As a new member of this group I find it interesting reading the posts, especially about motivation/ getting things done. What I would be interested in knowing is what areas other people are working in. The majority of posts where a subject is hinted at seem to come from arts/ humanities type subjects. Are there any other engineers on here. Having an idea of the "expertise" people have would be helpful to know if any problems I encounter may be able to be answered by someone on here. This may have already been covered in other posts, but as I said I am relatively new on here and most of the regular posters seem to have a good idea what each other is doing.
Thanks
Max:-)

Someone put a post on the other day about whether you should reference images used in your write up. The overall consensus seemed to be yes. My question is how do others actually do it. I am fine with making references to papers that I have used quotes etc from, but how do I do it with an image. Should I just put a line underneath stating where it is from ?
Also does anyone know what the situation with using images from copyright material such as British Standard documents, do I have to get permission to use them or can I just use them with an appropriate reference. I need to illustrate a couple of points in my write up and the only suitable diagrams are in a BS document.
Hope someone can shed some light on this for me.
Thanks
Max
:-)

I think that is where some of the snowed under feeling is coming from, I have changed subjects slightly, my degree was in electronics but I am now studying a branch away from pure electronics. Although I work in the area I am studying my work is very much practical, I know how things are done but don't necessarily fully understand the theory behind why they are done. This is where I think I will find myself doing lots of reading. I think to a certain extent the fact that a PHd is a lot more specialised than a first degree will lead to it feeling very different. I am assuming that most people probably come into their first few terms with a massive learning curve to expand on the basic fundamental knowledge of the subject they may have (or is this just wishful thinking on my behalf)
I am sure I will get to grips with it, just have to put up with the "exploding head" feelings for now.
Max:-s

Hi Moonblue, thanks for the reply. A bit of reassurance is always good to get. I think because its been so long since I did my first degree (graduated in 1996) I am feeling a bit rusty at studying. I am hoping that as my knowledge increases I will feel less overwhelmed by it all, fingers crossed.
Good luck
Max

Hi everyone, as a newly started student I am feeling stressed at the minute:-(. Is it usual to feel out of your depth during the early months. I am in the process of trying to formulate what my initial research will be about. I have an idea of the direction I think I want to progress but am finding that as I put one idea down it throws up 20 different concepts/ theories etc that I don't understand. I assume that this is the way research normally works( or at least I hope it is), you throw up a new concept , look into that to get some more understanding and during this process probably encounter another set of concepts to look into.
I suppose I am just looking for a bit of reassurance that I am not on my own in feeling like this.
Max
:-)

Hi Sneaks, thanks for the reply. Can I ask you, how do you find using One Note? do you write directly into it or do you find yourself writing handwritten notes first and then copying them into One note?
How secure is the data once it is in there, can it be backed up into a format that could be read by other software.
I have seen a student version available for £12 and am considering buying it, but would like some feedback from someone who uses it first hand before I take the plunge ( I am sure Microsoft's description on their web site is totally un biased;-) )
Thanks
Max

How do others keep track of notes /paper? I have been told that using a logbook is not the best way of storing notes as it means in order to find some notes at some later date requires knowing when the originals were written. A loose leaf ring binder was suggested as a better alternative, does this not open up the possibility of things becoming separated and possibly lost( paper in ring binders always seems to rip around the whole punch area)
Does anyone have any better suggestions of ways that work for them
Thanks
Max

Does anyone know / have been through the upgrade route from Part time MSc by research to PHd. I am currently registered on an MSc by research with the aim of upgrading to complete a PHd, my question is how does the write up process differ. If I were on the MPhil route I think at the point of upgrade I would have to have completed a portion of the write up ( about 10000 words as I'm lead to believe) and this would be sometime after the 2nd year. By this time on the MSc route I should be looking at being pretty much finished the write up (or certainly on the way). Do I have to work at the write as though I was going to complete the MSc and then expand on what I have written during the PHd or do I aim to have the 10,000 word "portion" of the write up completed and hope the upgrade is successful.
Any advise from someone who has gone/ going through this process would be gratefully received.
Max
:-)

I am in the process of trying to finalise my research question and am not sure I am going down the right path. I was doing fine until my manager passed a comment to me yesterday when I was giving him an update on my progress. I told him what I was thinking of doing for my research and was met with the proverbial sucking of teeth, followed by a comment that he didn't think that was a good idea due to my lack of knowledge in that particular area. When I pointed out that a percentage of the research needs to be "new" and not just a re-hash of previous work I got no response.
I am wrong to think that the idea of starting a PHd was to gain knowledge, If I knew all there was to know about the subject before I started there would surely be no point in continuing.
Have others encountered negative comments such as this?
I feel capable of doing the required study needed to gain the knowledge required to complete my chosen subject.
I suppose I am just after a bit of confirmation that it is a usual response from certain people to try and put you down with such comments (jealosy maybe ?)

:p

Can anyone give me some tips on finding the "gap in the market". I have read lots of the literature on my subject and have produced a short literature review that has been handed in to my supervisor. The comments I got back were favourable on the review itself but my conclusion and suggested work was deemed top be a bit vague. When I spoke to my supervisor about it he said I needed to give more reasons for pursuing the avenue I was suggesting, and said "trying something to see what the results were" wasn't a good starting point. I am finding it difficult at this point in my study to be critical enough of what others (experts) have written on the subject to be able to define to complete area I want to look at. I am not sure if others have faced this problem but any advice/ tips on how to make the next step would be gratefully received
Thanks
Max

Hi, I have just started my research and am finding that I am coming up against papers with an increasing amount of statistics included. As a bit of a "stats novice":$ can anyone suggest a good beginners book on the subject. My research is engineering based so a book with that slant would probably be better suited than say a social sciences type book. Thanks in advance for any help
Max