I hope people realise my post was more than a little tongue in cheek....Oh, who am I kidding. I rigidly classify everyone I meet as a nerd or geek and refuse contact with the former.


;-)

Apparently, there's a difference between a nerd and a geek. A geek will still have 'geekish' tendencies but also possess some social skills, unlike a nerd. I like to think I'm more of a geek but maybe some people would disagree : )

Thanks for your replies eeryone but it turns out that wasn't the reason I was sick! I've got some kind of virus and spent all night with aches and more of the same. The nerves were pretty intense though so it can't have helped. Have had to ring in sick for teaching. Day under the duvet will hopefully see me fine.

Thank you Maria, I really needed to hear that, feeling like a total freak right now. The chapters weren't even a big deal, I'm nowhere near final submission yet! Meant to be going to see a boy I've been attempting to date tonight, it's the first time in 2 weeks we've had time and now I'm thinking I'll probably just have to go home.

Why???!!!!!!!!!!!

* Warning- not for faint hearted*

I've just been physically sick because I was nervous about sending chapters to my second supervisor. This is not normal is it?! I'm pretty sure that's what it was... I've been feeling horribly anxious all day for no real reason and after I threw up I went straight back to the office and sent them off so I wouldn't have to worry about it any more. Feeling calmer now...

Well that was a depressing read! But helpful, I guess. Although it just goes to show how much contradictory advice we are fed all the time... The author talks all the way through about ensuring your thesis is very tight and working with only a carefully restricted range of material. When I voiced concerns about my own thesis being too wide in scope my supervisor said 'if you're not going to be ambitious in your PhD thesis then when are you going to be?'

Ho hum.

Fantastic news, well done!

Just wanted to say that I know people have had gripes with PGRtips not being very useful in the past but I've just been reading through these stories and it's very helpful to hear people explain what they went on to do after the PhD and how they got there. Not something we get to hear about very much during the actual PhD, in my experience, so thumbs up from me.

Definitely LarryDavid. I've known mine for nearly a year and a half, he's a great bloke and never has a bad word to say but I still get really nervous every time we have a meeting.

Hope everything went well Mathkitty and you had a good time with your family.

I got the article in on time! It was a complete rush, I submitted it at about 10 minutes to midnight in the end! Just got to wait and see what happens now.

I'm completely out of the loop with weekly aims but will try and get myself ordered again. So this week (as in until next wednesday) I need to:

1. Send chapters to second supervisor, no matter how much I hate them!
2. Re-read 2 plays and find and read corresponding sources.
3. Read text for class, plan and teach lesson.
4. Start to try and figure out Endnote.

That will do me for this week. Good luck everyone.

My sup sent a draft 8 back once, about 8 months of work had gone into it and the e-mail said 'Fantastic. I think you'll be happy with the comments'. Excited and hoping that I'd finally reached the point where it could be put to one side I read his revised attachment which started with 'Now this is really (italicised) getting there.' Followed by the usual reams of red annotations.

My friend told me recently that he'd submitted his work to his supervisor and they had a meeting which began with the sup looking at the pages on his desk disdainfully and saying 'I just don't really understand what it is?' :-)

Thanks all for your thoughts,

I think I'll explain what I was considering doing as on reflection its even more of an odd strategy than I realised : D I was making notes for the paper and I noticed that I'd just scribbled 'from the internet' for some general information I'd come across. I'm writing about place, space etc at the moment and thought how interesting it was that I'd unconsciously designated the internet as a 'non-space' so I didn't have to worry about what came from it. (Sorry if this is all sounding unbearably flouncy but I do study literature : p) I guess if I was a scientist I could count that as reflecting on my methodology?! But as it is, I shied away from putting it in. I might yet go for it, who knows. Interesting (the general subject of 'personal writing') though, isn't it?

Hello all,

How 'brave' are you when it comes to academic writing? This is perhaps not aimed at the scientists out there as I imagine (in my ignorance) that a third person stance is required. In arts and humanities it's quite common for an author to talk about their own experiences and how they fit in within their research project- anecdotes, personal motivation etc. When it's done well I really like this style of writing and I feel its gives a richness to the work. But I'm scared to use it in my own! For example, I'm planning to submit to a journal on Monday and there's a 'personal' example I could use which I think would illuminate the subject matter I'm discussing (not personal as in intimate, just something I've personally experienced). I've not written in this kind of style before and I'm scared to try but I want to at the same time!

Any thoughts?

In a 20 minute talk I usually get through about 2, 500... so multiplying by 3 that would mean about 7,500. That seems like a lot though!

Ok, I've worked 10 hours and I'm tired and hungry and the office is empty so I'm going to go home.