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I saw an advert for Easyhotels (as in Easyjet, but hotels!) there are four in London and I think they're £25 per night. I don't think they're in King's Cross though... one is in Victoria and it's very easy to get to King's Cross from there.

EDIT: Easyhotel website: http://www.easyhotel.com/

They're in Victoria, Earl's Court, South Kensington & Paddington. It looks like the price goes up nearer the time so you'd have to book in advance to get a room for £25.

dole

It probably depends how many chapters you've got in total and how it fits into your structure as a whole. I found Patrick Dunleavy's publication 'Authoring a PhD' helped me to plan my structure although according to him my chapters are too long (he suggest chapters of around 10,000 words +/- 2000 words I think).

My methodology section is around 5,000 words but it forms part of the first chapter which also includes my literature review, research questions and some other bits (...I'm not suggesting this is necessarily a good idea for everyone though!)

Thank you Cheep - that's helpful advice!

HOWLS

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Hi. I agree with others that Sony laptops are overpriced and I would also add that you should consider the weight if you're going to be carrying it round a lot. I've got a Macbook which I love in every respect except for the back ache after a day of carrying it in a rucksack! I got it at the end of last year and also looked at the HP range but - having considered it for some time - I decided to go for a Mac.

Like others suggest Toshibas are definitely reliable and long-lasting (if not as stylish). If you want something very light-weight and portable have a look at the Asus Eeepc. It might not be up to the spec you need and I couldn't write a thesis on one (or any laptop for that matter - I use a desk top for that) but for note-taking etc could be handy and only cost £250ish for top of the range 900 series running XP.

The Patrick Dunleavy book suggests summing up what has gone before from a different perspective. Could you try something like that Pam?

If you didn't give a sh*t you wouldn't have gone to see your supervisor or cried, you'd have just dropped out. which means you've definitely got the motivation in you to do this. You can do it!

You've actually written loads. I think taking a couple of weeks out is an excellent idea. Try to just put the project completely out of your mind during that time if you can.

Even though you haven't been writing for a while it's probably still been at the back of your head going: "Helloooo. Remember me... the millstone round your neck!" This is my experience anyway.

As far as I'm concerned, the guilt for feeling like I haven't done enough when I'm supposed to be working can mean I never feel like I've properly earnt any free time, and as a result I never switch off properly. It gets exhausting!

I reckon you should think of this break as totally sanctioned and justified, and try to completely forget about things. Speaking to your supervisor was the first step towards sorting things out and you can come back to it afresh.

Thanks for the advice both of you. I think my supervisors are more like yours Jayney - it probably is good practice to keep signposting. I've just written an introduction which I think had quite a good high-impact start but possibly doesn't set out what I'm going to do well enough. I should have checked the forum before I sent it off, still, it was supposed to go by the end of yesterday. I'll just have to develop it for the next draft.

At my last feedback tutorial my superviors advised me that I need to do more 'signposting' in my thesis including better introductions and conclusions to sections / chapters.

Patrick Dunleavy's book has useful advice about this but I still find them really difficult to do.

Have you cracked this? Do you have a strategy for 'signposting' you can recommend?

I would be most grateful for any advice.

I think I might give up soon. Hope your report is going ok.

Yep I'm writing a few section intros and conclusions... they're the most difficult bits if you ask me

If I was Nicky Hambleton-Jones from "Ten Years Younger" I'd tell you to put a belt round it...

...then I'd take out half of your teeth and perform unnecessary cosmetic surgery whilst sneering at you.

Yep... there's loads of stuff around that's like little girl dresses / smocks. They make you look and feel a bit too much like Grayson Perry (...which is fine for Grayson, but I can't carry it off myself)