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Viva question about references.

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  • 29-08-2010 2:45pm
    #1
    Moojuice
    Registered Users Posts: 815 ✭✭✭


    Quick question/query guys. My viva is due in the next few months (no exact date yet). I am reading back through my document and am finding a few minor spelling and grammar mistakes. No big deal as I can address them before the viva. However I have found a few references in the text but not in the bibliography and a few with wrong publication dates. There are 270 references in it at the moment and more once I sort the problems. Is this a big deal? I read over it loads of times, spent ages sorting out problems in Endnote (yes I know I should have done it in LaTex) but obviously some got past me. Some referencing errors were my fault but I some are Endnote acting the boll*x at times. I have heard my external is thorough but fair so I am hoping it wont be too big an issue. Anyone have a similar experience regarding referencing errors?


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    #2
    littlecat
    Registered Users Posts: 107 ✭✭littlecat


    Hi there - the best thing to do in the viva is have your own copy of your thesis with you with handwritten notes in it - that way if your examiner mentions something you can show you've already noticed and have corrected it.
    I did that, not with references particularly but with errors in the text. I do remember my guy questioning the reliability of a particular source - all it meant was that I had to find the same piece of information referenced elsewhere, he didn't seem to feel it was a big deal.
    And don't be afraid to blame your referencing software and say you only noticed after sending it off! Thorough but fair is a great reference for an external examiner - there will always be typos and mistakes in such a big piece of work - that's why you get to make corrections after the viva.

    Good luck with it!


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    #3
    Moojuice
    Registered Users Posts: 815 ✭✭✭Moojuice


    Cheers, just what I thought. Going through it now, painstaking!


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    #4
    littlecat
    Registered Users Posts: 107 ✭✭littlecat


    Oh I bet it is! I used Reference Manager (don't know if it still exists?!) and although I have to say it didn't screw me over at any stage, referencing was still the most painful bit of the whole thing.

    Hang on in there, you're in a really good place now, just the last little hurdle to go :)


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