivated by self-interest. If you go into the viva and the work in your thesis is already peer reviewed and published, it’s harder for the examiners to criticise it. At least, they will not approach your thesis with the question: is this work publishable? This is one criteria for passing your PhD, so demonstrating that it is publishable means you are (almost) there.

This was the one bit of advice I received when doing my PhD and it is still true today. OK, it is harder these days to get a first author paper published before you submit your thesis. However a preprint on bioRxiv before you begin writing will help you to prepare your thesis and will still tick the publishable box.

How long should it take to write your thesis?

There is tension here because you are at your most useful in the lab as you near the end of your PhD. One week of labwork now is worth one month (or more) earlier in your PhD. You are most valuable to your lab/PI/science/career at this point and keeping working in the lab will yield more rewards. But it won’t get your thesis written.

The first bit of writing is busywork and can be done around lab work. “Deep writing” and reading does need time away for most students.

If you have only collected data in the lab and not analysed it, if you’ve not presented your work very often, if you are disorganised… yes, it will take you a full three months to write your thesis.

All the folks in my lab are encouraged to get figures ready, analyse as they go and they also give regular talks. It should not take anyone in this position three months away from the lab to write their thesis.

Agreeing a timeline with your PI for when you begin writing is really important. Regular deadlines and a commitment to timely feedback from your supervisor make thesis writing easier. The discussion needs to be based on facts though. Often students want to budget a lot of time to writing, because of the rule of 3 or because they believe they are “bad at writing”. It helps to see some evidence. Writing draft chapters earlier in the PhD – which is a requirement at some universities – can reveal difficulties and weaknesses.

Reality check

If you hear the rule of 3 from everyone and your supervisor is giving you different advice. It might be time for a reality check. Have a look at past theses from the lab. How long were they? How many chapters? Information is good.

You can see that all theses are fewer than 300 pages in length, many substantially so. Four have three chapters and two have two. Although looking closer, two of the theses with three chapters use a results chapter as an expanded methods chapter.

Ultimately, the thesis is your work but you will get input from your supervisor. Regardless of what is written here or how many people tell you about the rule of 3, your supervisor will have their own ideas about how your thesis should be. Agreeing a sensible plan with them is the way to get started productively.

Getting started

This is not a comprehensive guide but in order to write a good enough thesis, you first need a plan.

• Make a figure list. This should be every single figure you can think of. You can cross off ones you don’t need later if they don’t fit or are insignificant.
• Plan the narrative. There is usually more than one way to put together the figures to make a thesis. Be prepared for this to change after you start writing! Sometimes the writing process reveals ways in which the narrative should be rearranged.
• How many results chapters? Start with the idea that you will have one. Does it need dividing? If yes, then what are the titles of the two chapters? If you have difficulty titling them you may need to split to a 3rd.

Now you have a plan. It’s time to get going.

Set some goals – but make them small. Having a goal of “I am going to complete my thesis” is too demoralising. You need to feel like you are making progress constantly to stay motivated. Break it down into smaller chunks. “I will finish this chapter by next Friday”. “I will write the cloning section this morning and then go for a walk”.

Write the materials and methods first . It’s the easiest bit to write because it is all technical writing with little wordcraft required. You can fit it around labwork. In fact, it is easier to write whilst in the lab because you can look up all the stuff you need. Importantly, it gets over the “blank page syndrome”.

Next get your figures together . This should already be done if you have been organised.

Then write the figure legends . You already have the title for each figure from your plan. All you need to do is describe each panel. Again, quite low energy writing required for this task.

Now write the results sections ! This is the same way that we put papers together. The results parts of the thesis are more extended but in principle you will guide the reader though the figures that you’ve made. Remember, you already have the legends written. So you are already partly on your way.

Time to regroup . At this point you can refine your plan for the introduction and check the rest of your plan still makes sense. Now is the time for some deep writing and reading.

The post title comes from “Rule of Three” by The Lemonheads.

What to do if you only have 3 months left to finish your PhD

• by James Hayton, PhD
• September 3rd, 2021

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PhD: An uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life

By james hayton (2015).

PhD: an uncommon guide to research, writing & PhD life is your essential guide to the basic principles every PhD student needs to know.

Applicable to virtually any field of study, it covers everything from finding a research topic, getting to grips with the literature, planning and executing research and coping with the inevitable problems that arise, through to writing, submitting and successfully defending your thesis.

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All the text on this site (and every word of every video script) is written by me, personally, because I enjoy writing. I enjoy the challenges of thinking deeply and finding the right words to express my ideas. I do not advocate for the use of AI in academic research and writing, except for very limited use cases.

