One thing my supervisor did in the early stages was to get me to write a critique of a key article in my field, one that had been influential in my initial thinking about my research project. I think she just asked for 1000 words at first and then I gradually expanded it until it became my lit review for my upgrade. It helped to have something small and specific to focus on and I guess it was also useful for her to have something to work with in supervision meetings.

If you're in the UK, try googling 'PhD viva questions'. There is plenty of advice out there about the types of questions that examiners commonly ask, but you can never be absolutely certain about what will come up.

According to my uni's library catalogue, I should have access to it, but I can't open it at home. I'll try next time I'm on campus.

Language test examiners usually have years of training and experience as language teachers, they will probably have received training on the specific test they are assessing, and they will almost certainly be basing their judgements on a comprehensive set of written criteria. In order to research how these people make decisions in language tests, you are planning to get random individuals with no training or experience to score speaking tests. Interesting.

I began by making a list of the key concepts in my thesis. Then I considered how I could use my title to convey my most interesting findings and link my work to the academic field I want to move into after my PhD. Finally, I combined these elements into 4 or 5 different titles and discussed them with a few colleagues and my supervisor. I have no idea what kind of titles are 'in' (probably depends on your field), but I noticed it's very common to have titles consisting of two parts divided by a colon, so my title also has a colon. I'm very happy with my final choice :-)

You can use words like 'may', 'might', 'could', 'possibly', 'seem', 'appear' etc. to indicate uncertainty. These are all common in academic writing. The phrase 'to my knowledge' suggests that your claim is not really based on any evidence and that you are too lazy to seek out evidence to support it.

Hi Eds, really sorry but it's only available from 1997. I think I can access earlier volumes via a different institution but I can't remember my password and the only way to reset it is to go to the IT helpdesk in the library. I need to do it anyway but it won't be today. If no one else can help with this I'll try later in the week.

I have access. What do you need?

One of the reasons why it is so hard to get a permanent academic job is that when jobs are advertised there is probably at least one lecturer already working in the department on a short term contract who will apply for that permanent post. If that person is doing a good job and fulfils all the criteria in the job description, they stand a better chance of getting the job than someone from outside. I work in a university, I was in that position once (my boss said he would threaten to resign if the panel didn't give the job to me), and I have seen it happen a lot. Also, if you are working as a lecturer you will make better contacts and are more likely to hear about other relevant work than if you are working in an admin department. The longer you are out of academic work, the harder it is to get back in. It's much easier to make the transition the other way into admin work if you decide your chances of getting a full time academic contract are just too low.

I would say definitely go for the teaching. You will be in a much stronger position if a permanent post becomes available at the university where you're working. You may also find that you get offered more hours during the academic year, and part-time hours will give you time to work on your publications and job applications. Admin staff often work long hours and they have much less flexibility in how they use their time than academics.

With my plagiarism detector hat on, I just put the text from the original post into Google. It brought up a PDF from Columbia University and a whole lot of links to an essay writing service called 'buy custom essay papers'.

I don't think they are allowed to do that in the UK. You can't discriminate against people on the basis of age. I'm surprised they are allowed to do it in France.

Hi everyone,

Congratulations Glowworm on finishing your draft and Tulip on your 700+ words! Hope everyone else is doing well.

I have been busy with marking and also struggling with confidence and motivation issues. I saw my supervisor this week. Luckily, she is always very positive and encouraging which helps me a lot, so now I just have to keep writing for the next three weeks to finish another chapter. I will aim for 1500 words between now and Sunday evening.

Good luck everyone!

I think you need to include a definition of exactly what you mean by 'private accommodation'. I started filling in the questionnaire but then I realised I wasn't sure what kind of accommodation you're referring to, so I gave up. Does it include bed and breakfast accommodation, small privately owned hotels (not part of a chain) or just apartments and rooms rented from a private individual like the ones advertised on airbnb?

Something to think about: