Sorry, that was a bit facetious. Your supervisor is the best person to help you with this as they know your work.

If you have to ask how to improve your work to get a distinction, then I'd suggest that you probably won't get one!

Hi Lucky Dot, I think you'll find that most people on this forum have done an MA and then gone on to PhD and the majority will probably have distinctions. Do you have a more specific question about doing a PhD?

Exactly, that's why I want to find some other words, so I don't have to say interesting when I do mean it but it may be misconstrued, as you say, as boring.

I've just been told by my supervisor not to say what I am going to do just do it. But I agree that leading the reader through and linking sections is important. It's a case of conflicting advice - quite common I think.

Whenever I go to conferences or hear about others' research, I always end up saying "that was really interesting" which I do actually mean but "interesting" is not an interesting word. I would like to increase my vocabulary to be able to describe others' research in a better way.

I am nearly 42, and have just been diagnosed with anaemia!

Hey, that sounds good when you put it like that.

So you googled it as well!! Can you recommend any literature that might be useful as I think this is the sort of analysis I need. I'm classifying types of medieval clothing into different groups over time.

I've just had feedback on a chapter and my supervisor suggested some changes and improvements but generally she said I had made a 'feisty' attempt to argue my point. I'm not sure how to take that.It comes across as a compliment but it doesn't sound very academic!

Lara, I don't want to sound stupid, but what is cluster analysis and how are you using it? I put a post up recently asking for help with content or frequency analysis but got no replies. I'm wondering whether cluster analysis might be relevant.

My second supervisor is actually the more senior and knows me better. She is the chief investigator on the project I am part of so she is quite happy and able to give me feedback.

Scones are very much alive and well in my world as well, especially with clotted cream. I'm having a bit of a family do on saturday and I've just decided to serve scones with jam and cream. I'll look out for the Asda ones - no time to make my own.

Hurrah, my second supervisor has replied and will look at my work. I just hope she gives some positive feedback.

The latest on this is that I e-mailed my second supervisor and explained the situation but didn't but all the blame on my main supervisor, just that I understood she was very busy and must not have managed to get round to looking at my work. I asked if she might have some time to have a quick look at my work as I wanted to make sure I had the best version of my chapter to present to the panel.
So far - no reply from her. I did suggest I could e-mail it on Monday to show I did not assume she would be working at the weekend. Watch this space!