Hi Tricky
I can get you your chicken article! Pm your email address and I'll send you the pdf

What about "Dear Prof. X and colleagues..."

That's good to know guys, thanks:-); just trying to get a feel for what it's like in there! In my place the school secretary sends an email around on the morning of the viva saying that the room will not be available as x is sitting their viva [normally people have their coffee break there]. Usually she puts something in the email to the effect of "we'll let you know when there's white smoke". Needless to say I will be contacting her beforehand to ask her not to send this email!

No viva date yet Corinne as I have yet to submit but normally in my uni it's within two months. I'm very jealous of you and Dunni, but in a nice way;-)

It must be so lovely to tick off those corrections, knowing that with each one you are getting closer to having the whole thing finished.

Can I ask a [nosey] question? Were you told at the beginning of your viva that you had passed or did you have to leave the room and await the decision? If that, how long were you waiting? And one more (!!) was your supervisor in the room during the viva?

That's rotten Sneaks - looks like you have some tough decisions ahead. My supv came back at me with a heap of changes, plus some re-structuring after my first draft. I implemented about half of what he suggested, returned it to him and said "although I accept there will be comments/changes, my thesis is the way I want it, I'm happy with how I have structured it..." My heart was pounding but he said "okay, I hear you; it's good you're taking ownership of your thesis 'coz at the end of the day it's your work, your decision". GULP. Still waiting for him to come back to me after that second draft, five weeks later:-s but I think to be fair that's becuase of his own massive workload. When I get it back I am telling him that I will give it another three weeks work but then I'm submitting.

it probably would have been mentioned if you're expected to give a presentation. Having said that, it'd do no harm but maybe wait 'til asked. Even if you don't end up giving it, it's a valid way to prepare.

Good luck with your interview(up)

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I can imagine how the release from the stress in the lead up to the viva makes it hard to focus right now. Still, if it were me, I would give myself a serious self-imposed deadline, put the head down and do it. Just think, by Christmas you could be done and start the new year with a clean slate. Plus you will be able to update your CV to that effect. I know you've been having difficulities in the job search market - join the club :-( - and have been thinking of dropping your PhD from your CV but I think to have it done, dusted and just listed on your CV [in whichever terminology you chose to use] will help convince employers that you are a person moving on.

Put up a calendar whereever you work, mark a date mid-December and work back from that with the tasks divided into a multitude of sub-tasks as Bilbo suggests. What I probably would do is aim to be finished about a week before the deadline to tidy up a few loose ends. Also, if people ask you when you'll be finished, state the date, not some looser 'about Christmas'.

Good luck Pineapple:-)

Hello Seriousperson

It seems to me that you will have to go with open-access material. Actually there is a big push, certainly among some sections of the academic community, for open access to become more and more normal. If you're not already familiar with, try:

The Directory of Open Access Repositories, available at http://www.opendoar.org/

The Directory of Open Access Journals, available at http://www.doaj.org/. I had a quick look and it seems to have 233 journals in biology and the life sciences at the moment, broken down into
Anatomy (10 journals)
Botany (75 journals)
Cytology (11 journals)
Genetics (50 journals)
Microbiology (49 journals)
Physiology (33 journals)
Zoology (89 journals).

Other than that I would advise just going into the different journal titles and if you spot an article that you particularly like, post a request for it here and generally you will get it within 24 hours. That, I know, is not feasible if you just want to browse. I'm not sure if you have your PhD or not but you could try approaching your alma matter and see if have any sort of scheme for past graduates. Try your alumni office and/or the library. Tbh, I'm not aware of any libraries that do that but nothing ventured, nothing gained...

SAGE have an open access journal. I've just looked at it and it has a smattering of articles across the disciplines but nothing really in the life sciences. It focusses on the social, behavourial sciences and the humanities. It's at http://sgo.sagepub.com/?utm_source=sageopen&utm_medium=sageopen&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=1115024JA_F&priorityCode=1115024JA_F. Still if SAGE are doing it, maybe other publishers might be thinking of doing the same. ScienceDirect does have some free view articles via guest access - http://www.info.sciverse.com/sciencedirect/using/access_article_display/guest.

Good luck with it

(up)

Tired of grading papers, too much work on your plate, supervisor hassling to 'help' out more in your department????? Read this link for tips on how to mark assignments and essays more efficiently.

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/a_guide_to_grad.html

I use this experimental method and it works!!! Only joking lol but it's tempting;-)

Many congratulations, very well done

Fantastic news, very well deserved, I'm thrilled for you (gift)

Oh Corinne, start a 'I passed my viva thread' or people might miss your great news. Brilliant news, very well done, I'm delighted for you 8-)

======= Date Modified 29 Jul 2011 21:22:18 =======
======= Date Modified 29 Jul 2011 17:27:26 =======
Gosh, that's a bit of a cheek as it's hardly coming out of her pocket, or is it? I tried giving my supervisor hardcopy chapter drafts as that way I would know for sure that he got them but he was wise to me and asked me specifically to email him drafts so he can use 'track changes' which he has only done once!

In my first year as a postgrad I handed the pg co-ordinator a hardcopy of my progress report. He looked at it as if it was some sort of alien creature and asked me to email it to him as "that way I can just move it to the folder", read "that way I don't have to actually read it"!

Well done Sneaks, chillax this weekend (up)

maybe I'm being dense but why did you have to post it, not email it, considering it's a draft not the final product?