5 months, ages yet!

Hi all,

I haven't been seen here for a while now :$ I've been trying to avoid everything work related, because planning my wedding is far more exciting! But I really must get on, as my sup is expecting some writing by Friday (down)

So my first few goals are:

Goal 1- do teaching prep- DONE
Goal 2- read journals in Endnote about attrib
Goal 3- read journals in Endnote about topic 2
Goal 3- read journals in Endnote about topic 3

I also need to find time somewhere to bank a cheque- my grandparents have given my fiance and I £100 for Christmas, how lovely of them!

Hi Natassia,

Big hugs from me! It sounds like you are ready for a break once your dissertation is handed in. It is extremely normal to feel the way you are feeling at this stage, well I know I did! I know what you mean about the exhaustion- a couple of weeks before I handed my MA dissertation in, I couldn't even begin to imagine starting my PhD, in fact it was the last thing I wanted to do (even though I loved my subject area for my MA diss and still love the area now). I just wanted to get my diss done and then go far, far away from anything academia related. I even considered starting my PhD in 2011 (see my previous post somewhere) rather than this year. This was a similar feeling to my course mates- instead of celebrating the fact that we had handed our dissertation in, we all went home, drained and exhausted, too tired to party!

But once you have got that dissertation in, and had a lovely Christmas break, you will feel so much better and ready to face things again!

With regards to your family/quietness situation, do you think you will have an office during your PhD that you could use? I share one with 2 other PhD students and go in for a couple of days a week. Alternatively, do all of your family (i.e everyone in your house) work outside the home? If so, could you try and schedule working around when they are not there? I understand that this may be difficult seeing as you work lots of hours (I think I remember you saying that you work in the evening a lot) but I try and work around when my fiance isn't at home. This is particularly important for me because my computer is in the lounge (we have a teeny tiny house!) and so when my fiance comes home I usually stop working, because I can't concentrate with any noise, and I don't like asking him to sit in silence after a hard days work!

Please try not to fel lonely. I can completely relate to that though- I work at home a lot (in a town where all m,y old uni friends have moved out of and therefore where I have no one to talk to), and I share an office with two people who are incredibly close, which just makes me feel even worse. So you aren't alone!

Also, your attitude of wanting to just get your dissertation done and handed in is completely how I felt-when you've been working on something for so long, enough is enough!

You are definitely not lazy and incompetent- your commitment to your work is clear from every post you make on here!

I'm sorry if that really doesn't help- I don't have much advice, but I just wanted you to know that you are definitely not alone. Your (tree) will start on Wednesday!(robin)(snowman)(gift)(turkey)

Thanks all!

Natassia- yes I have just started my PhD, but I haven't been on any training or anything. I did get a couple of books though about HE teaching in general. I was asked to do some seminar tutoring by my Department (usually it is just second and third years but my supervisor mentioned that I was interested) so I'm doing that weekly which I love. This has given me so much confidence in the 8 weeks that I've been doing it- I know longer go red when I talk! This is a massive achievement for me, as I used to go bright red and blotchy when I talked in a lecture, or when I was in a nervous situation! I got asked by my supervisor to take the lecture that I took yesterday, as I had introduced her to the area that the lecture was on, due to my Masters research. She sent me a little note to say how happy she was about the lecture, and that I had given a "very confident presentation" woo!

I was advised to spend the first hour of the lecture doing my talking and also having a short break, and then the last hour giving the students some tasks to do. So based on this, I broke down my talking part into 3 areas which lasted around 15 minutes each. I didn't think I'd have much to say but my talking aactually went over, so it just goes to show that spare time is needed! I also set the students three tasks to do, but they only managed to get the first tasks done, because of the subject being new to them, and also because most of them were too busy talking. So this is something to bear in mind!

...did my first 'proper' 2 hour lecture for 40 undergrads :-) I'm so proud of myself considering I couldn't say boo to a goose last year, and they also sort of understood what I was saying woohoo!

I have:

-underwear
-vest
-long top/thin jumper
-big uni hoodie
-fleecy dressing gown
-throw
-hot water bottle
-leggings
-thick trackie bottoms
- socks
-fleecy socks
-halogen heater RIGHT next to my desk, which is inredibly bright and makes me feel a little bit ill
- I also have a british gas man here at the moment fixing my heating!

No animals to keep me warm :-( although I am in the process of convincing my fiance that it is vital that we get a little doggie!

======= Date Modified 16 Nov 2010 18:01:51 =======
Hi all,

I bought Endnote a couple of months ago and since they've all I've done with it is put all my references into it. I bought it with the intention of linking it to word, and this whole "cite while you write", but I just don't understand it.

For example, when it puts a citation in my work e.g "Jones 2000", I want it to have a comma in it "Jones, 2000) but I can't for the life of me work out how to do it. Also, when it automatically produces the reference list at the end, the references are never done how I am supposed to do them, even with the correct reference style selected. Finally, I want to use it on my home computer as well as my office computer. When I'm using my office computer I open up a copy of my main library, which works fine. But when I save references to it, I get home and they aren't on it! Aah!

For those who use it, did it take a long time for you to work it out?! And should I stick with it or just give up and only use it to store my references?

Thanks everyone!

Yay thanks (again) Sneaks!

Hi everyone,

Can anyone think of another word/phrase for "stems from"? I thought of "was developed from" but I've drawn a blank on anything else, and my thesaurus isn't helping!

http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=15826

http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=14085

I was just wondering how many conferences you went to/are going to go to during your PhD? Also, did you do them in 1st/2nd/3rd year? I've just started my PhD and have been asked by my sup to produce a rough timetable of the next three years, including conferences! I'm in social sciences, more specifically education, if that makes any difference!

Thanks a lot!

Hi all,

I've not been on here as much recently because I just can't get back into work mode after finishing my MA. I started my PhD in October but still don't really know what an earth I should be doing! What did you do during the first three months of your PhD?

Yippee, thanks so much Sneaks!

When I'm fed up, I turn my sighs into pretending to be a puffer fish...So the exhalation of breath leads to blowing my cheeks up really big like a puffer fish, and see how long I can hold it until I 'pop'. That's always fun!