======= Date Modified 15 Apr 2011 14:06:07 =======
I'm trying to create such a table for my literature review which is completed and passed by my supv but he saw one in somebody else's lit review (he was external) which he thought looked great - hence I have to compile one:-(. To be honest although it is correct to reference somebody else's table 'After Smith, 2011' for example I think at PhD level I really have to go back to the literature myself. Also if you were quizzed on the contents of the table in your viva but had not read the originals it would be a sticky question to answer.

Try posting on this forum for the articles you need. I have quite good access across a wide variety of journals (most things except pubmed). No problem pmng me if you want to send me a list and I will have a look - else just post them here (maybe not all in one go as it can put people off!!) and you should eventually get most of what you need.

A

Just sent it to you now :-)

You can set up alerts for keywords or specific authors in Google Scholar. Do a simple search of whatever it is you are looking for and you should see an envelope graphic with 'create email alert' alongside it, just before the list of articles and papers is shown.

Or what I do is create alerts for new ToCs of specific journals. This is always a free service. Alternatively you can go into publisher websites and create a number of alerts for different journals. I'm not aware if you can do a keyword alert via different journals though.

I've just checked Sage and it looks like you can do something in addition to a basic ToC alert. Here's what Sage says:

•Citation Alert – from the Article Services Box in an article view, click Alert me when this article is cited
•Correction Alert – from the Article Services Box in an article view, click Alert me if a correction is posted
•Search Alert – click Create a new Search Alert to establish the search criteria for a new alert or click Save as an alert from the Search History page.

Unless there is a meta method I think you will have to go into every database you use and check out their alert procedures.

Normally it is the other round, ie the student pressurizing the supervisor to submit!

that said, it is strange that your supervisor thinks you should submit if you don't think your thesis is ready. Could it be a case of you wanting perfection rather than accepting your thesis is ready to defend in a viva? Perhaps your supervisor genuinely does think it's ready?

I agree with Corinne that I would request a meeting with your two supvs, bring the completed draft and point out to them where you think it falls down, and therefore may potentially fail. I would ask them directly 'what is the rush' (again that's normally said from supv to student!). If there is a genuine reason you will have to take their views into account and make an informed decision to submit in their timeline, or yours. It could be related to your external. Has she/he been already formally requested to examine your thesis? If you submit May, under normal circumstances your viva would be two/three months after this. If your external is already onboard, your supvs would then have to 'cancel' your viva which could trigger alarm bells in the examiner's mind.

Talk to your supervisors as soon as possible, particularly if they genuinely think you should submit. If that's the case it sounds like you will have to speed up your proofreading and formatting etc.

Keep us informed if you can, it's an interesting connumdrum

:-)

How I know that feeling of being at a meeting and how one little off-hand comment can send you into despair. "You're spot on to submit in September" I was told with a big smile. Great, except that I am hoping to submit way before that :-(. One chapter I found really tough going has all but been passed, pending "just extend this, this, this, this and this and then it's done" Another that I was pleased with is "much improved but still needs a good bit of work before it goes into the thesis" :-(. I feel I'm at the stage where I can't judge what's good and what's bad.

Chin up Fm, you're still on target for a summer submission (up)

Lovely to hear the update Hiccup - sounds like you are in a good place right now. :-)

Everything's relative I feel and though I have four children and so lots of responsibilities and fractured time, I couldn't imagine having to work on my own so far from home, and also having to work three jobs to keep going. I'm really sorry to hear about your gran PhDbug; it sounds like she was a motivational influence on your life. My sister (and best friend really, apart from my hubs) died mid-way through my PhD so I can understand what you're going through.

======= Date Modified 08 Apr 2011 19:41:38 =======
Hi Corinne

I'm a few months behind you; how I wish I was at your stage!

I know how to do it in Word XP but I find Vista difficult. With Word XP you have to insert section/page breaks. Click the insert menu and then select breaks. Then you manually insert the page breaks where you want them. You can only physically see them in 'normal view' which looks awful but at least you can see they are there. The actual breaks are not there on the screen in 'print view' although they are there. I had to do this for my masters pdf thesis - it took a bit of playing around but I got there in the end. Once the breaks are inserted you should then be able to number your intro bit with Roman numerals and the rest normally. The same for your footnotes.

It must be a similar process in Vista. Hope you get somebody more technically advanced than me, but at least it might start you off!

I can't comment on the writing notes as you go except to say 'do it' and I wish I had done it more - talk about making things harder than they needed to be :$. However I did keep all my references up to date. I think that's vital and can save you hours in the long term. Remember if you can't find the source for a reference or a quote you will have to drop it and that can be really annoying, not to mention painful.

