OK Santa! Will get extra Christmas prezzies for being good? Seriously though, Sacha, excellent point, it annoys me when people delete title threads too.

Hi Sarah, I haven't submitted anything for publication yet, although I hope to soon, and am not looking forward to this sort of thing. All I can say is that I expect the rejection-re-submission experience is probably, hopefully, one of those PhD things that is massive and difficult at first, and then becomes an everyday, water off a duck's back thing.

My instinct would probably be to re-submit, after all, you've already done the work and it's only your ego that's going to need extra attention, and it might be accepted anyway; I wouldn't lower your standards though, still go for decent publications. What does your sup think about it?

Hi Wally, well, I get about 12 quid really, but I should get 20, and I'd want an awful lot more for giving feedback on a PhD proposal. I get reeeaally fed up of people coming on here and asking us to do their work for them, I sweat buckets to keep my jobs and PhD going (I'll be marking 166 essays at the end of this term), and I wrote both of my PhD propsals myself without help. It was hard, but I wouldn't have expected someone else, especially not random strangers on a web site, to contribute to it, so I find these kinds of requests incredulous. I was only teasing a bit, blimey.

Well, sorry BFH, but we get paid good money to read through academic work and provide feedback. For many of us it is our living and, seeing as we get about 20 quid for marking an undergraduate essay, what you are asking for represents about 50.00 quid plus of work. Would you walk into a tailors union meeting and ask for a free shirt? If you want general advice on how to write a proposal or how to approach a uni/supervisor I'm sure people, including myself, will be much more forthcoming. Also, we all did write our proposals ourselves and we worked very hard at it, so why do you think we should give you that kind of skill for nothing?

You know what? With a forehead the size of yours, I'm sure you can muster enough brains to put together your on proposal. I did it, and so did many other people around here and we all have teeny tiny foreheads...

Update:

I have finished the third draft and all my cites and references are done and dusted. I have now decided that I will have ito nclude anoher chapter outline as a possible alternative to my final chapter; I already have a very badly written and shodily thought out version of it which I will alter tonight. So tonight, Matthew, I will do the following:

1. Update, ie basically re-write, the alternative chapter outline.
2. Print the whol lot out.
3. Do a cursory re-draft of the whole thing - a kind of souped up proof read.

I have accepted that there are many things which wouldimprove this thesis outline, but I can't possible do them now, so will just have to doscuss them with my sup on Tuesday; pprobably better that way anyhow. I'll also be making a nice roast chicken dinner - anyone want some? Hahaaa, aren't cyber friends wonderful, they can't eat your food...

Well Bug I can remember your campaign to collect sympathy stars because you didn't think you had enough when you were the young ingénue of the forum, and we all handed them out like sweeties to kid on Halloween; and now look at you: lording it like King of the castle!

Have you ever seen the film 'All about Eve' with Bette Davis? A very true portrayal of a ruthless rise to the top, very true indeed...

======= Date Modified 08 05 2009 11:05:30 =======
Hello all you beautiful forum people.

It looks very much as if I will shortly be moving out of my one bedroomed flat, with seperate kitchen and roomy living room ,and into lodgings, ie a bedroom and the usual shared areas. Just wondering how people manage working and sleeping in the same room? My bedroom is sacred place and as a result I never have any trouble with sleep, will this go down the pan if I become a lodger?

I used to work in my bedroom during my undergraduate days, but that was so much less intense than a PhD. So I would really appreciate knowing how people manage it, do you find other places to work? Or just get with it in your room? I'm part-time so I don't have an office. I'll also still be an hour and a half away from my department, although only half an hour, or less, from the unis I work at.

I'm going to so do some work now, but, nevertheless, hope for your pearls of wisdom, and wait with baited breath.

Hey Ruby, good luck with your examiners, t must be so frustrating to have to hang around so much.

So! tonight, in between scoffing turkish delight and discos; watching compulsive but bad television; replying to a series of emails from a stroppy student (shouldn't she be out collecting traffic cones?; trying to telephone everyone I know for procrastinationary chats; and successfully resisting downing a bottle of rose I have in the kitchen, I have done the following:

1.finished the red penning
2. almost finished typing the third draft.

I have to get this finished by Sunday night now because my sup needs it for Monday so he can read it in time for our hastily arranged meeting on Tuesday. So, contrary to my usual working pattern, I am going to plough on tonight and finish the third draft so that I can do a poss fourth tomorrow, and then filll in the missing cites and refs. And then down the bottle of rose when it's all done.

======= Date Modified 07 Nov 2009 17:42:25 =======
OOOOOoooooh Bug! The public's memory is not that short! I remember you being the first ever solicitor of stars: 'Please give me a star' was your cry not so long ago, back when you were a 1 or two starer; I remember it well, and if I didn't have such a tight deadline I'd look up the thread[s] on which you made your pleas. How quickly the journey is forgotten!

AAhhhh Cobweb! How lovely of you to say so. You'll be doing my kindly aunty, who is also my number one fan, out of a job if you're not careful. I had been feeling a little tainted after my semi disguised star soliciting had got me into the top 10, but now I think, yes, maybe I can hold my head up high. ;-)

Hello Someone3, So sorry to hear aout your depression etc. My comment was ironic: I actually am ok re: affirmation, and I'm not isolated, i have plenty of colleagues and friends and a very kindly aunty who makes sre I'm ok most days (can get a bit irritating but I love her to bits and couldn't be without her). It was just a joke, as is the whole vying for stars thing. We're just having a laugh and being playful, so sorry for any offence. Of course you don't have to give a star to get advice; we're just letting off steam and taking the mickey out of the whole competitiveness of academia thing. Don't take us seriously, we're just having fun. Maybe it's a British humour thing, we're being ironic, and also procrastinating a lot. I'm getting a bit worried now in case I get four stars and then I willhave to thinkk solely about my work :( (that was a joke!).

You could join one of the accountability threads if you want some people to share your experiences and help you aong your way with your work. I'm on the accountability thread which has been focussed on writing up, so as a second year part-time, I'm thinking of swapping to sneaks' new accountability thread, which is more general. It works really well, it helps you keep track of yourself and you get loads of chat and mutual support. We're nice really, just get a bit silly someitmes to let off steam. Good luck

:-)

Thanks Sizor, But, you know, I agree with them about the fees, I think their situation is pretty dire, especially the ones who wouldn't want to go to uni if it wasn't necessary for getting any kind of reectablejob these days. It's just that I don't appreciate this particular little oik telling me I ought to let her treat me like a dish rag because she's paying for her education; especially when she doesn't do the work.

Hi Someone, we're only taking it seriously because our lives depend on it; we are a strange, isolatated bread of human which has become star dependent due to being cut off from other forms of human contact and affirmation.

I hope that comment was helpful enough to get me a vote. One day, when you have been down this cave for years on end, you will understand...

AAAARRRGGGHHHH I've just had an email from one of the lilttle horrors: telling me how she always treats me with respect and is shocked at being discouraged to ask questions considering the fees she has to pay.... AAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH All i said was that she should think about how far her comments woud help me to help her before she vocalised them (basically my PC way of saying stop behaving like a petulant 2 year old during my sessions); and that she should do the work in order to get the best grades. How the bl***** can they justify banging on about how much they pay when having a go at us for not allowing them to treat us like their UG whipping boys, and then not do the blooming work? She's gone into this big passage about how I am supressing her independent thought!!! and evaluation! She's artiulate alright, why won't she blooming use it?? why, why, why?

WHY?

Well, I have some writing to get on with; a deadline for Monday, and then on Tuesday I get to go up to my department.