first time you mention them in your text you should give the full name and your abbreviation in brackets, or you should have a list of abbreviations somewhere at the beginning of your thesis. that what my supervisor says anyway

KB, think back to when you were are school - do you remember the person who always wanted their own way, and used to sulk big time if they didn't get it? (including running out of the room, slamming doors etc)This person is just a grown up (ish) version of that child. The situation is very silly, and as far as i can see you have some options. Stop being so nice to them - which is quite difficult if you are an inherently nice person, which you must be or you wouldn't be suffering angst about this person's feelings. Ignore him, which is obviously not an option if you have to work with this person. Present this person with the facts, you have to work together, to do this you have to communicate, and therefore you have to be grown up about the problem, sulking is not an option, write a list of things you will have to talk to each other about and ask what they intend to do about it. If they refuse to do this, tell them to go to the supervisor and sort it out and then let you know what the plan is. Put the ball in their court, tell them that you are prepared to work with them, and if they are not prepared to work with you then they need to sort something out, tell them to start being professional and stop behaving like a child. if nothing happens, tell the supervisor what you have done to try to sort the problem out, that you don't want it to affect your work, and take up their offer to try to sort out the problem. Time is too short for you to have to do this, you have done your best, now let someone else have a go - and don't worry about it, get on with what you have to do and let this person sort it out for themselves.

Thanks everyone for the replies. It was kind of a 'eureka' moment at the meeting, it seemed ideal for looking a government policy in education - which is my field. the only thing was that the person who was talking about it was applying it to an interview which was quite short, and I was wondering if it could be used 'on the big screen', and also wondering if it was an acceptable method outside psychology. (I often have to stop myself from doing/suggesting unconventional things, like when the art department here wanted to do something with the science department on 'outer space' for a sculpture, and they came up with all the conventional planet type ideas - and I suggested that they might like to take another angle, maybe outside your personal space, or outside your home, e.g. garden/woodland- didn't go down awfully well, and they went with the boring plant theme, not that planets are boring, but it was just so obvious) anyway i will get the books and have a go, nothing ventured etc!!! :-)

I went to a meeting about qualitative methods and this method was suggested as a useful tool. I am quite tempted to give it a go because I can see it might prove useful, but the paper that is supposed to give lots of info about this is not available here (typical) so, firstly could I use this method for looking at government and other documents, to see what they are really getting at, that is, is it an accepted method outside psychology, which is where they were locating its use, and secondly, does anyone know of a good book in this area that covers the use of this method for documents of this type, I've located one that looks like it covers newspapers, but don't want to get one that just covers its use for interviews etc. they have a copy in the library, but I can't get there at the moment, and anyway its a week loan book, so that won't be much use anyway. any help would be appreciated.

i would just say happy birthday if I saw him, but not otherwise, and i don't think I would send a card (but then I tend not to send cards anyway to people I see). the relationship between sup and student is one that is different from a usual friend relationship, and should probably remain so until you have finished, altohugh it is obviously a friendly relationship - assuming things are going well, but there needs to be enough distance for critique to be undertaken without other things getting in the way, if you know what I mean. It might become a 'friend' relationship later, but then that will be when you are more equal and able to decide, rather than it being thrust upon you.

well done, congratulations :-):-)

keep it on the pending pile! If you don't use it, well you don't, but you might, so it isn't a waste its just waiting its turn to be useful, and will remain so until you get to the end. Then you can pass it on to someone else ,either way, it isn't wasted, it just hasn't reached its potential yet:-)

it depends on how long you have as a slot, and how much you can use info you already have to start it off - and how you are going to present the work. I've got one to do for a few weeks time, and I'm planning on a day to get the bare bones down, plans, basic info, and diagrams etc, and a day to add the meat - quotes, etc. (i've also got to persuade one of my techs to get an experiment ready for me to take along, but that's another story entirely). I have done one in an evening though, but I knew exactly what I needed to put in, so it was just a question of putting it together. you might be able to get some of it done and then slot in the results when you have them.

I wouldn't worry too much, but if you are in contact with her I should point out that it won't be a good idea if you both head off down exactly the same route, and suggest that since you are ahead, she needs to make sure hers is different to yours and not the other way round as yours will be in first (hopefully!!!). Take charge and don't let her bully you. I agree about keeping stuff to yourself, that's why I'm a bit wary about what I do at conferences etc., just in case. I've read stuff and thought oh no, that's what I'm doing, but then I realsie that its only the basics that are the same, and my take on the subject is different, and it isn't really like mine at all - well so far it hasn't been anyway.:-)

This kind of thing needs to be published more widely, I've seen pics of Kate Moss that can give us all hope!!!! :$ anything that stops this insane idea that anyone can look that perfect, except maybe Barbie, deserves a mention... even if it is in the DM.

At a meeting I went to recently they said the way to proof read it is to start on the right side a read towards the left. You won't get the meaning, but you will spot the errors, or so they said anyway. may be worth a try. the other thing is to put it one side for a while and then read it, that way you will have forgotten it enough for you to be able to spot missing words etc.

sometimes I might think of doing it, or shoving everything through a shredder - but this is someone who still has some of her school exercise books in the loft, and some old exam papers so I don't think it will happen.

I must admit I can guess some answers, although sometimes its more of an 'if its a play, guess shakespeare' assuming its the right era,or 'if its a pic with trees guess Constable - or if its got a horse in it guess Stubbs' etc. :$. The best ones are the maths, a whole load of numerical bits. and cos I can't write it down I've forgotten half of it before its finished, i usually guess one, or 0.5 and sometimes its even right! :-). What gets me though is when someone gives an answer and Mr P. looks scathingly at them or raises his voice in mock surprise that they could even consider that could be the answer, me. I would probably think it was a valid guess!

I noticed that too, I suppose once upon a time it was all taken more as a bit of fun, nowadays it is far too serious. but then in the beginning they had different points for the follow up questions instead of the standard they have now, so a team could get into their swing a bit later than the other one, but still win because their follow up questions had had more points attached.

Never having been invited to participate (although my daughter was) anything I could say about them could well be construed as sour grapes - but you could well be right. however since Bambi stopped doing it I have noticed a distinct whiff of superiority from Mr P creeping in (but then it is so much easier to chuckle when he can't pronounce stuff, which I notice is often scientific) The real question is though, why do they still allow Oxford and Cambridge so many more goes than other universities? and incidentally what was it this year with the strange second round bit, that was really odd.