first and foremost, i find some comments here insulting - SammyYork: I have no comment to make to you. as Juno said, am the one who knows the guy and I don't need any of his help or anyone else's at that, particularly when its unsolicited.

Adem & JA - by the way - in the way of clarification, the person i was supposed to introduced to is also looking for a job. how does that help me? she recently called me asking me to meet up over coffee for tips on where she should be looking for jobs.

i guess the person who knows whether writing 8,000 quality words is one who has done it before - in my experience it can be done. ofcourse you have to know your stuff before hand. if you've done the reading, then 4 days is a very long time.

am also writing 15, 000 by Friday and I believe I'll finish. i've done about 8, 000. i've got another 7, 000 to go. planning to get going tonight. i'll be stuck at my desk til Friday.

go for it - you can!

my two friends quit as well. its dawned on me that i really have to work harder than i ever have to survive this. they were very hardworking people!!

at a conference, what you say is more important than the quality of your paper at the time of the conference. It is considered a work in progress.

see it as a job ... something to hand in to the boss by the end of the day. there's less pressure for perfection.

where do you get knitting material. i should pick up that as a hobby perhaps....

actually, i have never been asked to prove anything. am an international student and as long as you have a visa, the uni just expects you to pay your fees. if you're already in the UK, you only have to pay your fees, not prove anything. the trouble is if you're still out there..... as golfpro has said, you'll have to prove that you can sustain yourself here. that means, take a loan on your house and have the money in your account, or ask the bank to write a letter saying that you are able to support your studies, with proof of funding in the form of bank statements. you don't have to show the entire amount, just that you have an regular income that covers at least a year of the fees. all the best!

that's odd. mine (bachelors and masters) state my course and the grade i achieved. perhaps you could contact your uni for clarification or a more detailed certificate?

PS: i'll be giving my chapters a real making over this weekend

thanks guys. barnaby - i love that list. i think everyone should take a look at it. thanks a lot!

hi guys, i've been having a problem with lack of academic vocabulary to cite my literature in each chapter. i've been using a lot of, Smith states that, Smith notes that, Smith suggests ... its become so repititive that my supervisor has noticed. any more ideas? Does anyone know a book that i could use to improve my academic lingua? It would also be great if you could tell me what kind of sentence structures you use. for instance.. Smith attributes this to a b c d and notes (again!) that d has a significant effect ...... help!!!!

thanks ras!

hello, am officially supposed to complete my PhD in 2008 Sept. am wondering when the deadlines for postdocs are. i definitely don't want to be an academic, but i'd like an extra year to publish and then leave if i don't manage to get a job in industry immediately after completion. i've read through info on funding and it looks like we have to apply a whole year before we want to start. at this point, am not ready publications wise to make an application. the ESRC fellowship though says they have sittings in jan, april, july and oct. does that mean i can apply in April next year to start that sept?

juno - that's exactly what it is. i suppose he sees me as this helpless girl who he can help so that he spends the rest of his life saying/ thinking that i owe it to him.