not sure what research you are doing, but in any case, jobs are not guaranteed for anyone. I gave up a very exciting job when it didn't fit in with family life, the idea you can have it all is a bit of a myth really. For most people its one or the other, or at least one parent has to make a bit of a compromise, you might of course be able to do some part-time work in your field, or carry on researching and publishing until you can get back to work. Not sure what the maternity pay is based on nowadays, but maternity leave I think still has a qualifying period.

not sure what research you are doing, but in any case, jobs are not guaranteed for anyone. I gave up a very exciting job when it didn't fit in with family life, the idea you can have it all is a bit of a myth really. For most people its one or the other, or at least one parent has to make a bit of a compromise, you might of course be able to do some part-time work in your field, or carry on researching and publishing until you can get back to work. Not sure what the maternity pay is based on nowadays, but maternity leave I think still has a qualifying period.

This does sound a bit odd. Don't use MSN, but can you remove him from your list, or start a new one and transfer people you do want to be in contact with? Second idea might be best if you can do it then he won't know, you can just say your system is being wierd. Make him use e-mail and make it your university account. That way you will have a record at the uni of what he is saying to you. Do not 'go on walks' to discuss your work, that is not on. If he asks again just say you do not feel it is a productive method for you and would prefer to discuss things in a more formal setting where you can have notebooks to record his comments. If he keeps on about what you should and shouldn't be doing, just tell him (politely) it isn't any of his business. Has he been supervising for a while? If not he might not have got the idea that supervision and friendship are not the same you have a professional relationship. My supervisor is nothing like that, I like to think we have things that unite us, obviously he feels quite passionately about my area of study, and is as friendly to me as he is to everyone else, but friendship is the relationship I have with fellow students. When I have finished my studies my super and I may become more equal, (but of course he is way up there with his knowledge and I'm way down the bottom at the moment) but I think it will be more as a professional acquaintance than as a friend, and there is a distinct difference even there. There needs to be a bit of space between you for the supervisor system to work and he appears to be overstepping themark. If he doesn't change his ways you may have to be more forthright, which is why you need to keep hold of the e-mails he sends. Don't let him get to you and spoil your research experience, if he is one of a few supervisors for you , make his contribution as small as you can - this may depend on your area, so may not be that easy, and if necessary ask for him to be taken off the team.

Perhaps it is different in the sciences, but I think the MA is a good bridge You could do the MA in one year, even part time. I nearly did this - I had to wait for a suitable final module to complete my set! - I found that it was really useful. However maybe the most important thing is to decide the area you wish to study, and this may then allow you decide which is the best way forward. :-)

can you only use it when everything is sorted? I'm thinking about sending stuff to your supervisor which, I suppose for most supervisors will need to be in word format, what would happen to it, would it lose all its formatting, or would they just not be able to open it? (that might not be a bad thing sometimes!:$)

my advice would be to read round the subject you are interested in, and try to find anything close to what you want to research, look on the internet too as you may find some stuff that is relevant. you really need to make sure that what you want to do really inspires you - otherwise it will be a long hard slog. I'm self funded, because I knew that there would never be any chance of getting any money at all, and I'm part time, you could start off that way if you wanted. It has been OK so far, working full time as well, but sometimes it means working when you would rather be doing something else, but that probably goes for anything that takes over your life. You don't say where you are located but it might be worthwhile nipping into your nearest uni on a Saturday, just to browse. I was out of academia for ages, doing other things, but then got interested again via an unlikey set of circumstances, and once you have done it once it all comes back. The authoring a PhD book as already mentioned is well worth a read. Good luck :-)

it is hard to be critical, especially if you are doing it to work done by your supervisor! I still feel that I should be taking the 'great man's' work as gospel, and the same with the work of people he knows, and he knows so many in the field it is impossible to write much without mentioning some of them. At the moment I'm just putting in the thoughts of loads of people, and will then try and sort it out from there -I'm scared that one day he is going to say ' I didn't mean that at all ' :$, he has much more confidence in me than I have, hope he isn't going to be disappointed!

i think it is quite usual for the uni to pick your supervisors - although they can be changed as mine were, mainly thorugh the influence of the person who wanted to do it, who I think pushed rather hard.

