Lot's of however's is annoying and looks silly. Same thing with indeed's, therefore's and furthermore's. They are all good words, but in moderation. It's like salt; you want enough, but not too much.

I'm new too, started my research proper yesterday. A big mountain to climb I know but looking forward to it all the same. Which discipline is everyone involved in? I'm in political science.

Sounds like a plan of action, ie an outline of what you will do over the short to medium term. Maybe I'm wrong though, my sup always goes on about 'plans of action' and 'important meetings'. I emailed him last week and he hasn't gotten back to me. I know what I need to do though, so I'll just get on with it.

Good luck by the way, I'm the same as you. I'm away to begin my research today. I have a list of reading to get through and a few targets to achieve by the end of the week.

What discipline is it in?

It's all a bit worrying I agree. I am in Scotland and our current education secretary is looking for a 'Scottish solution', whatever that may be. Read an article in the Herald the other day about allowing the students to be able to change uni a lot easier in order to ramp up competition. I honestly don't know which way to go, but I do agree that tuition fees are not the answer.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/university-transfer-plan-to-drive-funding-competition-1.1058805

Pretty bad situation because of his friends. If it was just him you could pass it off as delusional, but since his friends know she can't brush it off. It's always so obvious looking from the outside when it comes to stuff like this. So, either come out and tell all or just ignore it. Anything in the middle will make it worse I think.

I think a proof reader can be a little bit more 'harsh' if you like in that they will won't worry about offending you. This is sometimes an advantage because they won't be biased towards you and judge work on its inherent merits.

Thanks for the advice. We are both new to the scene but I want to strike a good relationship with him from the very start. I guess the whole presenting thing will have to be kept in mind, but it doesn't say anything about that yet as this is a while off. I don't have a clue what we could write yet.

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I start my PhD on Monday so I am going to be new to it all. However, I have already had an email about a postgrad conference calling for papers. I am seriously tempted to put a paper in, but I wanted to ask everyone if it is common to co-author a conference paper? I am sharing an office with a guy who is the same age as me and who is doing a topic which has some fair elements of overlap with mine. Should I approach him with an idea, or are conference papers always written by one person only?

Of course when you apply you must go to a supervisor who is an expert in the area, but the whole point is that it will be a new piece of research that nobody has done before. They are only there to supervise you and oversee what you are doing given their expertise. If you have an idea approach someone with it, they will help you refine it and make it more attractive to funders etc and aid in fleshing out methodology and practical issues like data collection.

I would love to be able to fly. Not like Superman however, more like Angel from X-Men who has a set of wings. I don't think it would be the best superpower to have in terms of being able to get what you want or save the world, but I think it would be utterly liberating.

Try the Web of Knowledge

You have asked a question which is really hard to answer. OK, external funding bodies, fairly slim to be honest but always worth a shot. Internally in the University, much better chance provided you make yourself known and show the right people that you are keen and passionate (without brown-nosing of course).

In the end, if your proposal is superb then you have every chance of making it, so good luck to you.

Well, I'm just away to start my PhD and I get the impression that I will get on well with my supervisor. He told me to work hard, but enjoy yourself as well and don't run yourself into the ground. He also said that I surely can't be doing what I'm doing for the money because if that was my goal I would have gotten a job in banking or something.

For me, the money isn't that important either. It's the chance to finally engage in something I enjoy 100% of the time that is the most liberating thing about it.