hmmmmmmmm, cookies

Dunno if this is helpful, i think this is more research-orientated than teaching, but:

http://www.researchersinresidence.ac.uk/rir/

hello and welcome

that sucks, sorry to hear that. Although, I think you may be being too harsh on yourself. one slip-up on one afternoon does not mean you aren't 'good enough'. I'm pretty sure you know that deep down.

Supervisors have a nasty habit of only asking questions on areas of improvement, rather than focusing on the positives of the content. usually, if they don't comment on something you are happy with, it means they are happy with it too...although they will never say that!!

Anyway, it's in the past now. If you mucked-up, you mucked up. learn what you can from it and move on. try not to dwell on it for too long: it's OK to let it go and forget about it!! Hope you feel better. Oh, and DON'T QUIT!!!

i work on snails...pretty yellow and pink ones. The ladies love it!

Well, coz of my soddin PhD, i have to move between home and uni every 3 or 4 days, so i don't get to go home properly! I keep animals as part of my research, so i need to feed them and make sure they don't die

Hi dora, i'm not quite there yet, but i can feel the 'slump' brewing (think i am at the stage where you said "it's been building up for a few weeks now"). I've seen it happen to other students in my group/lab and i can see it happening to me very soon indeed. It's pretty defeatist of me, but i think it is an unavoidable phase that, unfortuneately, everyone has to go through.

that's not really adivice (sorry!!) i just wanted to point out that there is no need to feel isolated or alone. Those other students you are anxious about doing better than you are going to enter the 'slump' at a slightly later date!

Hi ejc. Congrats on the studentship! I can remember being in your postition: seeing all these posts on this forum and thinking, "how can i avoid falling into the same trap as everyone else???" You've definately got the right attitude, in that it is important to learn from other people's mistakes to avoid making the same ones, but i think going through the early phase of your PhD like eddie has decribed is a necessary part of becoming a researcher. It is unavoidable. it's kind of like basic training when you join the army (bare with me...), they wear you down completely to see how much you drive you have left to keep going. Going through what eddie has decribed is, unfortuneately, the only way to learn self-reliance and self-motivation: both necessary skills for a researcher. That's not supposed to sound negative (sorry if it does!), quite the oppossite. Good luck!

Drwhoknows is right, it will get better. Its a skill that you have to practice over many years.

Hi eddi, i think everyone on this forum will agree that this is perfectly normal. every single PhD student in the world goes through this...including your supervisor, once. the very start of a PhD is a very tough time, intellectually and emotionally. Believe me, you will get through it, it just takes time...and unfortunatley, there is no way to speed up time! One day you will start to see how much you have advanced as a student. Until then, just remember that it is OK to not know what you are doing, everyone around you understands and no one is judging you as harshly as you may think.

It's hard to say really. it is a good idea to read other conference abstracts from previous years and see which elements you like and don't like about them.

I often take a quick glance at a conference abstract and if i see a key-word in the title that appeals to me (e.g. local adaptation; AFLP; parasite), i start reading it. I think most people make up their mind in the first 3 seconds of reading an abstraact, so people only have enough time to scan for those key-words in the title.

Good luck! Only have one tip: make sure it's not crap. Hope that's helpful.

hey Corinne. Firstly, i think what you have acheived is incredible and you should feel very proud of yourself. Secondly, i don't know if this is relevant and/or helpful (please ignore me if it isn't!)but i have the following posted up next to my computer:

"A PhD is an exhausting, emotional struggle. You are forced to confront all of your fears, insecurities and doubts you have about yourself and some how overcome them. It’s terrifying. A lot of bravery is required, which often goes unrecognised and unrewarded.

Facing your own personalised set of fears (or ‘demons’ if you want to be dramatic) is where the feeling of isolation comes from – the fact that they are YOUR fears.

Be brave. You know what you have to do – you know the right thing to do. Good luck."

I find this helps me when things get ontop of me and i need solving problems. Hope that helps a little.

OR just type a regular 2; highlight it; go to FONT; and check the box that says superscript.

hold ALT. then type 178. then release ALT.

Alternatively, go to INSERT MENUSYMBOL and find it on the character map.