Thanks Heifer, and congratulations! This is all good advice, and stuff I will be thinking about before I go into the interview. Yes, a mock interview would be a good idea. In fact I will email the careers advice people now...

Yes, a one year postdoc research project which has a pre-arranged theme that I need to convince the panel I can fulfill.

An interview, finally!!!

Next week.

I know it is going to be tough, because I know some of the other competition.

I need to set myself apart from them somehow, but it has been years since I last had an interview, so I don't know what to do!!!

Thanks - I followed the advice about simplicity and a paragraph in length, and sent two ideas off to the editor. I keep sitting here refreshing my inbox but know it could take weeks to hear back.

Must return to email...I mean, thesis.....;-)

I have the opportunity to pitch several ideas to the editor of a decent glossy magazine on aspects of my research for potential publication as an article. Which is amazing, because I emailed initally and didn't think they would get back. Anyway, does anybody have any experience of this? how did you pitch a story at the right level? has anybody written anything journalistic before?

Faced with dire career prospects, here is what motivates me right now

1) the sooner I finish, the better I will be equipped to move on to what I need to do next
2) I will free up head space when I finish
3) I will have more time for self and friends/relationship
4) the sooner I finish, the sooner I no longer have to read another goddamn thing on my subject- arrgggghhhhhhhh

Saturday is practically working nocturnally. choo choo....

In my period of history, it sounds like there is going to be a Moll House mock-birth or "lying-in" with Wally pretending to give birth to a loaf of bread or something...

i plan to give-up my thesis for lent - i.e. complete it before Easter!

(up)

Good luck!

What an awkward situation - and 8 stone is tiny.

For a number of years, and certainly since I have been in a relationship I have been awkwardly underweight, partially intentionally, partially luck of the draw. There was a brief 6 -8 months where I ate loads more, exercised a lot, and lifted weights and my body really did change and I looked and felt better - and it was clear that the byf found me more attractive.

So now I am tall and awkwardly underweight and it is not very attractive, especially facially, and makes me feel awful. But until I feel able to deal with the stress of the final phd and no job situation, eat loads more, and start doing exercise/weights again, I can't change that.It is very annoying when I think that his body his well-proportioned.

As the less attractive too-skinny person in the couple, I am just grateful that he is patient and doesn't say anything negative (beyond being too thin, he has never said I am unattractive) but i can tell that he thinks I am less attractive now, and I feel that way too. So first on the agenda after the thesis is weight gain.

So I think, generally, that i most couples there are the body politics of "who weigh's what, in relation to whom.." and how changes are managed over time. My parents, for example, got quite rounded in their middle age, but BOTH decided to start going for walks, eating better, and going swimming. They are now the clothes sizes they were 20 years ago, before their 4 children came along and ruined that ;) So I think it is important to be sensitive and not do what your boyfriend did and target your weight, though he may well be conscious of his. Weight is surely the minefield of a relationship at points - especially post-christmas. I think that if it is at all possible, it is nice in a relationship to get to the point where one never feels judged about their appearance and feels relaxed. and importantly, never makes their partner feel uncomfortable in theirs.

The student is the customer, and the customer is always right. It is virtually impossible to fail as customer- opps - sorry, student.

I am not a generous marker and have no worries about giving low marks. I was always thorough in my comments and gave specific things that could be done to improve the essays.

I was a very average student at undergraduate, and had to fight for the 70s + that I got sometimes. But, the 60s I got......I have yet to mark anything as a 2.1 that matches the kind of stipulations my markers applied. I mean, some of the "2.1" essays I mark don't even have introductions, cogent conclusions, and are rough. Not a complaint about falling standards, more about uneven application of standards and the general impossibility of getting students to actually work for their degree since most expect to get a 2.1 and if they don't, they can easily complain...

Good luck with the interview.

As a small hint, I won't advocate mentioning academics or interviews by name on this board and would try and remain fairly anonymous. one wouldn't want the Prof. or others involved to read this post. I am sure he has far better things to do then surf a postgraduate forum, but you get what I mean.

An interesting example of statistical methods and interpretation in a humanities thesis getting the author into hot-water...

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=207790

Whilst I dislike texts that are so heavy and laden with thesaurus "try-hard" words, I do think part of the joy of reading academic work in the humanities, is being able to read and use the English language (or indeed any language it is written in) to one of the fullest extents possible. Which sometimes involves using words or turns of phrase that are not regularly employed, but are perfect for word usage in the context of a doctoral thesis. Not that my English is great, but I have read some people's theses and been a bit turned-off by the sparse writing style that has turned what should be an interesting subject dull.