The online journal system at my university does not always give accurate information as to whether a full text article is available, sometimes it says it is, only to find out that its not, and other times, it says there is no full text article, but in fact, there is. I usually google the article title and author, if the library system does not indicate access, and try multiple web searches on both google and google scholar to see if there is another means of access.

Logging in directly to some of the sources, such as Ingenta or Heinonline, Wilson, Ebsco, etc. seems to be the best ways in some instances in figuring out if there is in fact full text access.

and even dodgier heating than Bleak Towers!

I actually am the only person in the entire university, I am sure, and the quiet is nice. It will be productive. The whole notion of a long Easter holiday weekend is a very British one, well, at least, not American, so I don't have a feeling like I am working on a bank holiday/long weekend, because it just does not register in my head as a holiday--so I am not feeling deprived.

Working on a conference paper and powerpoint, and some ancilliary stuff...having just been at a conference for most of the week. The conference I attended was a nice break from the daily routine--and I realised that there was even worse student accomodation than that of Bleak Towers-- being put up in Bleak Hovels..with a room about a third of the size of a Bleak Tower room, a shower that had the hair bands and hair clips of some previous inhabitant left behind ( ewww...it makes you wonder how well it was cleaned...)

I go to the local outdoor market a few times a week for fruit and veg and even fresh bread. They also have fresh meat and fish, but the smell of the meat is off putting and its just tooo...raw...I could never cook it or eat it! Unfortunately they do not have meatless options .... I will look into the delivery from the grocery store, that is a good idea, thanks.

Well here I was reading on the web ( because my brain is so dull today I did not get a whole lot done after the weekend marathon!) about how much protein you need in your daily diet, to come to the horrible realisation I am not getting anywhere near enough protein! And I had thought I was doing well! I know protein can come from both plant and animal sources, but even so the combination I am getting is not even enough for the recommended daily minimums... scary!

I eat meat, but don't like to cook it, and don't eat a lot of it. I need to find some good soy substitute meat but to get to a store that carries that means walking about three miles one way and I never feel up to the task.

Hope that you feel better JoJo!

What else is there to do with one?!

When I started my PhD, I was hugely unaware of what I did not know--the unknown unknowns! So I could be blissfully ignorant....that there was a lot more I needed to learn! Thankfully it reveals itself over time and in small bites...otherwise it would be too overwhelming and I never would have taken on the PhD! It would have been too daunting. So...its OK to not know everything, its probably even better that you do not know that you do not know a lot on your topic, and an awareness of how much more there is to learn is a sure sign of progression!

That is interesting to hear, Chris--and something somewhat surprising as it would seem in comparison that the UK has a much stronger education system than the US. I have no idea what the functional literacy rate is in one country v the other, but would be worth finding out, if for nothing else than curiousity's sake. I had degreed professionals in the US ask me what language was spoken in England!!!

Mine flew across the Atlantic with me in my handluggage!!!! I was afraid if I packed it it would make my luggage overweight!

I was exposed to. Maybe this is a feature of education everywhere--but it seems a weakness of American education. Most Americans are mono-lingual ( I am, I dare not count my Spanglish as a second language) but in most European countries, people speak at least another language fluently and sometimes several more.

What do people think of the foundation their own education gave them in the pursuit of their PhD, whatever field?

A lot of the theoretical literature can also wax philosophical--literally as well as metaphorically--on writers/academics such as Foucalt, Said, Bhabha, Satre, and Beavoir ( I cannot even spell it). I remember reading some of this once I completed my first bout of degrees ( before the PhD) wondering why I had never been exposed to it in my broadly social sciences degrees.

I have challenged myself to go into related social sciences in pursuit of my PhD research ( sociology, anthropology and some international relations) and have managed to bring myself up to a reasonable degree of knowledge...but some of that knowledge my supervisor seems to accept as something anyone would have.

My American education seems to have left huge knowledge gaps in what

I have decided that my previous education ( educated to the degree of a professional doctorate) really was not a "good" education. My PhD research plunges off into other related fields in the social sciences, but I often find myself thinking that if I had not loved to read, lived in a totally boring place ( prior to moving to Bleak Towers) and had a huge love of learning and curiousity, I would be so out of my league on the PhD that it would be scary. I have read around topics in social sciences and humanities because I enjoy them, but not because I got educated about them or even exposed to them.

A long long time ago ( back before there was light and sound) I had a work colleague who used to explain the difficult behaviour of clients or colleagues as that person being "insane." Without wanting to make light of or speak badly of mental illness or people with mental health struggles, this has often been a useful way to think of people and situations for me--as in, whatever is fuellng the person may very much be an internal feature of their own irrationality or dysfunction that no rational approach will impact. No matter what YOU do--their action/reaction will be the same. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done to help a situation. I am not saying this to be defeatist, but to suggest that sometimes difficulties are so ingrained within a particular system, department, person, etc. that nothing you do is going to change it, and the reactions you get have little to do with you, and much to do with the ingrained nature of the environment.

In other words, there is always more to know. Its infinite. In my last supervision session, my supervisor and I were brainstorming about different linked fields, very enthusiastically, until we both realised there were limits--and that though interesting, many of the avenues we had mentioned would have to wait--there was no way to get them on board the current PhD! That said, one feature of good research writing is that which discusses the limitations of the research and gives ideas for future research.