I'm still working too :-(. i expected to get much further on that I have, and am grumpy because I haven't had the time to get into the garden and pick the apples even, or sort out all the other things I need to do. I have no idea where the time has gone, and am sure its only Tuesday really! super will be expecting something tomorrow and its going to be touch and go as to whether I get it done - also promised a power-point presentation for Tuesday on equality as it affects school governors ( the makeup of governing bodies etc.) so no pressure. anyone know offhand if you can import a page from publisher into word before I try it????

Maybe you could just state that your topic has wider applications, something like 'comments/discussion indicate the ways in which this topic may be of use/have application in other areas such as ...' and then try and fit the paper you want to include into another section, maybe where you are discussing your results?

Right, I've put myself in 'costume' not a bit like me though, I was thinking something cool and glam - but I guess what I've put there is more like my usual self , sort of casual casual I suppose *sigh*

I want more stars too, who is good a drawing? I think the stars have run out of steam and have been forgotten. I never got round to doing the clothes thing - will I fail now through lack of the right thing to wear? will the lack of stars mean I won't be able to find my way to the right room? Will the examiner know and question me on this? So many worries...I think I will have to go and find chocolate...and then I never will get anything to fit :-( who has the 'we want/need/deserve more stars placard???

Tell yourself you need the time off - and mean it! I've had a week off school in which I planned to do so much - nothing much has materialised yet, but on the other hand I've cleaned a carpet or two! I did go to a session at uni about the viva (nowhere near that yet, but thought it was good to know the enemy!)This scared me a bit, amongst other things, the person said thet he flicks through the thesis when he gets it, and kind of knows from that if its good enough or not, plus he says he checks all the refs to see how old they are, how many times each ref is used, if they have been used etc. and makes a table of his results before he even starts looking at the actual contents. then goes onto the internet to see how many more things he can find which haven't been included:-(. Glad I'm not going to get him! Anyway, if the weather with you is anything like it is here -warmish and sunny, get away from it all to the park, you may even get your last outside ice cream of the year, me, I'll be taking the dog soon, work will wait until it is raining - or at least until later on tonight. :$

that sounds really good:-). Thanks for that

I have a love/hate relationship with endnote, and have relegated it to one of my (many) places to store my reference list. some people can get it to do all sorts of wonderful things, but it isn't my favourite bit of kit, partly perhaps because unless I go in and alter the settings it isn't going to give me the refs in the way I need them. On the other hand it is good if you want to publish somewhere where they need a different format. - on this point I have made sure I record not just the initials, but full names and middle initial, you may need these for some publications, although not for all. some people here have had problems with using hte 'cite while you write' function as it wouldn't give them what they needed, or gave them too much in some cases. If I were you, and was thinking of using it, I would have a dummy run to make sure you know how it will work for you, so when you get down to work you will be familiar with it. One other thing, make sure you keep at least one other copy of your ref list, preferably several, there would be nothing worse than entrusting it with your only source of this - computers know these things and will, at some critical point, refuse to work properly! :$

I have a largish bit (10 pages) of my methodology which discusses qual and quant in an abstract kind of way with all the usual refs etc. which I want to move to an appendix so that the chapter is all about the way I have used these in my research. - as suggested by my supervisor, but can't think of how to word this. I want to say something like ' well you all know the arguments for the use of qual and quant, so I'm not going to bore you by going into something you already know, but here is how they fit into my research and if you want to know what my considerations are, they are detailed in the appendix.' Anyone any ideas? I've typed out about a dozen versions, but none seem quite right. Until I get this right I can't seem to move on.:-(

I am also doing something that no-one else is doing, but there are meetings/ workshops etc. for PhD students, usually on a Saturday every couple of months and I try to get to as many as I can, this gets us together and provides somewhere where we can discuss all the little things, same as on here really. If there isn't anything like that at your place, perhaps you could suggest that something is set up? We have sessions about all sorts of things, speed reading, memory techniques, analysis etc. that are all quite general, so of use to all students, so quite a few usually come along. Feeling isolated is just one of those things, I suppose it is because there are only a few post grads at any one place- compared to undergrads - so you don't just bump into people with whom you can chat about what you are doing.

