when you copy from one book, they call it plagiarism. when you copy from many book, they call it research

maybe that happens in your department hairui. in mine, home students get more attention coz sups have to account to research councils on their progress. regardless of what international students pay, they are not given attention and are seen as an extra source of funds to fill in gaps in the budget. so sups are under more pressure to make the home student perform. i don't think its preference - it's more - consequences if a funded student doesn't graduate.

hugs mango

Tony, as long as you get paid and you have your PhD what's the big deal about going forward or backwards?

in my department, supervisors prioritise funded students - usually UK students and don't really care about international students - who are self-funded. needless to say, UK students get more attention, they get to go for coffees with sups and invitations to publish with them. that doesn't happen with international students. anyway, that's my department - i don't know about others.

am a night owl as well. my best work is produced between 10pm and 3am.

or could this be the return of Otto . looks like halloween is here.. 7 days to go.

wouldn't be surprised if Adem and Jouri are the same person.

Adem should be banned.

on two occassions, i've had supervisors who's English is not as good as mine - but they have PhDs. that says something. If i were you, i'd get over this and stick with this professor - spoken english is not everything. as long as you write well in your thesis, the rest is irrelevant. if you wanna practice your English, you can do that outside the lab with proper English speaking people. ( By the way, English is my third language.) Just focus on your work and try not to find fault with everything, otherwise this will impede you from making progress.

hi guys, just popping in to see if am the only one up working late. i have to hand in some work to my supervisors tomorrow. i have been playing hide and seek with them for a while now and now am paying for my procrastination. coffee, coffee and more coffee. yesterday i got through two packs of chocolates and didn't do very much. this PhD has really been the experience of a life time.

hi dazednconfused - what year are you in? i felt the same in my second year. i found that keeping going helped, even if my work wasn't up to standard. it eventually got there. needless to say, it took a lot out of me. a while back, i read something really rewarding. it said, there comes a point during the PhD after the euphoria, boredom and frustration phase when we should see it as just 'a job to be finished.' I have found treating my work in this way helps a lot. it's no longer my world but i still work on it, with weekly targets like everyone else who goes to work.
i'd say, take a week off and do something totally different. perhaps go somewhere. you'll be refreshed when you get back and you can just treat it as a job to be finished.

am not Dyslexic, but am teaching two Dyslexic undergrads. the uni will soon be giving me a list of tips on how to improve their reading and if its helpful i will post them here.

not sure i will get there... in the event that i do, like Arch, i don't think family and friends will give me a choice.

first, am sorry that your supervisor was so mean to you. try not to take it to heart. meanwhile, since the work is 8 hours a week. lets face it. thats just about 2 hours a day four days a week. or one day's work in a week. it will not make a big difference to your progress. go ahead with it if you feel you have the ability to handle it alongside your work in the current situation. as for your marriage and how you allocate roles / support each other, that is NOT your supervisors. ignore her comments. she has no right to pock her nose into your marriage. all the best in your work.

thanks guys for your encouragement. i will keep you posted on how things develop. eventually i will have to make the decision for myself and do what works for me. but it's really gonna be hard coz i wish they would just trust me and be happy for me. anyway, i think what i should do now is not give up and try to explain to them why am doing what am doing and hope that they'll come round.