Depends on your budget Could you (possibly by clubbing together with others if it is beyond your budget) get her something to pamper her - facial/spa day etc. I remember when I had jsut had my childrne something like that would have been really welcome (esp if you can babysit for her as well to take that worry off her hands). Or a basket of treats - pampering things, mini bottle champagne, chocolates, posh bubble bath etc (plus the baby sitting)

I think the point is that there are errors that might slip through proof reading (I cringe when I look at my BA, MA and MSc dissertations and spot the typos) and on that note here is a poem:

I have a spell chequer it came with my pea see
It plainly marks four my revue miss steaks eye cannot sea.
Each thyme when eye have struck the quays I weight four it to say
If watt I rote is wrong or rite it shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid it nose bee fore two late
And eye can put the error write yes, I shall find it grate.
I’ve run this poem threw it I’m sure yore pleased to no.
Its letter perfect in its weigh my chequer tolled me sew.

I really feel for you. I am a numerate person (I used to do very complex spreadsheet modelling when I was an accountant) but I really struggle with SPSS. My solution was to find a colleague in the Psychology dept who teaches it to undergrads who will let me sit in on her classes. Is that an option for you - to find some undergrad (or taught postgrad) classes which cover it - you can sell it to your supervisors (if you need to tell them) by saying you are recapping / upskilling etc. Can you get hold of any of the material for the taught course ("I'm interested in how it is taught here compared to how I did it" rather than "I can't do this and need help"). Look at the reading list for the intro courses and get some books from the library.

Above all try not to stress as that will just make it worse.(up)

Just remember the golden answer to any difficult question " That's a really interesting point and I will be sure to look into it further"
Oh and I recommend Bach Rescue Remedy for nerves

Thanks for the suggestion CB. I've jsut been looking at various options have have found I can get 25G on my university outlook account so I think I am going to try that.

Not too much damage but even that there is will need sorting - at the moment the backdoor has been secured but planks of wood across the window are not very attractive. Wall needs replastering where the door frame came away from the wall. Main thing is that no one wa shurt, my son isn't traumatised and all the photos (apart fomr one which can be recreated) have been backed up

Hi Eska
It's always nice to hear when someone has made progress - keeps the rest of us going :-)

Just a reminder that we should make sure we backup our work to an off site device (online or external drive which is kept away from main work).

My husband and son came home yesterday and disturbed burglars who ran off with son's laptop and husband's camera. Fortunately no one one hurt but it made me think. I usually back my phd work to an external drive but often leave that plugged into my netbook which means if I hadn't taken it with me (and I usually don't) they could have taken everything.

A lot of the time they put competitive so they don't have to pay you more than they need to - eg if you are already earning £40k then you probably wouldn't take the job for £38k; if on the other hand you are on £30 they don't need to offer you £38K but could probably get you for £35k.

They may well therefore not tell you the salary.

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I'm just putting the finishing touches to a paper (which is nothing to do with PhD but is based on some research I started pre-PhD, which I got a conference proceedings paper out of a couple of years ago and which is repeated each year so it seemed mad not to write it up properly).  Maybe I should get rid of that and then I can focus on PhD writing.

At the moment I am trying to do PhD lit review writing, writing module guides for new academic year, writing a research seminar and finishing this paper. Maybe it is just too many different things on the go and I should park the lit review for a couple of weeks as that is not time critical.

[quote]Quote From Here_and_There:

Thanks so much for your replies and positivity (is that even a word?!!). I am in Humanities, so plenty of scope for idleness and procrastination unfortunately!!

quote]

But also you can fit bits in at home etc rather than having to go to the lab.

I reckon anyway that lots of people over estimate how much work they do by counting how many hours they were in the library without taking off the time taken by getting coffee, chatting with a colleague, reading e-mail, facebook/PGForum etc, getting another coffee, looking for a book, going out for a fag, back on facebook/PG forum, getting lunch and so on. If you are focussed and expect to do 55 minutes in every hour I reckon 6 hours a day is plenty.

I seem to have a real mental block with writing since I started my part-time PhD beginning of this year. I have written 2,000 (pretty ropey) words so far and have written nothing since mid-July.



What I have done is present at a prestigious international conference and I have just finished writing my slides and notes for a 45 minute research seminar I am giving next month. I have lots of content (for this stage) from the range of perspectives I am drawing on, have some results from pilot observations and interviews I undertook in the summer and I am pretty pleased with what I have written for the seminar (I also presented at a PhD student day in July which was only 15 minutes but which my (very tough) supervisor said was the most well-conceived presentation of the day.

BUT I CAN'T SEEM TO WRITE. I don't doubt my abilities to research relevant literature, synthesise it etc, construct arguments, undertake the primary research etc but I don't seem to be able to write anymore.

Any thoughts or tips on translating a pretty good presentation into PhD writing or (as I really ought to do) into a journal article. I don't know if it is just a mental block becuase I think I shoudl eb writing PhD standard of work now or what but I am scared I won't get over this 9esp as it has been going on forover a month since I got back fomr my research trip)

It is tough for us mums but it is doable. I work full time as an academic with a 14 hour a week teachign load, plus preparation, plus marking. I also live about an hour and a half (only possible by car - by public transport it is about 3.5 hours) from the unveristy where I work. My children are older (11 & 9) and I think that it is more difficult as they get older - with littlies nurseries /childminders have much longer hours whereas schools(even with aftercare) are less flexible. They also have more things out of school (sports matches on saturday mornings etc). My PhD is part time (self funded) and just gets squashed in when I can - mostly in the gap between university term time and school breaking up. I have found that I have had to be far more focussed than I would be if I were full time - I don't have the luxury of going off on tangents that might be interesting but might prove fruitless.

You don't mention what subject you are in - I am in social sciences but need (overseas) fieldwork which so far has formed the basis for family holidays. Next summer though I'd like to go out to the states to collect my primary data and I've found a way that I think I could do it by volunteering in a national park (which would give me accomodation and a meal allowance). BUT that would mean three months away - not sure whether I can / want to do it.

You do have the advantage that your children will be in bed early so you can get some PhD time then. You just have to grab the time when you can - you can read on the train (I did most of my part-time MA reading on the bus to work). If you can have some space in teh hosue wher eyou can leave your work then taht helps because you don't ahve to waste time getting stuff out or putting it away - by having a desk which is left alone I can grab 20 minutes here and there (while food is cooking) because the work is all on my desk.

Good luck but rememebr at the end of the day it is only a PhD - your children are far more precious.

Boxes and boxes and boxes.
Taking over my dining room

I'm not MatildaL but I sue Dragon natrually Speaking - available from Software for students - only had a few months (and had a big break in the middle but once you get used to feeling a bit daft I find it good.)

I now keep e-mails I have sent to students who have I haven't seen asking if everything is OK - not because I particualrly care about them (although some of them I do) but becuase I am covering my back in case they complain. Sad reflection of the world we live in.

I've had students make complaints about me lending books (off my shelf) to other students and saying it is favouritism. Those who get to borrow books at ethos ewho have been bothered to see me; the students who come to see me do get more support than those I don't see from one month to the next - is it favouritism or is it just that they put in more effort so get more back?