Lol no definitely not close to finishing it, but nice of you to be positive on my behalf!! Still sitting here and staring at it, wondering which of the bits to get started on. Maybe I'll make a cup of tea and that'll help...

How do you know we haven't gone bonkers during the summer btw :p

I think it's a relative concept and we do have another day of this :-s

Doesn't sound odd at all to me! I did my masters about 10 years ago part-time while I was working in a related area. The course attracted a lot of students of varying ages and backgrounds, and the course director was quite keen to enrol people from different parts of the industry, so they could all bring their own experiences to it, in addition to his formal lectures etc. I would imagine that's also the case for other subjects. Do you have a course in mind? Maybe you could ring up and speak to someone about application/entry requirements, if the info is not on the relevant websites?

Yep, I'll echo the :-s:-s:-s

Armendaf- sounds a really productive day for you - lots of stuff to edit down - very good, wish I was in that position! Have a nice rest (up)

No shame in long breaks Lara!! It's so hard to force yourself sometimes, even with a deadline looming - I've just spent the past 2 hours watching the X Factor and NCIS and having a large dinner. Am really sick of this chapter now - finishing the thing doesn't seem to get any nearer. Since the last time I logged on here, I've only squeezed out another 300 words... well, I'd better hope that they're eloquent and perfectly formed sentences as it's pretty slow going. Oh yes, and I've made a list of all the bits that need stuff doing to them before they're finished and I can tick them off. There's 13 of them and I think I'd better do the nearly finished ones, just so I can have the pleasure of ticking something off my list so I don't dream about it tonight.

I'd better get stuck in, I suppose.... I'm glad it's a short chapter but it might be even shorter than originally planned at this rate. It's just an extra chapter that 'sets the scene' for the conclusion, so short and concise is ok here.

I'll try to manage a few more hours tonight. See you later...

If you apply for a masters and are offered a place, then it's obviously ok academically, from the college's perspective. If your professional background overlaps with your intended masters, you could potentially apply new ideas and theories to your work and see it from a fresh perspective, which may be valuable for you if you want to make a career change. Some courses positively encourage mature students because of the variety of life and work experiences they bring to the course. I hope you find the right course to suit you - good luck!

Won't it depend on what college you're going to, and what your first degree was in (eg product design, furniture, glass, jewellery, ceramics etc)?

Hi Lara and Armendaf,

Sounds like we're all plodding on ok - good stuff!

Since my last login, I've written about 300 words, skim read 3 books and 3 very tedious articles looking for references to finish this section. I wasn't going to look for refs today, but I got sick of sitting in front of the pc and wanted a reason to sit somewhere comfy and have another cup of tea and bit of toast. And I popped out to the shops earlier too, to stretch my legs - very humid out there today, but not indoors, luckily for me!!

Better get back to it before I forget what I've read. See you later.

Morning everyone, just checking in for today's session.

Armendaf- sounds like you've got a decent-sized chunk of writing to work with today, even if it is copied from other sections, it's a really good starting point, plus some papers... you should be pleased with yourself!

Lara -very impressive number of papers read, well done! I'm so glad you say you get bored too, I can only go on for so long too, even though I love my subject. Useful post about the citations too, thanks for that, and I also like your positive 'thought for the day' quotes that you do sometimes - always wise words (up)

Tractorgirl - hope you have a good leisurely weekend, you deserve it!

Today, I'd like to finish the rest of this chapter in draft form, even if it's not very elegantly written, just to get all my arguments down on paper in a workable structure. Then tomorrow I can edit it and put in more references from my notes, and do a bit more reading if there's time/if it's essential. Time isn't unlimited and I'm sending the chapter off tomorrow anyway, whatever form it's in, so I'd better prioritise bits of the content properly so the supervisor knows what I'm trying to do with it.

It's going to be a long weekend, so will pop back now and then when I need a break. So glad you're there too!!

See you later.

Hi everyone,

Sounds like you're both clocking up a very impressive amount of work today!! Very well done!!

Hi Mira, sorry you've had that negative feedback, I had the same thing last summer and it threw me for a while too. My supervisor told me she was concerned about my 'deadline slippage' and that she was worried I might not finish in time if I didn't find a better way of working. We sorted it our between us in the end, as the deadlines and plans of work were all hers, imposed on me and didn't take into account the way I work best and that's partly why I had trouble sticking to them. Now we decide plans of work between us, and it's been fine this year - it's still hellishly hard work, but more do-able and she's very pleased with me these days 8-).

