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If funded, could you not suspend for 6 months until you baby is six months older?

At that stage, the baby will be a few months older, more settled and you may be a bit closer to being able to trust someone with them for a few hours a week.

Raising a child (especially a young one) is a full time job in itself.

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The fact you've kept going says alot about your character. That in itself is a selling point, along with all the different skills you say you've acquired.

Obviously, your first priority is to get a job and if that means taking up a Research Assistant position, do so. The fact you're actively in a position rather than waiting on your PhD results is a big plus in the employment market to follow. As I ran over by more than a year, I had to do the same whilst writing up and because I was actively in work, that helped me move onto a proper post-doc position following that (although that was a different story).

Secondly, you describe your PhD as a disaster and you're still submitting a thesis. You don't yet know what the outcome is and I can't understand your negativity on this point when clearly you're in a position to submit. The tme to judge success or failure is after viva and you know the outcome. So chin up "Uncutlateralus", you're still in the game!

Whoa there people!!! Why do you all feel you're missing out because you're not married and without kids?

Everything happens at a right time for everyone. Until then, enjoy life as it is.

Better to be single than find yourself with the wrong person for the wrong reasons!!! There can be single and happy, and in a relationship and miserable too. Seeing friends in relationships has this effect and it doesn't help married folk trying to pair off their single friends. DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU!!!

For me, once I got the letter from the Research Committee saying I'd passed.

I suppose you could once any corrections had been accepted.

Before that, the simplest language would be you're awaiting results or 'subject to Research Committee approval'.

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I'm minded of anther thread on here I've been involved in, which actually changed my views of my own actions in the past with a bad post-doc.  If things are going well and you are otherwise getting on with your supervision team, don't rock the boat.  The main thing in your life professionally is your PhD and you need to work with people for the next three to five years.

If you do plough in and start complaining, then that will certainly sour your relationship with your supervisors.  The only way I would resort to this move is if one supervisor knows what has happened and is prepared to support a change in supervision team.  However, you may get someone who doesn't know your subject.

At my old University, one of the other groups had a supervisor who regularly published his student's work without listing them as a co-author or acknowledging them.  Whilst it is professional courtesy, some do use their position to abuse the situation.  He basically published the data as his own work though the candidates did in the end get their MPhils and PhDs.  Fortunately, my supervisor was not like that.

You are there to do a PhD and if that is the most important thing to you, let this pass and concentrate on your work.

If this potential theft of work (keeping in mind the other thread I mentioned - it may just be an accidental omission of your name, so don't jump to conclusions) threatens your PhD, then that becomes a more serious matter and then I would complain.

Publishing your own work once you've nothing more to do with this person after your PhD is finished might be an option to pull back 'some ownership'.  But don't opt for full blooded revenge or opt for a course that may damage any future career.

Box clever so to speak.
;-)

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When the PhD finished, my supervisor had put out two papers in my name with a third in progress.  Sinnce then, I've put out five papers as first / corresponding author with one last one currently up for refereeing (I expect this one to need major corrections as this is the tale end of my data).  I also collaborated with my supervisor to produce a book chapter, making hopefully a total of ten publications separate from the thesis.

I made up my mind to publish as much data as possible (each adding some new information not in the thesis) rather than all the work just gather dust on a shelf.  However,  each paper requires a lot of time to get right and it's no surprise that many don't get more than one paper out maximum.

I'm also listed as a co-author from a post doc year on a further three papers.   As regards how this looks on my CV, I have to say it depends on what kind of job you're applying for as even with academic jobs you can come across as over the top.

Problems during my post-doc year mean I can't really use all this information to sell myself.   As I'm in the real world again now, it doesn't really matter.

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I took 4.25 years (my Uni. limit was 5 years, though a half baked excuse and £200 'fine' you could go beyond this - one full timer took 7 years, though he did have a family and he did have to change diection - see following). It was generally expected that you'd head towards or over the four year mark.

In my case, the sheer volume of data I produced was the issue (the experimental rig just literally churned the stuff out) and I ended up at 366 pages. However, the external examiner accepted and read it, and I got through with minor corrections, so no problems there - it helped the subject was probably straightforward once written up. I was additionally asked to withdraw some data prior to submission by my supervisor, which I later used for a journal paper.

(One girl in Humanities managed a two / three volume effort at 900 pages plus!!! I don't know what happened to her.)

I guess planning a manageable project with clearly defined goals is a must if you want to get close to the three years and it doesn't help if you're given one set of objectives, just to find as in my case your supervisor is pursuing his own agenda and goals. Leading on from this, working closely with your supervisor to ensure you agree on those goals helps too. (He was a good supervisor, but it doesn't stop me having the odd minor criticism.)

As the project progresses, there will come a point where you have sufficient data to produce an original piece of work that adds to the knowledge data in your subject area. At this stage, calling it a day and writing up in agreement with your supervisor is another good call if possible. This is perhaps where my supervisor should have flagged or I should have realised that I was producing too much data. I was told by my predecessor if the total length was over 200 pages then perhaps it was too long.

Another big plus in aiming at the three year mark is to be writing up as you go along, leaving yourself with less to do in the final push. However, this can backfire if your project takes a sudden change in direction and half the work has to be torn up. Another group coming up with the findings you're working towards doesn't help; that happened to the lad who took 7 years.

Also be sure about writing styles and be as succinct as possible with your wording. Literature Review should discuss and criticise, methodology should report what you did, results on the the results and no discussion (except to clarify the odd point), with discussion kept completely separate. Supervisors will influence this heavily based on how they were told to do it and how they think it should be done. I had problems in that I had to shown the style to write in (not an uncommon problem) for especially my discussion, but once I understood I was able to crack on with the write up.

If you browse the Internet, there are various books that act as guides on how to put a Ph.D. together that may be a help. I was recommended this by my predecessor, purchasable from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PhD-Pack-Version-Thesis-Survive/dp/0335222331/sr=1-5/qid=1171647615/ref=sr_1_5/203-3664491-8533552?ie=UTF8&s=books

EDit: out of stock at the moment. Check with the bookshop serving your local Uni. for possible stock.

There's some good stuff here and if I could only have had my time over again, I would have pushed the EngD angle. :-(

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