Many congratulations - inspiration for so many of us here :-)

I must admit that I don't really use SCOPUS - I have had a look at it but I find it kinda irritating to just get an abstract but nothing else. Our library and research office purchased it together so it must be really expensive so perhaps there is more to it than I give it credit for. However, the whole citation and bibliometrics thing doesn't really interest me. Citations alone are not an automatic guarantee of a quality article, says she who's citation count is zero!

I do like Google scholar although it doesn't really sort the stuff (technical term there!!) that well. Still it's really fast and a fair amount of 'stuff' is available even if you're off campus. I do use the advanced options, particularly the author search and find it useful. On campus I can get a lot more via Google scholar than off campus, even if I click the 'off-campus' button. Maybe it's me though...

I never mentioned meta search engines earlier - such as Dogpile (www.dogpile.com). Actually there's a full meta search engine list at
http://www.cryer.co.uk/resources/search-engines/meta.htm. I don't use them myself as sometimes less is more but you never know, sometimes searching a different way from normal will throw up unexpected results.

Do try your subject librarian, they'd probably be thrilled if a real live student actually showed a bit of interest! ;-)

======= Date Modified 07 Apr 2011 14:53:42 =======
Hey Apple

I don't think it's a big problem, particularly when it sounds like the bones of your talk will be the same. Lots of people's abstracts are different from what they ultimately present. I would flag it at the start of your talk but wouldn't labour the point. Personally I wouldn't contact the session organiser - you don't want to be considered a potential problem. You could however verbally let that person know at the start of the session - when it's too late for them to do anything about it ;-). They would then most likely mention it when they are introducing you. I've seen it happen loads of times.

======= Date Modified 07 Apr 2011 09:10:01 =======
I think it's positive so congrats:-). I remember you saying you were applying so at least you have a foot, no maybe more like a toe in the door! I would however, follow it up after a couple of months. You could contact them saying you are still available and to keep you in mind if anything new comes up. Good luck, I hope it comes good for you.

Edit: I would certainly reply to her email, thanking them and that you would really appreciate it if they kept you on file as you are very interested in working there. It could be that the person they did pick doesn't work out; in which case it sounds like you could get a call.

Hi Rick

I always access journals and databases via my library institution access. My library, to be fair, has a pretty varied selection - ~145,000 electronic journals per the website!

I have given information literacy classes to undergrads and Master's students, so here is what I advise them:

- If you know the name of the journal you are looking for, that's probably the quickest route. Also don't forget that once you access a journal, you can always 'search within this journal' for authors and topics you are interested in.

- Have a look at the publisher websites as a way to source journals you might not be familiar with - Taylor&Francis, SAGE for example.

- I would strongly advise you to scroll down through the list of databases on your library website. People rarely do this and miss new subscriptions as a result. Also it can be useful to search for articles via the database as opposed to a specific journal. You can often pick up interesting things this way.

- If you haven't set up alerts for particular journals I would definately advise you to do this. You can be alerted via email when a new issue is out and the Table of contents can be sent direct to your inbox. This is a really good way of keeping up to date and means you will have 2010/2011 articles in your literature review.

- you may find when you access a journal via the library that it will say something like 'access from 2000 onwards' - I would still ALWAYS have a look for older material. I got an article for somebody the other day from 1974 even though it didn't say there was access that far back available.

- You can also set up alerts via Google scholar. Also don't forget the advanced search options with this - people rarely use this but it can refine your searching. Also if you can't get an article via the databases and electronic journals, I would ALWAYS throw in the title to Google scholar and you just might be lucky. I have sourced articles for people on Google which I couldn't get via my library.

- The directory of open access journals can be worth looking at too - http://www.doaj.org/ and also the directory of open access repositories might be useful - http://www.opendoar.org/.

- the only other thing I can think of is if you are having trouble getting a paper, try the author's bio on their university website. Sometimes, not often but sometimes, it is up there as a pdf - sweet when that happens!

- Finally, librarians get a bad press! Okay sometimes it's justified, but 'maybe' it's people not using their library, their librarians, the physical libary and the library website to the optimum. My sister is a librarian and I have worked as a library assistant in two universities so perhaps I'm biased?!?! Every subject has a subject librarian and if you feel you are missing something, you are entitield to contact them for an appointment where they can go through the various websites, journals etc in your field. Publishers frequently email the subject librarians with info so they should be up to date. Also, each subject should have a dedicated section on the website where the websites, databases etc are listed together. Called different things in different libraries so 'subject portals', 'subject info' etc are common names.

Finally, finally - have a look if you have time at gateways such as BUBL - www.bubl.ac.uk, Intute http://www.intute.ac.uk/. These can be interesting to scan through, you might pick something up.

Hope this is of at least some help

A