Yes, and do talk to your supervisor, ask for some ideas. It's not a silly question at all.

I think this is the best thread I've seen on here in a long time! Very motivational, useful and community-spirited. Well done, Anthropologa and Lara for keeping us all going.

I sometimes save my presentation as image files (jpg) and import them into Windows Movie Maker (would also work in iMovie), then narrate over them, then play back.

Hi Angie

http://www.conferencealerts.com/

Unsolicited email aren't the easiest way to network, and on that I totally agree with H for the reasons given. Conferences are your best bet. You can subscribe to the above site. You should also check out conference advertised in your uni and others, in journals, etc. Search online using google, e.g. Conference + 2008 + your topic. Get involved with journals, do book reviews if it's too early to start writing papers. Seminars, workshops also are ways of meeting people. Also check any research bodies for your topic area, they may also have annual conferences, with slots (and sometimes funding or special rates) for PhD students. Best of luck.

Don't feel you have to make excuses, justify yourself or explain... be proactive - make sure he/she knows that you want to get to viva and that you're prepared to do what it takes to get there.

Brief and to the point is best. (Not easy, I know, but best).

And, agree with Pampelmousse... althought time is at a premium and the mountain is before you... a rest along the way is worth more than you think. Take care of yourself. The forum is here to support you... come and vent, come and ask, but with supervisors... just deal with them professionally (even if that means eating your frustrations).

Hi Lara

Boy, you sound like you're having a rollercoaster ride there, more downs than ups. Seems to me, what you're best doing (and this is hard) is closing the door on the past and focusing on what lies ahead. Make a fresh start. Try not to get too mad with the way things have worked out. I've watched you on the forum these last few weeks, you are positive, you want to finish, you have set yourself goals. Communicate THESE things to your supervisor. Try to rise above your feelings of anger.

What your supervisor wants (and needs) is an account of what you have been doing, where you plan on going and how this will get you to where you need to be for your viva. Just give him/her that. You could even just break it down into those three things. This is where I'm at, this is what I'm working on, this is how these fit with the viva.

Hi Olivia

Yeah, writers' groups are great fun, aren't they. I belonged to one for a year or two once upon a time, in fact, that's how I got my first book published. If you want to meet other poets and have a chance of getting some poetry published in an anthology, you could check out www.bewrite.net (which is the online community I joined who eventually published my book for me). It's a good community and a way of sharing online as well as offline.

Yeah, I like using a blog to keep track of my ideas and my progress. Like Lara, I usually write in it last thing at night - kind of 'empty the head' time. I've been writing in mine for over 3 years now (since I started my part-time PhD) and it's really helped, especially in terms of getting to grips with the ups and the downs. I can really sympathise with Ethereal having felt the same at the start of my studies... juggling job and study is hard and doing 'essays' to learn is annoying. I guess I was lucky as I was able to use my work for these... I found in the early days, I used word counts to monitor progress as well but nearing the end, don't worry about that so much, nor about writing in the blog (except when I have something to share or to get off my chest)... *grin* You do get problems with blogs though, like when I lost mine at the end of year one as my ISP went out of business (luckily I had kept an offline copy)!

www.explosivelearning.com

Don't know about the 5 mins, but I found a list of things to do online when I'm bored or just not working...

Go for a walk, have a nap, have a bath, phone a friend, go shopping, watch a movie, read a book, play loud music, visit a friend, make something, tidy up, look at photos, take a trip somewhere new.

Of course, difficult to do if you're in a lab environment... but you can do some of these things virtually... :)

Mostly, I move rooms... I tend to take more than 5 mins, though... more like 15 mins but then I work for longer than 20 mins, more like an hour or so... I do things like take coffee, dream, read a book for a bit, doodle, look out the window, call friends, surf the net (better if you do something specific, though), play mahjong.

http://www.conferencealerts.com/

You didn't fail your upgrade entirely - you have the opportunity to resubmit.

You have a lot of feedback to guide you (hopefully constructive)... those who give you the feedback are on your side, even if it doesn't feel that way at present...

You appear to have a good and suitable research question

You acknowledge the part your own circumstances played in things... and it seems that you are now in a position to move beyond that (at least a little)...

You just need to decide whether you want to continue to aim for that goal... then go for it... but don't look back... look forward.

Best of luck with it!

Hi Pineapple

Sorry to hear you didn't make it through the upgrade straight off. I know how hard you worked, and how much effort you put into it. I know it's not going to be easy but the best thing you can do is to put it behind you and look forward and feel positive about what you know you can do, given different circumstances. Take the opportunity for a fresh start. On the acute embarrassment factor... we all feel that when things don't go quite as we plan... on the prospect of letting 'others' down... actually, I suspect those 'others' don't feel as 'let down' as we think. It's our PhD, not theirs... Some positive things to take you forward...

Hey guys,

It's nice to see you all so excited, quite refreshing, actually. Tips - enjoy your holidays, take a break (not so easy to do/find once you start your PhD work)... I think it's good that you're using the forum to get to know each other - that's a good way to build a support network as you get started. Hope the PhD turns out to be all that you want it to be... it's a bit of a rollercoaster ride - hold on tight!

Hi Sheena

I make two to do lists when the going gets tough... things I absolutely must do but don't want to, things I can do quite quickly and don't mind doing. Then I alternate... and if I get bogged down in the difficult, I switch to the easy. It works most of the time and at least you get to feel a sense of achievement. On time... I use my mobile phone to set an alarm to go off every two hours when I work and when it goes off, I check whether I'm anywhere near to my goal and, if not, try to figure out why/where I'm drifting off. It's usually a good time to take a 10 minute break as well... and that often helps.

Sounds like a fabulous PhD, by the way, wish I'd know such a thing existed! Then again, maybe I'd lose the will to write if I had to put it under such close scrutiny!