Well I must say I love Just Dance! It's soo much fun! Plus, my super competitive boyfriend who is really into sports and forever going on at me that I need to do more sport etc, is not so good at it, I beat him loads!! I always knew dancing was my thang... :-)

I started proof reading last night and found tons of stuff to do still, so that's my plan for today. I have a little to do list here and I'm going to work my way through that, then email the chapter off! Good luck for your discussion today Sneaks, although I don't think it's looked upon too well if you double submit a paper, I think you have to wait and see if it's accepted for publication before you can submit anywhere else. You certainly don't want to get caught out with someone in the 2nd journal realising you've submitted it to another journal simultaneously!

======= Date Modified 28 Jul 2010 18:32:17 =======
DONE DONE DONE!!

Just have to proof read, but I'll leave that for a while, need to step away form the chapter for a while so I can forget what I wrote enough to check if it all makes sense when I read it back..does that even make sense?! :-)

Just Dance here I come!

whoo I am on Goal 2! Fixing up intro, although I'm soooo bored of looking at this chapter now! I would go and do something else but then that means no dancing tonight so must plod on!!
At least I eventually got dressed now tho... :-)

lol! You could try, all samples were tested for normality and t-tests were used... :D just ignore the outcome of the normality test! :) or if you want to stick in why you justify using the test then go for it, it's whatever you think is most relevant i suppose!

well if its for a paper, just look at what the other papers in your field do when reporting stats, and look especially at papers in your target journal. If they have it all in then leave it in, if they don't then just stick in a line saying you tested for normality and assumptions were met. I think loads of papers don't bother with it cos they don't know about it! I know of several student who've recently passed vivas with stats which were wrong or inappropriate, and it wasn't picked up on.

Aww Natassia don't feel bad! It's always hard getting used to balancing things, especially after a major upheaval like bereavement. Just because you have started refocusing energy into your social life and trying to get yourself back on track, it doesn't mean you are now incapable for a MSc or PhD. I'm not sure what your workload is like at the moment, but if possible you should continue to go out and do things, you need to keep the balance right in life. Even if you can take one day a week off you will feel better for it. It's obviously benefitted you having more time to focus on yourself and your personal life if people say you have your spark back, you can't give all that up for academia no matter what anybody says. There will always be periods where you have to cut down on the social aspect of things and draw away from friends, like when you are writing up, but this is a very difficult time and a very difficult thing to do, and as such it shouldn't and cannot be maintained for the entire duration of your MSc or PhD.

You can't let yourself down if you let yourself believe that your personal life and friends are as important to you as your work is. Which they are. Your academic ability is still there, true it's easier to tap into it when we are fully immersed in something but it doesn't mean that when we are outside of academia or doing other things we've suddenly become stupid. Just be kind to yourself, accept that you are only human and need to maintain relationships and activities outside of academia. And don't get sucked into thinking that if you don;t spend every waking moment of your PhD working on it and thinking about it that you are a bad researcher!

You will be fine! (up)

as in putting in my own stats in a paper i was writing? In my field it tends to be just 'samples were tested for normality using (whatever test) and if they are transformed or not according to what subsequent tests will be'. But if I was just reporting stats I read somewhere I wouldn't include normality stuff unless I was disputing them really...

AAHHHH!!!

Avoid animations and sound effects at all costs unless it's absolutely essential!! I had a lecturer who detested when words went swooshing onto the screen and interrogated presenters afterwards just to exact revenge!
Just keep it simple, not too many words, remember the rule of 7's - never more than 7 points on a slide, and never more than 7 words to a line. Out up enough info for people to keep track of what you're talking about but not enough that they either don't hear a word you're saying cos they read the slide or switch off completely. Use images if possible, pictures of stuff you're talking about. And don;t read it off a sheet of paper!

Good luck!

Yea good going Star-shaped and Sneaks! Especially loving the forced track changes, great touch!

I'm almost finished with the first draft of this chapter, just have to finish the discussion and do a conclusion, but I've got goals 1.1 and 1.2 done which were really stalling me yesterday so yay!

Can't wait to try these games later, I'll let you know how the Broadway one is Sneaks!

Right there with you Sue, apart from the 2 minute breaks to vent steam (checking mails, shouting random words to absolutely noone, walking around the room) I'm pretty much working all day. Yesterday it was 8am-11pm, about 2.5hours total for breaks.
I didn't do this in first year though, and in second year there were plenty of long 13-14 hour days when I was doing field work, but in third year it's really upped the ante. Writing, with a deadline, means I've got no choice!

lol, Just Dance, and Dance on Broadway! :-)

My lovely boyfriend is even going to play them with me! Provided I'm finished of course! :$

Tell her you're at an anger management course (ie. PGf...) so you can learn how to deal with her maddening emails and avoid the seemingly inevitable possibility that you will strangle her and enjoy every second of it...

On a more positive note, my 2 new Wii games arrived today, so I have instructed my boyf that I'm not allowed to even open them tonight if I don't get this chapter done! SO!

Goal 1: finish discussion
1.1: finish nutrients section with literature references
1.2: community composition with literature references
1.3: overall comparision
1.4: conclusion

Goal 2: fix intro

Goal 3: format text

Goal 4: proof read

Goal 5: stop scratching my insect bites....

ok it helps that noone wants to do the work that they must do today, i don't want to do mine either, but yet again, I must...

So with that in mind, off I go....

made my tummy go funny just reading this!! I can remember you at the start of your PhD on this forum Chris, feels like we've all come along with you here! Try not to panic too much for Thursday, have tea and toast to help your tummy and just keep busy until then! Shine your shoes! :-)

Good luck!!!

Oh God sneaks your sup sounds awful! Make sure she's not just copied it for her own paper and is stealing your work! And you can totally have cheese on a diet, just not a lot! A really nice dish is tomato salad, as in tomatoes chopped thickly, some shallots, some goats cheese (or low fat mozarella if you want to be really good..) and salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Yummy! And like, practically no calories! My mum is doing the slimming world diet thing and she's lost a stone nearly, still eating loads and drinking wine so I think I may do it when I get home!

Todays goal is to get this discussion done, I really really want to get this chapter emailed off tonight!!