I had many long periods of months off during my part-time PhD, due to long-term illness.

I'd drag myself back into things by making up lists. Very long lists, of everything I could possibly be doing. Then I'd start by picking the least unappealing thing on the list, and going from there.

Deadlines also motivate me. Could you come up with a set of dates when you will have certain things done by? That should help you complete, and may also help you get on with it.

Good luck!

The Dropbox application provides more functionality and lets you share larger files.

Other people can only see files in your Public folder if they know the URL, so they're not readily findable.

You have to allow time for the file to be syncd to the Dropbox servers. It's possible your 700MB file hadn't finished uploading yet and that could be why your friend couldn't download it. On my Mac the icon changes to show when it's uploaded.

Tinkler's certainly is good for all subjects. I used to be a science PhD student, and then restarted again and became a humanities PhD student. So I have perspectives of both sides :)

They're a bit different. I think Tinklers is the better for the overview, and based on many hundreds of viva experiences. But Murray's is better if you want to think more in detail about the large variety of questions you might face, and try to prepare for them. Tinkler's takes a higher-level approach to the questions, which helped me a lot cos I can only remember so much :)

I'd honestly recommend getting both, for a different perspective.

And if it's a funded PhD it's not just down to the supervisors: the funding body may put a very strict restriction on how much outside/other work the PhD student can do. Very strict. Nowhere near 4 whole days.

A full-time PhD is like a full-time job.

You should already have a Public folder when you set up your Dropbox login. It's set up automatically, ready for you to use.

See https://www.dropbox.com/help/16

Ah great minds think alike :)

If you use Dropbox you can send a link to the file to your recipient. It should easily handle that 150MB file, and you get 2GB free storage space.

In my RA job interview (which I got out of 60+ candidates) I think I scored points by showing prior knowledge of a very specific research area, rather unexpectedly, and challenging the preconceptions of the panel about it. So don't be afraid to be confident and assertive in your views, even challenging if that's appropriate. Don't feel that you have to be too submissive.

Good luck!

Yes don't say that: are you trying to lose yourself the job? :) Honestly, you have to start selling yourself more. And stuff embarrassment, and develop a thicker skin as we discussed!

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Glad to help.

My problems with the journals were just that the guidelines went on forever, and I had so much correcting of my text to satisfy their requirements. Every possible thing was specified, not just the referencing format. It was a bit of a nightmare making sure I had changed everything needed. I ended up rereading the guidelines over and over, and checking. Just when I thought I'd got it sorted I'd spot something else to be changed for their rules.

I hope it worked. I sent in one journal paper for submission in July, and the other a few days ago. Was a bit of a relief to get them out of the way! I published in another two journals a few years ago, and that was *so* much easier :)

I'd to "p. 85" for the book reference myself given those rather vague guidelines.

I've been battling with 2 journals and their submission guidelines myself lately. Both totally different from anything I'm used to. And very very long. Much hair pulling out ensued!

I asked my examiners for advice, towards the end of my viva. In discussion we agreed that journal papers were the way to go - easier to produce for me, given my circumstances, and would require less rewriting than a monograph. But it need not be one or the other. You could produce journal papers initially and try for a book contract longer-term.