hi and welcome,:-). As Sue said, we all get that isolation feeling from time to time, it's quite normal. Juggling is a fact of life. At the moment I'm on holiday from school (not a teacher by the way) and have so many things planned, some of which have already gone out the window and already I'm wondering how I will fit everything in. One of the problems is finding someone whose work is even close to your own, which gets increasingly difficult as you get further on, now even those with whom you started have diverged into their own particular niche, although here we have regular workshops, which keep us all in touch and with whom we can discuss the common elements, like how many words have you got in your lit review, and what have you included etc.. the only thing I can suggest is that you get yourself a plan so you can see where you have to go, and get some dates put on things, e.g. getting a chapter as finished as you can so you can put it aside and get on with the next. Doesn't matter if you don't keep to it exactly, but it does help to see where you are going, and you can cross off things which is always good.:$

I also think you should think long and hard before going down this route. If you now have your PhD, congratulations, that is a major achievement and worth celebrating, however I would put a line under this phase of your life, put and angst down to experience, and move on. The academic world is a small one, and you never know when you may come across someone who knows whoever this supervisor is, and they may have a completely different idea about this person. Universities also know about other universities and they have long memories, industry or other areas of life may have connections with the university, and somewhere along the line they may be seeking collaboration with them, you may harm your own future by taking legal actions. You may even, one day, need to meet this supervisor in different circumstances, you never know how life will turn out. Anyway 'bullying' is hard to define, usually one person's word against another. Let it go, it could well be a hollow victory even if you manage to get the result you want,(do you know what you want to be the outcome, and if you could in reality, expect this to be the result?) and may well damage you far more than this other person in the long run.

It depends a bit on the time scale you have been given. For example, if it is a broad overview, with the object of finding a niche for your research and you have just a week or so, my approach would be to spend a bit of time looking at the area as a whole, to map out the main direction and identify diverging ideas within the field. Then I would identify one or two - or more of these subsections that might prove fruitful and subject them to a more detailed analysis to gain insight into the ideas and the concepts that they were working on. From this you may identify one or two paths that excite you, and to which you think you could contribute effectively. If you put this lot together in a coherent way, and add the references cited in the articles which would help you on this path, I think that would be a good start. If they want anything more detailed, they will tell you.

Incidentally, we all feel the same way about giving work into our supervisors at least some of the time. My supervisor asked me to lead some discussions out of the blue last week, and then afterwards said how much my contribution had helped him, inwardly my response was 'I'm not worthy of that kind of praise :$' whilst also thinking - he thought it was good, yippee!!!

There are advantages and disadvantages to both really, but being part time one big disadvantage is the inability to get to meetings/groups that take place during the day - but if you are going to be able to get to these then this will not be a problem. Here I find that the fact you don't have a desk, or even part of one at uni means you don't have anywhere to leave stuff and could make you feel a bit isolated. -also we don't get to get a pass to let you through the barrier into the post grad car park, which is annoying as because there is so little space in the main car park you can't just pop up for a lunchtime session, or before about 5pm when the main student body goes home. On the other hand it gives you a bit of flexibility in the way you work, I tend to work in solid blocks with not much done at other times because my work means I can't just take a day or so off to get on with something. I can also run ahead of the schedule for part timers, and therefore should finish a bit earlier, but I have the extra time if I need it which I find reassuring!:$

I agree with the porridge thing. It's my morning staple, and quite low in calories. I use the microwave versions M&S is good- it comes with a little scoop as well - or Irish porridge oats for the microwave. It keeps me going for at least an hour or three. I also have some snack-a-jacks to hand. Choc is banned from the worktable otherwise I would just scoff it, and it doesn't last long either and a couple of squares are never enough. I know you said no seeds, but freshly toasted sunflower seeds are nice especially if they are still warm - much better than the pallid plain ones and because they are more difficult to eat, being harder to pick up by the handful, I tend to eat less of them. Actually I find anything that is a bit more difficult to eat is best because sometimes I just can't be bothered to make the effort. - my goodness that sounds lazy :$

Having done just the same thing, in that I also developed some unique methods,(although this is not the area I'm researching in now) I would say that the two are different in that for the PhD you really need to know more than just your particular 'discovery', you must know a lot more about the background, who has said what before, how it relates to your stuff, what similar research is being done and how it relates to your work etc. - you, of course may have more closely considered other work in your field, but I did not do this with mine, the only other way to do it is by publication, and is a different thing entirely. I also think the whole PhD experience is one worth embracing if you get the chance.