It really isn't too bad, I've got quite a way into my first couple of chapters, even though I have in theory got another year and a half before I have to jump the next hurdle I think they will be ready well before that, in fact I'm aiming for July time :$ not sure if I will do it but I'm going to give it my best shot. :-). My reading has slowed a bit at the moment, but will pick up as soon as I get the practical exams at school out of the way. Half term should see another burst of activity, and the garden will not beckon too loudly at that time, so I intend to start writing bits for other chapters too.

the greatest help really was the very detailed proposal and plan needed to get through the last committee, everything is now very ordered whereas before it was all in the mind, but not a lot on paper. Their rigor (bordering on extreme pickyness)was a blessing in disguise even though it didn't feel like it at the time!

I have a full time job and am doing a part time PhD. It tends to take over my free time quite a bit, although I work in a school - not as a teacher, and therefore in theory have more holidays, it doesn't workout like that, and I have to stay late sometimes, and bring work home as well. It also means that I can't take time off to see my supervisor, I miss out on quite a lot of the daytime sessions and can't often get to meetings, they are very unsupportive, which is odd really considering they are educators and my PhD is to do with education (although they might not be prepared for what I'm writing). Still it is possible and gives a great excuse for not doing the garden...painting...decorating...going places I don't want to go to.... in fact it has some advantages too!!!:-)

Mine was a bit of a mishmash to start with. I knew what the end point I wanted to make was, but the getting there was a bit of a maze. However I also did the mapping process and then read the authoring a PhD book which gave me ideas for the structuring of the whole thing. Together they gave me something to work with. In my case I have a series of chapters which build towards the final chapter which shows the connection between them and how they all fit together. At least that's the plan at the moment. I've got one half written chapter and one maybe two thirds finished. One of the sessions I went to here suggested a good way of getting yourself organised is to write an abstract for your work, obviously not the final one :$, but a sort of this is what my thesis is all about, it might work for you. :-)

There are maybe a few questions you should ask yourself, and maybe some depends on the area . Writing a proposal in a short time is not that unusual, but do you have enough backgorund information about it? When I went for my interview - and bearing in mind I knew the people from before, and wasn't even going for funding, the first thing they asked is are you enthusiastic about the subject, and the second was, why? So do you have answers for those and can you justify them? they also asked quite a lot of questions around the subject, not necessarily directly connected, so have you read round enough?

This is the first step on quite a long road, so if you are feeling rushed at the moment, perhaps you need to take a step back and think why you are going so fast? Do you think someone else will think of the same topic? Have you had a flash of inspiration and can't wait to get going? Is the funding only going to be around for a short time, and the chance to undertake your research will never come again? Are you going for it now 'because it is there'?

You could, of course ask your potential supervisors what they think
:-)

I think we all have these thoughts from time to time, sometimes I think supervisors forget what it is like to be a student - or perhaps they had a particularly easy time . Sometimes you just have to dig your heels in and think positive - and not 'positive I don't want to do this' either! :$. I've had doubts about my research question too, especially when the boards decide you need to make some changes to your work when you know that if they had actually read the thing they would see that their proposals are included etc.. however at the end of the day it is your bit of research and to have reached the second year you must be progressing, so go for it. :-)

1) your university should provide you with a handbook with the information you need. It does vary from uni to uni, and to some extent between subjects, so it is not easy to generalise. However if you have problems, ask your supervisor or faculty they should be able to help.

2) Not sure what you mean by this. After 4 years? You must be near the end by now? or are you suggesting that this may be the outcome after you have spent 3-4 years on it? I have known of one person who managed to move, but I think the project was the same, only the location changed, and unless this happens in your case I can't see how the time spent could be taken into account, but I may be very wrong on that bit. Who is failing you? Is your method suspect? Negative results can be useful too, but I guess only if they adhere to the set method. The person you really need to talk to is your supervisor. They will have most of the answers as to why your work is failing, then you can start putting it right. 

If it doesn't do it I think you can use the customise bit to get it to give you the right style of ref. I have a problem with it not doing the journal references right. I've given up on it at the moment. I still put all my references in there, but I use word too, so I add references in alphabetical order as I use them. I may sort out the endnote problem later on, but I've just used that in case anyone wants the stuff referenced differently in the future.:$ (just in case I get the chance to publish it where they need a different format, one of the people here had to pay a lot to get someone to change their references into another form)

I assume it is in the public domain? If so I would reference it just the same as any other internet site,same goes for a closed site, although you need to put something to flag up that itis not open to the general public. My research is in education, but I'm using Harvard, and have referenced sites in this way in my Masters. (Hope you have run this use of a site past your ethics committee :$)