I've been teaching a course, general and theoretical, to a few classes of first years. It's been fun, and more demanding than I expected.
I am marking their essays at the moment, and am a little bit distraught by the work some of the people have cobbled together. Its either blatantly plagiarized or contains the least bit of argument in the slightest bit directed to the question which they purport to answer. (I just wrote the web link on one of the papers, as it was blatant and quickly found via google - maybe that will teach them)
I've attempted to approach the classes by critiquing the material which was presented, in terms of the content in the articles we were discussing and in terms of the argument which they were intended to support. I did not attempt to explain much. Some of the students had a problem with this.
I'm not sure if I was harsh in refusing to explain material to students who had not read the prescribed material.
I could rant for hours, but it appears that some of the students benefited from my approach, while some clearly did not. Perhaps this is inevitable when attempting to inculcate critical skills.

Regarding making it more enjoyable, the classes which went well were those in which I managed to successfully defuse the passions which some students appear to feel the need to display - first year arts students = moralising peacocks?

I'm a little bit apprehensive about teaching courses which are not my core interest again. I think there is a massive gulf between being involved in teaching something you are passionate about and interested in and something which is felt by the department to be an attractive option to young students. However, I'm sure this is something which is a fairly universal hurdle, and therefore something which we should expect and prepare for.

Hey there,

Zotero available here http://www.zotero.org/

News story about Endnote (Thomson/Reuters) suing Zotero publisher http://madisonian.net/2008/09/28/endnote-v-zotero/

I've just downloaded Zotero, will use it for a couple of weeks and feedback here.

I have exactly zero stars. yay for me.

how many stars have I?

I think I am prepared enough to do a PhD.

I am also of the opinion that there is a wide range in the quality of PhDs. Whether I am in a position to do as good a PhD now as I would be after a second MRes, well that would depend greatly on the quality of the work done during a second MRes.

On the balance, I think I might be better off putting my energies into applying for a PhD programme and endeavouring to complete it as successfully as I can.

Thanks for your replies!

Thank you for your reply.
I have spoken with some people about this.
There have been differing opinions.
On the whole people have been against the idea.

Jouri, I also wrote the following.

One consideration I had was that it may be significantly beneficial
to do research with two supervisors in two different institutions, in
what would be to most people closely related topic areas.

Do you also think that not worthwhile? and sufficient justification for doing two research degrees?

Thank you HazyJane for your reply.
What you say makes a lot of sense in many ways.

Could you please explain why you think I need a bit of a reality check?

Thank you for your kind replies my dear forum dwellers.

One consideration I had was that it may be significantly beneficial
to do research with two supervisors in two different institutions, in
what would be to most people closely related topic areas.

Another consideration is that I am of the opinion that a PhD should
be about mastering techniques and methodologies rather than forming a nice and pretty novel argument.

Or is that just wishy-washy?

Hi. Thanks for your reply.

I guess it just boils down to a question of funding...

Hi all.
Long time reader, little time poster here.
Hope all is well with your own endeavours.

I have recently been pondering the benefits, or otherwise, of doing two masters. I have completed a masters by research (in history) and have been offered a place on a PhD. I couldn't take that up at the time.

I now have the possibility of doing a second masters by research in another university, with the possibility of that leading to a PhD.

As I think about it, I think it might not be a bad thing to do two masters by research. It would allow me to work on different methodologies before committing myself to a fuller research project in a PhD. I think it might improve the PhD significantly.

Has anyone else followed this route?