I've wondered about inviting them to my house (I'm a married mature (44) postgrad with children so am settled in a family house) but have decided against it for now (I only started part-time in Dec) - might throw a party when I finish and might invite them to that.

I'm not voting as I don't watch it but my first Doctor Who (who I hid behind the sofa at) was John Pertwee (I'm showing my age).

I think it is helpful to the reader to say the actual chapter so that if they are only interested in certain aspect they can find them easily.  Don't forget that your thesis isn't just for your examiners who will read it in its entirety, future researchers may want / need to look at it and it will be easier if things are more explicitly signposted.

======= Date Modified 12 Jun 2010 17:50:40 =======
If you look at edited books they follow a fairly linear structure of "In chapter x person Y discusses z", then a bit about it before going on to the next person and the next chapter and so on

How about buying some decent paper and putting that in the department printer before you print - that way you get the better quality paper but still at a cheap price

http://www.nus.org.uk/Student-Life/Money-And-Funding/Students-and-tax-credits-/ tells you what is and isn't included in the calculations

I think the best thing is to contact citizen's advice or the students' union who can give you financial advice.

Thanks for all the comments - what was also nice was I asked a question / made a comment to another student and my former MSc supervisor who is known as the toughest cookie (but with the best PhD completion record - 11 or 12) said "I was going to ask the same question as jepsonclough" - that made me feel that I did belong (and to be fair it was a fairly obvious question so wan't too unfair (how bad is that phrasing with all those "fairs" in it)).

Most of the questiosn / comments came fomr staff becuse all the other students were too busy stressing about their presetnations to ask a questison - one of the advantages of goign early is that you can listen to what everyone else says rather than worrying about your presentation.

Only bad thing was my colour scheme (pink & grey) which looked lovely on a pc screen didn't translate at all to the big screen but I managed to laugh it off. :-)

@404 Could you go into the print office of a local uni to see if they woudl do it cheap as you are a student - they might not ask for id to check you are one of their students?

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Sounds great - hope it works out for you - a shared sense of humour is sooooooooooooo important

(I mean the relationship)

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Were you trying to get funded PhDs - if so you did very well to get an interview. What field are you in? In some fields it is really difficult to get a funded PhD.

If it's any consolation we all go through the "I'm too dim to do this" - for me it was when I was struggling with my proposal but I got there in the end (I consoled myself with the fact that my MSc research proposal was the worst mark I got but I got a distinction in the end). I'm struggling to get started with writing at the moment but know I need to. The support on the forum is really helpful at keeping you going when other things (supervisors, motivation etc conspire against you)
:-)

Try to avoid it but husband and son are very excited (and my very "thoughtful" dad brought back one of those wretched vuvuzelas forma trip earlier this year). Might try to get on with PhD.

We had a research day today when all the PhD students had to present on their research in front of staff and other students. Some people were at the very begining while others are about to submit. I was quite nervous as I hadn't been before so I wasn't sure what was expected and also I was one of the first on.

It went pretty well (I knew a lot of the staff as I did my MSc there 5 years ago) and I had an e-mail from my supervisor who said that it was "perhaps the most credible and thought-out-in-advance research project presented between 0900-1100" (when he was there) so I'm feeling pretty good. I also got some good suggestiosn of literature to look at (there is very little in my specific area) and on some developments (from my MSc supervisor who will be retiring so can't be a PhD supervisor even though I would have liked her to).

The Head of Dept was also there (and he has interviewed me for a job twice and told me each time that I came a very close second to someone who had a PhD) so I am optimistic about getting a job there at sometime (it's much nearer to where I live than the university I work in)

A lot depends on whether you are looking for funding or whether you are able to self fund or have funding from an employer. If you have funding sorted then there will be less concern. If you are looking for funding then it is much much harder and grades in prior study will count to some degree I'm afraid.