I had Coco Pops as well.

Yes, with your degree every Postdoc is required to accept a lecturer position. Two years later, your required to accept the position of School Dean, then Deputy Vice Chancellor and so on. After a minimum period of ten years you are required to accept the position of head of state, i.e. queen/king or dictator of Zanzibar.

I agree that it is highly unlikely. I therefore suspect the OP pulls the bull.

LOL - not bad.

I think this section is very difficult to write. It could mean doom or gloom.

I've been trying to write a sentence about my parents for the last 50 minutes and all I came up with thus far is: "...to my parents for always believing in me."

Need a break.

If you read something like "thanks for always believing in me" in a PhD thesis, would you think that's a bit over the top?

Thanks. That's definitely helpful. How about personal stuff? Yes, or no? For example, I was thinking about thanking my parents, but it sounds perhaps too cheesy.

This may sound like a silly question (and it probably is), but how is it possible to strike the right tone in the acknwoledgments section? I get the impression that I am either drifting into emotional "Academy Award" style or in too formal and sober expressions of gratitude. As this is the only section anybody will ever read, it might be worth asking for advice. Any advice?

Yeah, why not say, 20 does not cut it anymore. How about 50? Or 60? Who cares about quality, let's just publish like there is no tomorrow.

The question really is, what is realistic with pressures rising to complete PhDs in 36 months. It's not like in 1985, nowadays departments will pressurise students to submit and complete the thesis, even 4 years is an exception. If they want 30 publications on top of that, they can just f off.

Whereas having some publications may represent an additional selling point, it does little to help you pass the viva. The thesis is examined, not your publications. Also, I don't know what your problem is? You have three, so don't ask silly questions.

PhD and publications are two entirely separate matters. They are not related. Whilst you may publish things from your thesis, having publications does NOT guarantee you passing the viva. I know many people who have passed their Viva with 0 publications and have subsequently published. Similarly I know people who have dropped out of their PhD programmes but still published things. I think you and your supervisor need to get the facts straight.

Claire is two faced. She tried to be nice this time, but it was all fake. Then there is Alex, only bitching about other candidates and def. trying to play games. Then there is Jennifer, cold like a stone and very convinced of her master plan. I don't know, they all walk around with their 9 GCSEs and limited business experience and talk like CEOs. I don't think any of them deserves 100k per year. But maybe they will try harder next week.

Good night everyone. Been watching from the distance but not working tonight. Good working spirit. As Jojo said, one day we will all wake up and the job is done.

I don't understand what you are talking about. Please clarify your problem.

"do I want an endless round of teaching, marking papers, giving papers at conferences, trying to publish things...."

" It seems sort of artificial and in a way really meaningless. Like, taking in each other's washing."

These are EXACTLY my thoughts about the academic environment. It feels like these senior professors are trapped in this endless cricle and can't get out or they missed the right time to do so. I hope you make the right decision which is the best for you. My inner voice tells me these things you have described for years, so far I've chosen to ignore it. but who knows?

Don't even start making notes for your literature review. Find suitable journal articles instead, transfer to Endnote, print them, read them, highlight important parts, and transfer them straight away in your draft chapter. By doing that you will save yourself months and will always have something to produce to your supervisors. Even if you decide to delete certain sections later on, the feeling of achievement will be there. It won't derive from development of sophisticated systems for categorisation, summaries filing or note taking. Remember that these activites may only distract you from the one and only important task. And that's submission of a PHD thesis. My advice, start writing your thesis TODAY.