Thanks you guys!!! glad to hear croydon is snowier:)

Have resigned to my laptop, and have put some vegetable and noodle soup with chicken stock on the boil (which is smelling yummy) and shall now think about life....philosophy....what will be....and so on...

how else to spend a forced holiday (cant even goof around with the snow cos of fever!!)

love to all!

they dont have emails....i tried walking to london bridge, and returned...

thanks Ruby!

I cant take the tube, cos I cant get to the tube, i cant tak the trains cos the website says severe disruption...there is NO way i can get to my visa thing today, and these people arent answering calls...

what do I DOOOOO? is it my fault that i wpnt show up at Croydon? i have NO idea what to do...(will cry any time now...seriously)

I'm writing this at the unearthly hour of 5 am. Oh my good god..eevrything is totally covered in snow...transport for london says buses have been withdrawn :-s i am wondering, i have a visa appointment today at the home office etc, whether they'll consider altering the date...

oh this is just so exciting (but so bad as well)....

And i have a major major sore throat/cold/cough/fever coming...

but cant help feeling soooo excited....:p

Why cant I understand the last two posts even after reading this entire thread v v carefully...??

:(

Ahhh....in my country we are still made to go through imperfect tense and all kinds of participles from year 2, kids learn it...urggh...knw it in french tooo :(

I am not sure I understoof very well, even after reading a couple of times, so sorry if I got you wrong..depends also on what kind of a person your sup is. If he is genuinely caring and considerate then I think it is possible to at least make an attempt to clarify (and even apologize for) any mistakes you may have made. Apologizing takes a lot of strength even if for the silliest of mistakes, and honestly, I think one thinks better of those who manage to say the Sorry rather than those who are defiant.

Second, if he is not that genuine a person, and will bear malice despite all efforts, the answer is to remind yourself of the many hundreds of PhD studnets around the globe who have pathetic sups who will not lift a finger to help them (sometimes even forget they exist, even promise refs and never give them on time to make the deadlines). These people find other people to write their refs. In which case, thats a good idea.

In any case, once again apologies if I got you wrong. Best, and good luck

Thaks v helpful. but i was just wondering, when we present work that's in progress, and not 'findings' as such...what happens then...

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

First, don't think about the outcome since it's over, and also since u don't know yet. I know it's easier said than done.

Second, from what I get you know your field really well, so if you didnt know the answers to stuff they asked maybe they were being tough on purpose, and maybe everyone had the same experience. It's probably just a case of their using a very very fine sieve through which to pass people so that they end up giving everyone only 2, 5, 7 and 11 out of 100 marks, and so the one who gets 11 gets in.

Third, I know when you have a supervisor you admire/respect etc, and who is supportive, it's so easy to feel like you'll be letting them down. trust me, I have similar worries! But, in the end, it is a first year student competing for a post where she was probably one of the least experienced, in terms of scholarship as well as work. So, sensible people wont be sitting in judgment, and if your sup is a warm and helpful person, and a good scholar, then from what I see of my sup, they wont judge you in any way at all.

Feel truly positive and think of the things ahead of you :)

Hey all,

if in submitting an abstract you use in text citations like (Brown, 1998) are you supposed to also provide a list of references at the end (even if they are just 3 or 4 maximum)?

Also, if the organizers haven,t specified a word limit how long should it usually be? Is around 350 words okay?

And finally, if one is presenting empirical work (but also has a very strong theoretical component to it) is there any specific order in which these should be presented in an abstract?

Best,

Bug writing her first abstract for submission....

Why is it "surprisingly" useful?

I dont know what you meant by autonomous process...it is indeed a process which involves mutiple checks and balances, of time, resources, EGO issues, the sociology of intra-departmental equations, the wider sociology of academia, so forth...

I dont think you are to be producing papers this early in the process...planning well, that always helps, as far as I can comment...and writing, depends. For me, writing is my mode of thinking, so I write A LOT. some people make notes, others have stuff scribbled which hold pearls in them...

And you cant be well on your way to finishing a lit review 3 months into the process. It;s just impossible. So you are fine. Good luck.

What does the post below me mean....sorry maybe I'm being thick...

It's a good idea to start bit by bit, secure your first funding and so on...Also, since u r in the field (of science) naturally your profs and/or peers are well placed to provide information.

As for other issues, yes, I agree, it is a totally different ball game for arts, social sciences, and then for those outside the EU, who need to pay full tuition and have no access to even research council funding (and I am one of these)

So, all in all, the going is very tough, and it is often a dream to think of any kinds of extra boosts or enhancements (which more often than not, come for some of us, in the form of slightly crappy part time jobs...)

Best.

haha, i was referring to the post by 'stressed' down below in this same thread. Her name is Amanda though i see I must stop useing it as nobody uses it and every time I do, people are confused!

One lesson I learn from my supervisor and which I have mentioned in many posts here, is to start comparing scholarly positions. I notice, it is when I ask who disagrees with whom and why, that some patterns begin to emerge. These can be of so many kinds. So, useful questions between two warring paradigms or even micro positions could be to ask where the debates are and then what is the way forward.

This is increasingly becoming part of my training as a researcher, by example, rather than by instruction. It usually works. So, for instance if you see below in Amanda's (Stressed=Amanda) post, she speaks of an instance where people make unthinking generalizations. And she adopts a position of thoughtful contextualization probably as a response, or whatever the case may be, in order to counter the arguments. So if these were to be two slightly different positions in a field, then 'being critical' would mean being able to spot the differences (identify any other alternatives to the debates) and then with your own thinking along the lines of these divides, to take the argument forward.

best

Pbug