Pamw - didn't mean anything personal in the last post. It happens all the time that people are contacted on holidays so why should academics be any different? Speaking from my own experience, no matter how difficult things can be at times, my supervisor would be livid if I was in a similar situation and didn't at least have a 5-10 minute discussion over the finished article.
At the college here, we have the external contact details of our supervisors and have used it in the past to clear up problems.
Whatever you decide to do, let us know and remember that ya have at least this group of fellow PhD'ers (Pretty Hard Difficulties) to support ya.
Sorry all - rant over ... FOR NOW!

Well at least contact the second supervisor. I honestly do think that you should ring your primary supervisor - it might be a bit akward but this is pivotal towards your success. An besides is it not in her best interest to make sure one of her students progresses? Make no bones about it, if it was something the other way about, they would contact you. Go to admin and get her home ph.# (or ask them to contact her for you).
To put perspective on this - this is causing YOU stress while someone else clearly did not do their duty. It would be better to have a pi**ed off supervisor over ringing her on holidays than to fail a progress exam and having the self-righteous Big ITCH criticise ya then. Sorry for this, but you are either
a. Too considerate
b. Forgetting that it is her duty to examine your work. If this was a "real-life" situation, there would be hell to pay if someone did that.

pamw: It is clear that you are in a bit of a fix. Try to contact your supervisor somehow (even if it is a 2 minute phone call) to state that you will be e-mailing what you have done to date and the final article when ready. Maybe she "forgot" and surely a few minutes to clarify a few of the more important details isn't asking too much. Worst case scenario, get someone to review the work, even as a proofreading exercise. Once this is all done, take a holiday for yourself!

WTF would all the supervisors do if we decided to take our breaks in the middle of the term - who would they get to do the tutorials and labs then?

Ooops! Misread the initial post. Since you have little choice, I would recommend
1. Broadband and SKYPE for communication (might need to get yourself set up to the college network for access to databases but should be ok)
2. As stated before, set up an arrangement where you work from home and visit the college for a day or two every so often.
3. Formalise the arrangement with your supervisor - have an agreed progress report format and agreement that he/she will meet to discuss progress when you visit. This will probably be the hardest thing to do but is vital if working in such an arrangement.
Apologies again for misreading the initial post. There are a few people in our dept. doing such an arrangement

I'd agree with what the others would say but it does boil down to your own situation - is there a reason why you wouldn't/couldn't move (relationship or other).
If there are no complications, I would say move closer to the uni - as well as being in regular contact with people in similar work, it will also get you in the PhD mentality and there will be a support network once you settle in (social life should also keep the sanity ... for the first year anyways . Obviously get home on a regular basis though.
If you can't move, try to fit in regular visits to the college to touch base (one-two days every month or so). B&B's could sort out accom. in the short term.

Sorry for sounding a bit airy fairy before but main point is that there is nothing stopping you contacting possible colleges now and initiating some level of contact between yourself and potential supervisors. But no college or supervisor will allow you to start until all results are in (regardless of how good results are to that point). My advice would be two-fold.
a. Make finishing the Masters to the best of your ability priority
b. In the meantime, draw up a provisional academic CV and send to possible supervisors (thro' advertised placings or general areas of interest). Your enthusaism (sic) will not go un-noticed.

Well it does depend on where you reside, but in my case, I basically went searching for potential PhD placements on the relevant websites and made enquiries. There is nothing stopping you doing that to at least make contact with potential supervisors but I can't see anyone offering you a place until all your results are in i.e. they may informally offer you the post but you would have to follow the set procedure before starting.
I'd agree with jouri that it is possibly better to start as early as possible, but one thing - don't rush! Make sure the project is right (funded, correct facilities and most importantly, an interesting topic). Take your time - you'll be 3-4 years doing the PhD so don't rush

Web of Knowledge do a similar service ... don't know if ye'll be able to access this link
http://admin-apps.isiknowledge.com/JCR/JCR?SID=Q2FL7E5OBn81KOnmM49

But if you can't access the above link, your library website should have a link to the Web of Knowledge. Once there click on "Additional Resources" and this will then take you to the "Journal Citation Report". It doesn't support all journals but better than nothing. If I see anything later in the week, I will put it on the forum.

One obvious other way for finding journal popularity would be to check your own EndNote records (if using it). Put Journal/Secondary title as one of the headings and sort the records by that - at least then you will be able to see where the majority of stuff that you yourself are reading.

Thank God for the motivational choons of Megadeth at the end of yet another promising but ultimately undelivering Monday - "Sweating Bullets" is deffo a theme tune for anyone stuck in the middle of a PhD

olivia - Hope the paper writing is going well. Will be working on this later in the week so of course anything I find I will post on the forum. I gave a very quick look at Danzig's post as have to be elsewhere soon and it seems to be on the ball (much appreciato). Now all I need to do is get rid of this latest bout of insomnia :P

olivia - thanks for posting this as am in a similar quandry. Supervisor is adamant that I get a paper done on my field research and has left me to decide the journal and to be honest I was like a rabbit in the headlights when he started going on about "impact factor". As well as having the sheer dread of writing this paper (have written before but not for journals), is there any tips on a. How to find specific journals and b. How to find their rating.
Sorry for the plain naivity (sic) but need any advice.

Personally, I would go for Opeth's "Master Apprentice" for the lyrics (If the words don't get the attention, the death-like growl will!)

I assume all avenues of communication have been used. If not, ring the lazy sod. It is dread living in fear of someone just taking 30 seconds to read something you have poured your soul into and then nonchalantly (sic) dismiss it. Contact your supervisor, stating the importance of the upcoming deadlines and if he/she can't read the full articles, send on detailed (but still concise) summarys of your work. State that if you get no answer back by a certain date, you can assume all is well (set the email to include a "read receipt" so you can prove it was read).
Sorry if the above may seem scatty but I know your frustration. Good luck with your research and remember there is a good gang of us here to help.

You have to somehow stand up - there is a period of allowing people the benefit of the doubt, but if this behaviour is continous, it's clear that the relationship in which you should be benefiting from is clearly one-sided. If you can, the next time the line is crossed, ask your supervisor why this was done and more importantly how does this action assist YOUR research (which is your prime reason for being there).

Failing all that, just get the first few seconds of this and send it onto the supervisor
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q41eoZXDb64

I'd agree with Smilodon - look up google for EndNote help and use it religiously i.e. when you find a good document, reference it correctly and link the pdf file of the document to the relevant record (don't worry - it will make sense once you start using EndNote). There should be a course in your college to go thro' the basics in a few hours. Well worth the time.
Good luck with the research.

Surely your college has a course that goes thro' the basics of EndNote. I used to think it wasn't worth the effort but quickly changed my mind on finding out how it could be used to make the maint. of refs easier. Get the manual and skip thro' it - there should be a pdf copy when you downlaoded the program.

One bit of advise - stick with Endnote 9 or 10 ... 11 seems to have a few bugs in it.

Heathy - it really does depend on how long you have been researching up to this point. The norm is that you spend the guts of the first year reading around the area to build up knowledge and to get the underlying trends. Then you decide on which route will give your research a novel edge. It might help that you start writing up some form of a lit review or get a conference paper out covering the general area soon. These could form a reference point and may also be used as a means of introducing yourself to other researchers in the area.

I know getting a specific area is a pain in the ar$e (I am over 18 months and only getting a specific idea now). Once you get an idea, there is still a hell of work to be done but at least you know what you have a clear goal in sight. Good luck