A word of warning with EoS, it's American English, not British English.

Another book to consider is Mind the Gaffe: The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English by R.L. Trask. This isn't a grammar rule book, but lists in alphabetical order all the common word mistakes.

I liked 'Eat, Shoots and Leaves'...this was the first book I read about grammar, and I found it very understandable.

It's a shame we can't sue the education minister who decided to bump grammar off the curriculum in the 80s and 90s.:-s

I would suggest if you're struggling with writing a cover letter/CV, consult your alumni careers service, or if you have the money, use a professional CV writing service.

With respect to your A levels, I've found it's general practice not to put such qualifications in an academic CV. Your first qualification stated is normally your undergraduate degree. If university admissions want school qualifications, there is normally somewhere on the application form to put them.

Snow + civil servants = day off! Don't worry PhDbug, they will not expect anyone to come in today.

I'm up north at the moment, and the snow is fairly minor (about half an inch), but snow showers are expected to move to the north this afternoon and tonight, so anyone heading to London (particularly on the train) better have a few contingency plans.

James, I think you're digging a hole for yourself here. Your first post did nothing more than quote an MBA site that offers customised essays. How can you say you're not advertising or promoting your services, when blatantly all you did was post a link to a commercial site. It's difficult to accept that you are not directly connected to the site.

I don't really want to lurch into this discussion, but you mention 'assignments' are part of a PhD student's first year commitment...this is just not the case. Most first year PhD students are working directly on their thesis, not writing 'assignments'. In fact, the term 'assignment' does not find common usage in British universities.
Further, you say the people on this site are competent to help PhD students, but the site is clearly directed at MBA students!

Also, for someone with a PhD from Durham, your grasp of the English language (whether being your first or second language) is questionable.

As far as I'm aware you never put references or citations in an abstract, unless the actual reference is the main subject of your work.

Abstracts are normally around 300 words in length...comprising of subject area [using as many keywords as possible], main question(s), metholodgy, findings, & conclusion(s).

I agree with Aloha, abstacts are hard to get right! I'm writing one now, and it's a pain in the a*se.

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Stressed, I know exactly what you mean! I had the most terrible interview last year - it was nothing less than brutal, and I still cringe now when I think about it. The main problem laid in the fact the panel questioned me in detail about their own research areas, and literally paid lip-service to my research and subject area. Now while I can understand they were trying to test my knowledge, the subject area is so huge that it would be impossible to know the details of every niche area.

I think you have to philosophical about these types of experiences...you win some, you lose some, but it's always a learning experience.

Don't take your supervisor's comments too personally; it is surprising how many grammar mistakes we all make.

To find out where you are going wrong, it would be helpful if you asked your supervisor to red-mark some of your mistakes. He's probably also referring to punctuation mistakes.

I would also recommend David Crystal's books, or downloading the podcast 'Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips' from iTunes.

The most common grammar mistake I come across in my own work or other people's work is forgetting to put an apostrophe in 'it's' (when contracting 'it is'), or even using the very sinful phrase 'could of' instead of 'could have'. It is probably these types of minor mistakes your supervisor is picking up on, and after reading a few grammar books you'll become very eagle-eyed about correcting them.

I'm afraid your supervisor is very wrong. I'm not at Oxford, but I know you do not automatically secure funding by embarking on a DPhil. You need to check Oxford's website for funding guidance.

Well done - Sarah.

Bet you're glad it's all over!!

Onwards and upwards!(up)

Mojopin85, your question may have fostered a more fruitful response has you named your discipline in the title. I'd hazard a guess that there are less scientists than non-scientists on this forum, and therefore, you'll be given quite generic responses.

If you ultimately want the most lucrative funding deal look towards the private sector, you'll be able to get more than a top-up/enhancement, but in my experience, additional funding comes with additional responsibilities.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'enhanced funding' either. Primarily, you should be concerned with securing your general funding, and not necessarily be looking for top-ups. To my knowledge, I don't know of any general bodies that offer a type of additional funding for graduates with top grades.

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I imagine just about every discipline has its own particular trends in wordcount, so why not look at some recent successful theses that have come out your department? You may find they are all 80k, or equally, all 50k.

As far as I'm aware, the more one moves towards a science-based subject, the shorter the thesis tends to be.

For a social science or humanities thesis, I would say 50-60k is too short. For a thesis with a max of 100,000, I've been told to aim for at least 85k. You have to be careful it doesn't end up looking like an MPhil - even though the quality and content is good.

Visit the British Council website to look for funding related to your home country, and also contact the PhD administrator for your prospective university department as they may have information regarding funding ops.

Otherwise...you need to research yourself via Google.