PhDs are hard because they are! Why would anyone expect the highest level academic qualification to be in anyway easy? If they were that easily attainable, then everyone would do one. The difficulty in part comes from the fact that PhDs are all about novel research. If you are the only person doing this one particular thing, who do you turn to for advice when it all goes pear-shaped? You are the expert! Even if you work in a big group doing a PhD can be very lonely experience. You have thesis advisers of course, but ultimately, it's down to the individual to do the research, write the thesis and defend it. Success requires passion, dedication and perseverance by the bucket-load.

I think it's most common to either have

1) Dr Firstname Lastname

or

2) Firstname Lastname, PhD

I think listing everything looks a bit silly, as you say, people don't usually get doctorates without undergrad degrees so they are implied. Personally, I use the second option because I work in a medical field and option 2 gives people my title (i.e. Dr) but also tells them that I am not medically qualified.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual to decide what they prefer. You've earned all your qualifications and if you want to list them all, then you can!

BTW, your advisor/supervisor will not decide on whether your work warrants an Mphil. Like a PhD, someone submitting work for an Mphil will have to submit their thesis for viva voce examination.

Yes, more like 18mths to get enough data for an Mphil and then the writing up time. Of course, time scale will depend on your subject, your aptitude and luck!

Great, glad it all worked out!

Ask if you can have a telephone conversation instead?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2552933,00.html

Rochville University? He should have got his PhD from a prestigious institution like Belford...

I worked for 3 years (lab tech) between undergrad and PhD. I think spending some time before embarking on a PhD can be very beneficial, especially if you can spend the time gaining relevant experience. Good luck.

Poor Athina, fingers crossed for her speedy recovery.

Unfortunately, it is true that the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. You get used to it... Just remember that you are not the only one feeling like that, it's very normal.

Cats surely make the most evil smells?

Yes, exactly, as poor Pea's recent experience shows

Hi Piglet, I do that too - even looking in places that are far too small for a crazed axe-murderer to hide

Yeap, that's just what I was talking about, I knew it had to be possible from social sci databases too, thanks for confirming this AnnieG

You know that you can usually download references from a literature database straight into Endnote, rather than typing each one by hand? This is very easy from PubMed but (being a science gal) I've not tried downloading from any social science type databases, perhaps others have?