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Navigating the First Three Months of your PhD

The decision to undertake a PhD program is a long-term commitment that requires substantial planning. The source of funding, area of specialization and the intended outcome are often in focus at the start. Navigating through a PhD is frequently compared to a journey in an unchartered territory , compelling clear direction during the first three months. Rational thinking and resourcefulness will enable smooth progression from one semester to the next and completion of your study in a pre-decided timeframe.

Read Before you Begin

The PhD experience sets a steep learning curve and the best way to engage academically is to start by reading. Read the background literature, maintain information flow in the field of specialization and gradually form your opinion or overview. To narrow down the area of research, start reading previously published information in the field, available via digital repositories . Preferably, start with the thesis and research publications of a preceding PhD researcher from your own group. Do not be overwhelmed by previous publications, however, as you will have a timeline to accomplish the tasks logically. A strong support network and reliable supervision is crucial to ensure long-term stability in PhD and in academic career. After substantial reading in the first few weeks, meet your supervisor to organize a three-month plan for your PhD research. Keep the initial research structure simple and open-ended for improvement based on feedback. Outline a basic plan of work, based on the literature you reviewed. Share your independent opinion matters too. Free templates and planners are available on several websites to aid a constructive research flow, use them to think well.

Write your opinion

Academic writing that follows substantial reading on and related to the area of interest, defines the PhD research process.  A literature review of research, based on the journal articles you read and the concepts noted, will complement the initial reading. The literature review is usually short but informative, well researched and supported with citations for accuracy. Get acquainted with referencing software such as EndNote  and Mendeley . Depending on the research program, the literature review may be publishable in a journal aligned to your research field. Verify eligibility for this with your supervisor, or express your interest to publish, and then follow-through with the journal guidelines. Guidelines for authors are available on the journal’s website, detailing requirements for academic writing; adhere to them from the start. At first, the academic research writing process will be daunting and will require many revisions. For clarity, keep a folder of drafts, to file major revisions and then write regularly on a daily basis . Alternatively, maintain an external writing platform, communicate your research and incrementally post your opinion. You would be surprised by the level of clarity the routine would present to your thinking process over time.

Think before you proceed

As a graduate PhD researcher, you will bear much responsibility for your research work and writing. Be aware of the impact you have on the study outlined, take time to think through your research ideas and proposed methods. Ensure the work outlined for the first three months is reproducible, based on previous publications to avoid wasting research funds. Collaborate with your peers and other researchers prior to ordering equipment and reagents for your work. At the start of a project, the outlook will be overwhelming when viewing the bigger picture alone. Set aside time to think through the proposed work before you actually conduct it. Most labs have an ordering system and an invoice procedure.  Become familiar with these before placing your first order. Plenty of online resources that facilitate workflow in research are now available, including web-based lab inventories to online research assistance . It is never too early to improve your research experience. The overall outcome would make for an interesting thesis publication of your own, so think first and work accordingly.

Optimize and repeat

In the first three months of your PhD, you will most likely realize the intensity of experimental work. Bear in mind that even with adequate supervision support, you remain the researcher solely responsible for your own work. So do not be afraid to enjoy the research process as your own ideas unfold into practice. Read extensively before you begin the work. Make notes and write a short literature review to recap your opinion on the area of interest. Later when you complete the first experiments, read supporting literature again to validate any unexpected results. Ensure reproducibility of research protocols by conducting repeatable experiments in lab. Use resources constructively, even procrastinate productively with science networking , research updates and by co-creating/viewing interesting PhD documentaries online. Outreach efforts on broad platforms via writing or speech can contribute to career progression as a PhD researcher. Overall, the first three months are a preview to the long-term PhD process. The preview is a timeline of reading, writing, thinking and repeating the process with innovation, for an optimized, long-term outcome.

