Hello everyone,

I'm just starting today.

Impressed that Tractorgirl got anything done after coming back from the pub, especially if it still looks sensibly academic today :p

Lara, sounds a good extra bit of work after cracking open the coke, it obviously did the trick!!

Armendaf, hopefully today all the work you did yesterday will come together for your chapter, some things just takes a bit more time.

Today, I'm getting on with the restructuring of the whole thing. I realised yesterday I would have to do a lot of re-jigging of all my chapters rather than doing one chapter at one at a time, so I'd better go through the whole lot to see how drastic this restructure is going to be. No point in amending the content if I don't know what chapter it's going to end up in.

Oh yes, that day off plan - well maybe it's not a good idea after yesterday's massive restructuring discovery! I've actually booked a week's annual leave for this PhD stuff, so won't have to go to work this week. It's turned out to be good timing, as I expect I'll need a lot of continuous thinking and planning time, as well as for doing the actual writing. I'll see how it goes and have breaks when I need them, they're nicer that way too! As long as I've sorted out the new structure and done all the amendments for at least one, hopefully two, chapters by the time I'm back at work next week then I'll be very happy.

Hello there, I've done all I can today so am signing off for the night.

Lara, you've done loads today - over 2500 words!!! That's a really significant chunk of writing, well done! You definitely deserve a good break after all that - tonight's CSI is a good one, Grissom and Jack Malone - a great combination. X Factor is fascinating, I love the misplaced confidence of some of them in their singing abilities, so funny sometimes - the shop assistant that thought he was 'the best in the universe' was today's most deluded, I think. And the chirpy chirpy cheep cheep ladies were interesting too...

Armendaf, your mind map idea sounds a good way to sort out how to move forward. It's so difficult to structure things sometimes in a linear way that makes a good argument. Perhaps it will be clearer tomorrow when you've slept on it.

Swantje, a lovely day for you - you'll be able to do things like that all the time soon!

I've had a good day really, I had no idea what to expect re-reading everything, but jumped in anyway and have decided it needs a huge amount of restructuring and lots of bits would work better spread throughout the other chapters which be a lot of work. But it's good to have decided that, so tomorrow I will thing again and carry on. Hope I don't think about it in the middle of the night and wake up with a so-called brilliant idea that messes up my sleep and turns out to be crap when I read my scruffy half-asleep notes back in the morning.

Goodnight all, see you tomorrow for another crack at the PhD stuff.

======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2008 18:07:17 =======
Hello everyone,

Tractorgirl, what a great story behind your nickname, it's really sweet!! Hope you have a good time in the pub, and the opticians goes ok tomorrow. Yep, the yellow stuff is horrible, you look a bit gruesome afterwards while it disperses, don't you! If you get any work done tonight, it will be a bonus.

Lara, sounds all ok, a nice lunch, mad scribblings (!) and why not have a nap before you write up the rest? It will make more sense after a rest! Well that's what I tell myself anyway.

Armendaf, hope you're getting something done after your food break, I can't work when I'm hungry either.

I'm going to have a break now too, dinner, X Factor, then work again later, it will have percolated a bit in my head by then. Oh god what a weird life, but my plan is to work over the weekend then have a day off on Monday. It doesn't really matter what days I have off as long as there are some, a weekend only makes sense if you work Mon-Friday really, and that doesn't fit this PhD thing for me right now.

See you later!

I don't think it's contradictory really. It's difficult to separate any provision for training or preparation for teaching (or lack of provision) from the way teaching is valued in comparison to research in HE in the UK, and how HE is funded. There were a lot of articles in the THES and Education Guardian during the run up to the RAE about the way teaching and teaching-orientated staff were seen as less valuable to an institution than more research-active staff, because of the way HE is assessed in this country. Research brings in funding and status for a university, which teaching doesn't necessarily do, despite the fact that teaching is an integral part of the curriculum at undergraduate level, students are paying for it and without students, the colleges probably wouldn't exist anyway.

I felt quite uncomfortable during the data collection period of the RAE, seeing the way staff were ranked according to their research, with purely teaching-orientated staff coming further down the scale and being seen as less valuable in that context. It's not just an arbitrary ranking system as it affects career prospects across the board. It's a weird situation, because it's hard to be a good lecturer as it needs such different skills. You seem to need everything for the jobs I would like, PhD and an ongoing research profile, as well as teaching experience and a qualification.

