Hope it went well? I will be on the midnight express tonight, as I have a paper due with an editor on monday, but want to take sunday off work. So must knuckle down.

You could see if you were eligible for a "Young Persons Railcard" which saves a 1/3 on train tickets - but since you live abroad you may not be eligible.

Try buying singles rather than return tickets - they might be cheaper - also, sometimes splitting a journey can be cheaper i.e. Southampton - London, London - Newcastle or suchlike. The online site let you play around with this kind of options.

If you can't get the train, try national express coaches, or even Mega Bus (megabus.com. The megabus is very basic and not exactly speedy - but it does the job. I checked today and Southampton to Leeds = £25 Leeds to Newcastle = £10.50. Not bad overall. Try looking for the same kind (or even direct journey) with National Express.

I think the use of 'I' is acceptable and consistent with academic writing. At least it prevents the stupid and annoying passive circumlocution of trying to disguise subjectivity and the researchers role in constructing the knowledge. At least in the humanities, I am seeing more published papers and books that start to retain 'I'. I think that it makes the writing seem more reflexive and that the writer is aware of the subjective nature of academic work and their role in creating and articulating their position.

Reading that forum drama makes my head hurt.

Thanks for your advice people - I'm up ready to write at 8am on a Saturday (yuck) to plug on with it.

:-)

After writing my four chapters, I am now writing my introduction, this should be straightforward but I am having real problems writing anything that I feel sets up my thesis in a good enough way to do it justice...sigh....any hints for writing a decent intro? :-s

Annoying I know, but given that so much is up for stake, I would just go in to uni and see admin in person, they would probably print it out as you wait. It is too easy for ignore an email. Good luck.

I guess photos could be useful for an interview panel to remember people they had interviewed, or for meeting in the lobby etc. In the case of an academic cv, maybe photos on the cv relate to the kind of photos people put on university profiles etc

But yes, photos seem to go against equal opportunities and promote some form of discrimination. In most cases it is simply unncessary to see what one looks like. Perhaps in some cases, photos reflect a benign curiosity in what the candidate looks like, after all so much other information is given. But in general, I am pleased that photos aren't a commonplace of cv's.

Thanks for all your advice. I have arranged my cv according to European conventions, but omitted a photo. The cv is quite detailed, and to be honest, I really don't have anything other than holiday snaps or events with friends (nights out!) which aren't really appropriate! There was one candidate - but I looked like a little boy and not employable material! lol

lol

;-)

I am sending off an application for a job at a German research institute in Berlin and am required to enclose a copy of the cv. I hear that enclosing a photograph on the cv is a norm in Germany and Switzerland - should I enclose one on mine? Though it does not ask for it specifically. I am unsure, I would never normally put a photo on my cv. The institute is international so is probably used to different styles of cv - I just want mine to conform to norms as much as possible!

Would you enclose a picture?

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Obviously the impact factor ranking for the sciences are fairly easy to find - but I can't seem to find any equivalent for the humanities. Does this exist?

Ack! I'm working on an application form for a grant in which I need to desrcribe my entire thesis in 750 words. Meldown. Where to start - I mean, conference abstracts allow 500 words for one issue!

The 750 words are supposed to convince this institution that they want me to come and work with them for six months. So what do you think they will want to know about the PhD...key themes, research questions?

To be frank, I think people need to stop using animals as a food source. It is abundantly clear that intensive raising of poultry and pigs, and cattle etc is fraught with health and environmental issues. BSE, Avian flu, Swine flu - wake up people. The animals you eat are raised in appalling conditions, are fed utter crap including refined animal products, the manner in which they are raised damages the environment i.e intensive pig raising - and then you fork it into your mouth. I wish the media would focus upon the utter preventability and lack of neccessity for this in the first place.

Just my two cents.