I'm doing an oral history project so I've been including biographical details to introduce key people and position them within the period I'm looking at. I started out trying to put them into the main body of the text but I found this a bit clumsy and I didn't feel able to include as much detail without detracting from the flow of writing (...if my writing ever could be said to 'flow' even at the best of times!)

I did consider putting them all at the back but in the end I've used footnotes. I usually give date and place of of birth, what people studied, where and when (education is one of the factors I'm looking at though) and what they're primarily recognised for professionally / relevant moments in their careers.

I find that writing them is actually a bit of an escape from struggling with more complex stuff.

I'm working too... I do have quite a few weekends off but I've got a deadline on Monday. Milk, no sugar please Jayney.

Glad you worked through things and managed to solve some problems.

The mind maps sound useful. I'm re-drafting earlier chapters at the moment and they could be a useful way to keep track of what I was thinking way back last month (...because I can't seem to remember what I was thinking the day before yesterday at the moment!)

Hi Lara... I'm glad I interpreted the Word of Joan correctly and agree about the up/down stuff. I hope it's all gone well for you today though

I know that Lara - one of the regular posters on here - suggested a strategy from Joan Bolker's publication: 'Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day' which involves (if I've understood correctly) setting a timer for 10 minutes and only writing / working for that length of time.

The idea is that if you tell yourself you only have to work for a short time, the prospect of starting to work will be less horrendous. You might find once you've started you do much more than that, but if you don't at least you've done 10 minutes, you can reward yourself with a break and then do another 10 minutes.

I suffer with loads of problems with motivation. At the moment - out of sheer panic over a deadline - I'm managing to work but I will be trying this technique in future.

I find that frequent meetings with supervisors / getting them to set deadlines also keeps me going.

Good luck!

Does your college have a research office / administrator you could contact? they should still be around over the summer - if you search on their website there's usually a contact.

As for whether most PhDs are funded - it depends what your area is. In the Arts and Humanities funded studentships are rare but I believe they're more usual in Sciences.

Hope you manage to find out what's going on.

I'm doing a collaborative project over two institutions and I have two first-time supervisors (one from each place) backed up by two experienced supervisors. I've had no problem with it at all. They've been extremely enthusiastic and supportive. In fact, I wrote another positive post about them a minute ago.

I think it's necessary for them to be supported by somebody who's been through the bureaucratic processes involved in a PhD before, but my second supervisors (...in fact, I don't even really think of them like that) are also involved in my project at a subject level and I've benefitted from having their specific input alongside that of the others.

Here's a positive thing:

My supervisors have always been fantastic but since I've been writing up they have really pulled together.

There are four of them split over two institutions so it's difficult for them to find a time to meet together but this year I've been seeing them about once a month and they're always positive, helpful and supportive.

...I couldn't do it without them *sob*

It's funny you should say that because I paused to decide which option to go use before writing 'USB stick' in a previous post.

I prefer 'drive' though. I think I'll use that from now on - it sounds more dynamic.

There they are!!! I couldn't see them before either but I recognise them now!

For avoidance you should read the Guardian instead of the Daily *hate* Mail. They have a section called Comment Is Free. It's a massive forum full of nutters... I can lose hours lurking in there.

I've never presented at a conference where I've had to submit the paper so far in advance. I usually just rock up with my Powerpoint on a USB stick and I've probably edited it the night before, like you say. Sometimes I've had to send it a few days before but this is probably one of the things that's been freaking me out.

Still, I'm almost there with the paper. And, yes, please let's get it over and done with at the beginning. I'm hoping to go out a day early so I can at least adjust to the climate (next to the pool!) before I have to start the conference.

I was asked what I thought a PhD is and I know a people in different subjects areas who were asked the same. I'm sure you know what you're getting yourself in for, but just in case, it's an original piece of reserach (...I went round and round in circles before blurting out something to that effect!) Good luck.

Speaking of which... if two magpies are living outside my flat can they keep jinxing me when they show up individually? I waste so much time de-jinxing myself (...the fate of my PhD, I expect) by waiting for the other one to turn up.

Alarmingly, I think I have become more interested in the weather the older I've got. I used to worry if it was humid and my hair got frizzy but that was it. Now I find myself starting conversations about the weather out of genuine interest! I will be 30 in November - I reckon that decade is when the weather obsession really kicks in.