Are you lab-based?

If not, working from home or my personal favourite, "hiding", might help.

I'm in. Another summer night about to waste!

...and didn't have a break before I started. So please ignore as I'm talking nonsense

Oops, I was 24.

In this context it might be interesting to remember that many young PhD students drop out. "young" meaning in their early twenties when they started.

And what exactly would make the difference? I still don't understand why it is luck not to have a gap (apart from financial reasons). Sometimes a break can help to let things sink in and to be mentally and physically ready for a new challenge. And a PhD is certainly a demanding task, so why the rush. A gap of 6-12 months on the CV will certainly not trigger any ackward questions, will it?

Good point. It really depends, as you say. Personally, I need long breaks to recharge after months of hard work, but not everbody does.

Why? All I believe is that it is not advisable to jump straight from MSc to PhD, without a vacation. Some people complete their MSc in September and start their PhD in September. Holiday would be better, don't you agree?

Come on, we can't be all in the same corner. Those George W. Bush "relatives in mind" should really come out of the closet. Nobody gets slaughtered on this liberal forum for their political beliefs!

Did I mention that he is now in Australia for the next two months?

I really wish the administrators would finally modernise the forum. Then I could scan some examples and show them here. 80% impossible to decipher, even after spending all day (excluding procrastination).

It is so annoying, because I'm generally open to criticism and are interested to read and understand all the red ink comments. All I see is red ink, but I don't know what he is saying!

From my personal experience, it is not a good idea not to have a very long break.

Thanks for another great way of procrastination (more than four hours today).

Somehow, Idon't know why, I ended up Economic Left/Right: -1.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.92

In the corner with Nelson Mandela and Gandhi

No need to freak out!

If you read the question of the original poster again:

"My question is that, is this something morally acceptable?" you

I'm just giving my opinion on that particular, narrow and clear question.

I think the guy is not talking about proofreading or employment of a copy editor. The guy wants to employ a "ghostwriter", someone who will write the whole thing for him. Like Katie Price alias Jordan who never wrote a single sentence for any of her bestselling books.