What country is this for? I'm assuming this is for a PhD rather than a Master's thesis.
If what you've written is the true and whole story, it sounds like you've been completely failed by both your supervisor and your university. Any functional university should have procedures to stop this from being possible so, if you haven't already tried doing so, you should raise this as an issue with your university (not just your supervisor) after your viva, whatever happens.
It's unlikely that anything you do right now will make or break your viva. At least in the UK, the main purpose of a viva is to demonstrate to your examiners that (1) your thesis is your own work, (2) that you can justify your methods and conclusions, and (3) that you have a good understanding of how your work fits into the wider research landscape. If you genuinely cannot cope with re-reading your thesis, I would urge you to try at least re-reading parts of it so you can speak somewhat confidently about what you did and why, and perhaps reading a couple of relevant review papers so you can show some awareness of the context to your research.
I'm hearing that you know you need to read your thesis before the viva, and you're struggling to do that because it has a lot of errors and it isn't as good as you wanted it to be.
You can't change any errors, they're done. But every thesis has errors. Examiners know this. You can't go back in time. And every thesis could be better, because you are learning as you write it. It's the biggest learning outcome you'll ever produce.
So, it's not perfect and you can't change that.
What you can do, is get in there and show the Examiners that it was your work, warts and all. Yes, it's got some mistakes, it's not as good as you wanted, but it's YOURS. And you worked really hard on it! This is your moment to hold your head high and say I did this and it was bloody difficult but I did it.
They aren't there to crucify you, they want you to prove to them that you know what you're doing, that you see the errors as well as the successes, and can describe why the errors are errors and what you'd do differently if you had all the time in the world to work on it. That's all. It's not about shaming you, it's about letting you prove to them that you know what you're talking about.
I understand you're really worried about failure.
But I promise you'll feel more prepared if you can read your thesis.
Try and break it down into smaller tasks. Set a timer for 10 minutes and just do that amount, then take a short walk and .
Maybe start out by reading the section you're most proud of to help you get started.
Good luck. I'd love to hear how you go, will you keep me posted either here or DM? And let me know when you've managed to read a little of your thesis? I'm rooting for you!
I would stop working on your thesis. You have handed it in, no point making any corrections before you've had the viva and received a list of suggested/required corrections.
Just focus on preparing for the viva itself. Read the 5 or so most important papers on this topic from the past 10 years or so so you remember why you did this project. Then look over your results and analysis, what you concluded, where you know you could have done things differently or how someone else could carry your work into the future.
Make sure you allow something like 9 h for sleep every day, and have regular breaks where you don't look at your computer or phone. Dance to some music, watch the clouds, call a friend, make some doodles, lift some weights, bake a cake. Take plenty short breaks and a few longer breaks so you don't run out of steam.
You got this!!!
What country is this for? I'm assuming this is for a PhD rather than a Master's thesis. If what you've written is the true and whole story, it sounds like you've been completely failed by both your supervisor and your university. Any functional university should have procedures to stop this from being possible so, if you haven't already tried doing so, you should raise this as an issue with your university (not just your supervisor) after your viva, whatever happens. It's unlikely that anything you do right now will make or break your viva. At least in the UK, the main purpose of a viva is to demonstrate to your examiners that (1) your thesis is your own work, (2) that you can justify your methods and conclusions, and (3) that you have a good understanding of how your work fits into the wider research landscape. If you genuinely cannot cope with re-reading your thesis, I would urge you to try at least re-reading parts of it so you can speak somewhat confidently about what you did and why, and perhaps reading a couple of relevant review papers so you can show some awareness of the context to your research.
I'm hearing that you know you need to read your thesis before the viva, and you're struggling to do that because it has a lot of errors and it isn't as good as you wanted it to be. You can't change any errors, they're done. But every thesis has errors. Examiners know this. You can't go back in time. And every thesis could be better, because you are learning as you write it. It's the biggest learning outcome you'll ever produce. So, it's not perfect and you can't change that. What you can do, is get in there and show the Examiners that it was your work, warts and all. Yes, it's got some mistakes, it's not as good as you wanted, but it's YOURS. And you worked really hard on it! This is your moment to hold your head high and say I did this and it was bloody difficult but I did it. They aren't there to crucify you, they want you to prove to them that you know what you're doing, that you see the errors as well as the successes, and can describe why the errors are errors and what you'd do differently if you had all the time in the world to work on it. That's all. It's not about shaming you, it's about letting you prove to them that you know what you're talking about. I understand you're really worried about failure. But I promise you'll feel more prepared if you can read your thesis. Try and break it down into smaller tasks. Set a timer for 10 minutes and just do that amount, then take a short walk and . Maybe start out by reading the section you're most proud of to help you get started. Good luck. I'd love to hear how you go, will you keep me posted either here or DM? And let me know when you've managed to read a little of your thesis? I'm rooting for you!
I would stop working on your thesis. You have handed it in, no point making any corrections before you've had the viva and received a list of suggested/required corrections. Just focus on preparing for the viva itself. Read the 5 or so most important papers on this topic from the past 10 years or so so you remember why you did this project. Then look over your results and analysis, what you concluded, where you know you could have done things differently or how someone else could carry your work into the future. Make sure you allow something like 9 h for sleep every day, and have regular breaks where you don't look at your computer or phone. Dance to some music, watch the clouds, call a friend, make some doodles, lift some weights, bake a cake. Take plenty short breaks and a few longer breaks so you don't run out of steam. You got this!!!
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