I start new chapters by making a list of bullet points of the main things I want to discuss, with my primary sources as the main focus. Then I flesh it out with more detail, references from my reading, what major theoretical ideas etc. I do it on paper, not computer, and tend to carry it around with me and think about it on buses, they're quite good places for having ideas, I find! I'm arts and humanities.

I'm afraid I slowed down around 4pm and ground to a halt - only managed another 200 words, highlighted bits that need rewriting in proper sentences tomorrow, and expanded my list of bullet points to discuss. I think I must have done about 4-5 hours work but it feels like nothing. So weird when my brain just stops having useful thoughts and I can't squeeze one more sentence out onto that computer screen!

That's me for today- too tired to do anything now, so I'm best off getting an early night and starting again tomorrow I think.
See you tomorrow!

sheet

pity

Hi Armendaf,

It's reassuring to know we're all the same boat this weekend, I was feeing like a bit of a saddo yesterday while others at work were planning their weekends and talking about their bank hols... *sigh* Still, next year I will have a life again and use annual leave for holiday, like 'normal' people do. Good that you've arranged time off to do your writing though, hope it's going ok!

I've just had a tea break - I'd done 300 words (amazingly), so thought it seemed a good time have a tiny rest. Am going to Tescos in a minute (how exciting)and then back to work. Maybe I'll get it finished better in short bursts....

Hi everyone, it's good to see how you're getting on!

Tractorgirl, great to have finished your chapter, it's such a brilliant feeling to meet a significant deadline, even if you're really tired afterwards. One more step towards the end (up)

Lara, hope you manage to sit still and get stuff done today, without resorting to glue (!) Your dream made me laugh, but it's completely understandable!!

I'm going to give this accountability thing a proper go now, if I may? I've wasted far too much time recently, and checking in with your aims for the day and an honest account of progress made sounds a good idea. Especially as you were so right about the 15mins tip!

So for me, my chapter 7 has to be emailed off on Sunday night, so 3 days left to do it.

It's worrying me because it was a completely new chapter started from scratch about a month ago - one problematic chapter got turned into 2 new ones after my first draft. I don't know if it's going to work or will be a bit weak - haven't done enough reading for it, though I can chase up more references later when the whole 2nd draft is done and I know how it fits into the overall argument. And I suppose I can contact relevant people if I need to supplement my primary sources by answering other odd points that might crop up during the writing, as long as it's documented.

Today, I need to write about 1500-2000 words to finish the current section.
I also need to look over my notes for the next section, so I can start writing that tomorrow.

I'm a bit tired from being at work for the last couple of days, but the deadline is still there, whether I'm knackered or not, so I will obviously have to make myself get on with it. I kept being dive-bombed by a ladybird yesterday at the bus stop, it kept coming at me from all directions. I don't know why it picked me as there plenty of other people around, but it was a bit weird.

Anyway, hope you all have a productive day and see you later!

I find the thesaurus in MS Word is fine for eliminating repetition. As long as it's not tedious to read and the meaning's right, and realistically, how many variations are there when you're discussing the same thing for an 80,000 word thesis...

hold

Hello, I'd agree with everything the others have said - I've met a lot of other research students through seminars and other scheduled academic events, which also frequently end in the pub for those who want to go. The drinking/socialising events you mention might be aimed more at postgrad students doing taught masters courses, rather than doctoral students, who are, at least at my uni, a quite different type of cohort in terms of age, background and what they want from their studies.

I'm not really surprised by the apparently casual approach to inductions that you mention, I've always experienced chaotic organisation at my college, but I've got used to it. A large number of our research staff are still on holiday, as it's the only time they can take annual leave before the new academic year begins, but things slowly get back to normal after this short bank holiday week finishes. I'd imagine that's not unusual in HE. If you have to arrange childcare in advance, I'd confirm specific enrolment dates and events by phone with the post-graduate research administrators, as they should be the ones organising it all and would know what's planned. It's not as good as having it in writing, but the relevant timetables/handouts etc might not be written up yet for wider dissemination. Maybe they'd be able to email you info, it might be worth asking. If the whole week of events is really, really badly organised, then I'd imagine other students will also miss out, especially if there are late enrollers too. If you miss some things, you could try to get to others in the future.

I did both my masters and PhD as an 'older' student too, and it's definitely worth juggling job/life stuff to do it - very satisfying! Good luck with it.