I'm also going to do a teaching qualification post-doc, not just because it'll be needed, but I really like doing it. It lets me make my subject relevant to a different audience, instead of being in some obscure higher academic research vacuum. Also, students feed the research by asking questions I'd never have thought of and are quite critical too, plus it's so nice if they get really excited about the subject and carry on doing it for the next few years. Undergraduates are definitely my favourites. Having said that, I withdrew from teaching this year as it's too near my submission date and can't afford any extra distractions from that.

I''ve finished reading through my chapter and am having a break now - a snack plus a bit of music to hopefully perk me up. Ricecakes and peanut butter with dash of marmite, in case you're vaguely interested, because I think they're mostly full of air so you can eat more without getting full up, and have more breaks. It's not easy typing and eating at the same time though, I just dropped my last ricecake and it got stuck in my hair... ugh!!! Musical choice of the moment is a bit of rockabilly, Vince Ray and the Boneshakers - Boneshaker Baby, though I prefer his Vern Vain and the Blue Veins tracks today.

Oh well, I suppose I'd better scrape the peanut butter off the floor and get back to work... the fascinating life of a PhD student!

How are you getting on...?

======= Date Modified 06 Sep 2008 11:31:15 =======
Hi everyone,

I'm working today too. You've all done loads since I last checked in, very impressive!

Lara, you are whizzing ahead now! You must be so pleased to get a decent chunk of writing out of the way, you can actually feel like you're making progress and nearly done! As the others said, don't overdo it with late nights until you know you're properly ok though, not sure coca cola is down as a remedy for cramps! Loved the idea of letting your intro marinate overnight lol, but so very necessary!

Tractorgirl, hope you get your bits and bobs done, sounds a good plan for the weekend to get it out of the way before the next feedback comes in, especially if you've got a football break planned too! Interesting to hear about your music to work to, it's one of the things I really like about this forum, that everyone is doing completely different topics and has such varied musical tastes, but we're all having the same Phd experiences. I am quite intrigued by some people's usernames too, including your's!

Armendaf, annoying about the tooth, but good that you don't need loads of extra work done on it. Dentists must be glad we don't all live on mushy food or they'd have a lot less work! Yep, CSI is great, though I'm not mad about the Miami and NY spinoffs, don't think they have the same depth of character as in the original Las Vegas cast.

Swantje, well done on finishing your thesis!

I fell asleep yesterday after dinner and decided against working in the evening, thought it was best to get an early night and start afresh today.
Plan for today: I'm starting on chapter 1, and will read it through and edit it on paper, seems the best way to begin. Ooh it's quite exciting when you realise all your research is done now and you're at the next stage of rewriting! I'm sure it will be just as stressful in different ways, but the end's in sight, at last!

Hope you have a productive day if you're working too, will pop back later.

I've answered my own question and decided it's a bit dodgy straying into names of places, so if I could have...

stain...

instead, following on from Tricky's 'slain'

Spain (is that one allowed...?)

bath

Loth

I'd think I'd feel like I was on a different planet if I was at a university where students dressed up in their best clothes in the loo or looked like the cast of Hollyoaks. Even our fashion students don't do that. It sounds quite interesting if different courses or disciplines have different styles of dress that are nothing to do with being practical though.

doth

plaid.

Hi everyone,

Lara, I'm sorry you've been feeling crap, it's worse when you're got loads to do. I'm really glad you spoke to someone about your work, and it sounds like you wrote a lot yesterday, which is great! It gets out of perspective sometimes, doesn't it. I liked your Winston Churchill inspiration, have you seen his red velvet boiler suit that he used to work in? Very exotic for work wear, can't imagine Tony Blair or Gordon Brown being that flamboyant!

Tractorgirl, hope you've got down to business with those bits and pieces now your headache's gone, with a bit of DM for a legitimate distraction hopefully!

Armendaf, did you get your tooth sorted out? What a crunchy crouton it must have been.

I got my images sorted out last night and went into college this morning quite early (well, earlyish!!). I sorted out all that image and chapter stuff and sent it off, photocopied my first thesis draft and came home in the torrential rain. Now I've got to start going through the whole lot to rewrite, fill gaps, edit, etc you know the sort of thing. I'm supposed to have a second draft of 4 chapters by the end of September, so I'll start looking through all that today/tonight and get on with it properly tomorrow. I've no idea what I'll think of chapters I wrote so long ago, so it will be interesting to find out...

See you later.

mite