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6 months is all I have, what would be your method to finish your dissertation? [closed]

I will ask this question trying to be simple, but hoping to be understood on the complexities of my problem. I have looked for questions alike and my answer is not in any of them or, combined, the answers cannot make up for what I need to know.

a) I am a PhD Student, no fund is available at my university right now, it is a very good university, but they will not make anything in my favor, as I could see last week from their attitude towards me. They will rather have me working for free and pay another one when they have more money. Two PhD students for the price of one.

b) I took this position because I wanted to study with professor X and he would care about my situation/he does, but the faculty now is cutting professors and professor X is going away to a much better, 1st-tier university.

c) I got this position and cannot just give up because it would be the very bad thing for my career. I come from a country where you need to study 7-8 years prior to PhD, so I am rather old compared to the European or American students, even though I have much more experience, it is not an advantage when it comes to finding a job and etc.

d) To go join the professor X is not possible right away, to stay in this program with no money is not possible. I can, however, sustain myself for more 6 months and it is all I really can do. I know is a ridiculous question, believe me, I know, but if you had 6 months and 3 months prior to research at the PhD program, it sums 9 months, how would you manage to finish your dissertation to get out of this problem? I have the first draft of my dissertation (80p.), more research needs to be done. It is not the result of 3 months research, but prior to accepting the offer I was doing my work anyways.

The question: How would you organize with the rest of the research and really finish it within 6 months? Have in mind that your supervisor would agree to that because he knows what you can do, and if you have a good dissertation, he would go with you to the defense committee.

Thank you all, sorry for the errors, I am writing with my phone on the train, I have not the time to write at home or in my office.

I really appreciate your time.

Edit: I study Philosophy (continental philosophy, but with much of analytic in it). I started my PhD 3 months ago. I have worked 1 year on my project before start the PhD. I need to finish the argumentation on the basic work of others (some of the secondary literature). It is the lesser important, but without it, my work will show up as a weak, incomplete, an amateur attempt of an essay, it will not even be a dissertation. (It takes time, but if I could find a strategy, I could do it working 10-12 hrs a day). I have my idea almost complete or as complete as it can be, but it could always be better, simpler, more transparent. It needs to be better displayed. I need to do it in 6 months or I need to give up on this career I have struggled for my entire life. I think I can make it, but I would like to know what would be your strategy in your particular case, so I could learn something from you. I, unfortunately, have not the privilege of doing it in the mood of "maybe it will work". I have just one option, make it work. Above all, there is always a bit of depression and despair that makes the work even more difficult.

Thank you all for your support.

• research-process

• 4 We don't know anything about your research, so it's obviously impossible for us to give you specific advice on how to wrap it up, or even whether it's feasible (given your earlier pre-PhD work). What kind of answer are you actually hoping to get here? –  ff524 Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 19:37
• 2 I agree with @ff524. Your situation is a tough one, but what kind of answer could we possibly give you based on what you've said other than "Work hard, work smart, and keep in close contact with Professor X"? I am not aware of any universal maxims for finishing a PhD in 6-9 months. –  Pete L. Clark Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 19:45
• 1 Ok, you have 6 months. How long since you started your phd? That's rather unclear and makes a significant difference... –  Fábio Dias Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 20:15
• 1 The answer depends on how much of your dissertation you have completed and the nature of the "additional work" required. Without knowing too much about your field of study or topic of your dissertation, it's hard to give good advice. I completed 6 chapters of my dissertation in about 4 months (health economics). I spent the previous 2.5 years finding excuses for not finishing it ("my Methods Guy is ignoring my e-mails," "I don't know the Stata code for this", etc.), but then I ran out of excuses and funding, and the chapters start flowing. I sent them out as I completed them and (cont.) –  marquisdecarabas Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 21:02
• made revisions to those chapters as soon as I received feedback from my committee members. I shared my timeline with the committee at the beginning of the semester so they knew to expect those chapters in close succession from me –  marquisdecarabas Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 21:07

If you already have a first draft, then I think you need to have an honest conversation with Prof. X. The primary question needs to be "given what I have right now, is it actually possible to finish in 6 months? If so what are the crucial things that have to get done in order to pass the defense?"

The best case scenario here is for Prof. X to respond to you with a list of specific, targeted issues that need to be fixed and a rough idea of which are the most important.

If you can get that list of items to fix, then it comes down to prioritizing. If you can fix everything that simply must be fixed in 6 months, then I'd say maybe it's worth going for it. If you can fix all that in 4 months, and then fix medium to minor stuff for a month and revise for a month, all the better.

On the other hand, if Prof X comes back and says, "Well I think you need more experiments," or "the results don't look significant enough yet" or "it isn't clear yet what all the issues might be" or something like that, then you're project probably simply isn't well enough defined yet to be able to be defensible in 6 months.

That said, don't underestimate how much can be accomplished in 6 months, if you're focused, well-prepared and willing to work long hours. You just need an expert opinion from somebody familiar with your work that obviously we're not going to be able to give you here.

• 3 I guess my one line summary is: it's possible if Prof X thinks it's possible and is able to help you prioritize which problems to fix. –  user10636 Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 20:02

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged phd research-process thesis funding job .

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3 months to go to PhD deadline and about to lose my mind

Hi Reddit. I'm at my wits end and really suffering. Thought I'd write out my situation for you guys to see if anyone has any opinions/advice.

My PhD submission date is in just under 3 months (this cannot be extended). I love my research area, and I've done "well" so far with a lot of good teaching and 10 or so publications in decent journals (3 publications in good journals, the rest in low ranked conferences).

Right now I have never been more miserable, and I am about to quit the whole thing. I genuinely feel like I'm on the verge of a breakdown, and 95% sure I'm suffering from (severe) depression. I have suffered through the most difficult 6 months of my life. It has been awful, awful, awful and most days I struggle to get out of bed ... I just want to sleep.

Some background ... I excelled in my first 2 years and sailed through my PhD transfer/confirmation at the end of year 2. Then I suffered a death in my family. The University were very good to me and gave me a year off as I was left to look after my elderly Dad who needs a lot of care and attention (I split this 50/50 with my brother). This has been very difficult as I spend every second night staying with him and sometimes I get a very poor nights sleep in his house. There is also a lot of meds/Hospital/doctor stuff to manage, e.g. I spent 12 hours in A&E with him on the 23rd December as he had a fall and needed to go to hospital (I also did this in October after another fall).

I suppose things started slipping badly when I got back to the PhD after the death. My motivation and drive was gone and I really struggled to work. I did manage to collect all my data last July/August and I was happy that I got excellent data. I had a detailed plan to write throughout Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec 2018 and have a finished 1st PhD draft by Christmas. However, over those 4 months I didn't write one word. Nothing.

If I do walk away and quit the PhD I know I'll regret it for the rest of my life. I'm good at this (I've been nominated for the Universities most prestigious teaching award this year) and I really, really want to make a career in academia. A PhD is needed for this. I know something has gone badly wrong, I just don't know how to fix it or what I should do now.

My current PhD status is as follows:

I have all data collected (25 interviews of 1 hour each, 7 focus groups, and over 100 documents) but none of this is analysed. I will be using Nvivo for data analysis.

I have the first chapter of the PhD almost complete. I also have parts of the Literature Review and Theory chapters complete. In total I have approx 35k words written, and the PhD is expected to be in the range of 100k words. I am very familiar with the literature I'll be reviewing, and I know my theoretical and methodological frameworks in detail.

I have some teaching responsibilities (Monday and Friday each week I'll be teaching almost full days) but can work the other 5 every week from now to the end of March.

I have a meeting with my supervisors in 10 days time where they will be expecting me to give them 3 completed chapters (intro, litt review, & theory).

I have always been a "last minute" person when it comes to exams, publications, submissions. This has worked for me in the past and I've always done well academically working this way (even though it makes me miserable and I swear it'll be the last time I leave everything to the last minute).

I suppose I'm writing this on Reddit for 2 reasons. Firstly, I wanted to ask advice. Does anyone have a similar experience or any advice on what I should do? Secondly, I wanted to ask whether or not you think its possible for me to get a 100k PhD thesis written before the end of March 2019 (less than 3 months)? Do I have any possibility of getting my PhD?

Or should I just walk away now?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any replies.

To clarify, I CANNOT extend my submission date beyond 31 March 2019. I have maxed out my time off and all other extensions available. The submission date of 31 March is a hard date that cannot be changed or extended.

Thank you all so very, very much for taking the time to reply.

I've read everything carefully, slept on it, and thought about everything very carefully.

I'm NOT walking away! I'm going to keep working and do this whatever it takes!!! I'll submit a PhD by March 31 - it wont be perfect, or even as good as I'd hoped - but I will submit a completed PhD.

Some things I've taken from the replies that really inspired me:

I am so close. I am not alone in the PhD "trenches"!

Forget about the last few months of work not done and stop feeling guilty. Concentrate on the future 3 months.

The PhD does NOT have to be perfect - it just has to pass the committee.

Complete emotional detachment. "Regardless of how you feel about it, this has to get done. Stop feeling and just do."

One day at a time ... one page at a time ... one paragraph at a time ... one word at a time.

I'll keep this post updated. I'm not sure I'll succeed but I will try my best and if I go down, I'll go down fighting.

To anyone else reading this who is in a similar position ... please take solace. If I can get through today with 2000 words written then you can too. They may not be the best 2000 words I've ever written, but they are my words and they are in my PhD. Every day is incredibly difficult and I sometimes think I cant go on. But I do go on, and I get closer and closer to submitting. If I can do this, anyone can.

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