pamw, i was in a similar situation not long ago and found some very useful resources by googling. i think i put in "how to write an abstract". hope that helps, and good luck!

piglet! how are things going? long time no see...

sj04, i'm intrigued by your description of how to insert references in your writing in word - it sounds so cumbersome! You describe that you actually leave word, go to endnote, find the reference, click on it... and then go back to word, i presume.

i might be wrong but you might be interested that the same can be done very simply without ever leaving word, and you don't need to remove your hands from the keyboard, either: you simply press alt-7 while writing. given that your endnote is running in the background, a search window will open, you type the author's name (for example), and hit enter. so apart from starting it up in the morning, you never even have to go to endnote - you do everything from word.

mogwai, getting rejections is tough. after about the ninth rejection, my supervisor (i had started the PhD anyway, self-funded) told me that applying for funding is like throwing a ball of crumpled paper backwards across your head and trying to hit a basket you can't see behind you. you do get better at it over time, she said, but even so, a huge proportion of luck remains. i had top grades all through my educational career, most recently a "summa cum laude" for my masters, a (minor) publication to my name, and top references. still, i had to come to terms with nine rejections. the tenth one went through though so as of this month i am fully funded for the next 16 months. so what i am saying is: a) a lot of it is luck, statistically it is not unlikely that excellent candidates get several rejections. b) if you really want it, keep trying. perseverance is key. you will need that during the PhD, too, so you can book your current experience as valuable learning experience

good luck jojo. keep your head high. look, the sun is shining!

oh, and you can connect endnote directly to databases (such as the ISI web of science), and search the databases through endnote and save the references you need. or import them from the database. that means, no need to copy down the reference manually.

and you can save your endnote library online and access it from everywhere.

and you can link directly to the PDFs of the articles.

and it connects nicely with word. you simply press alt-7 to insert a reference while you are writing in word.

then, take some time off. as much as it takes. to avoid feeling guilty, you could tell yourself that you are simply getting your work-life balance back into balance in order to work more effectively in the future (as it seems that without that balance, no effective work has been possible recently...?!). so you are doing it not to pamper yourself, but for the benefit of your PhD, too.
i hope you will get properly healthy soon and sort out all the other stuff, too. sometimes it helps me to remember that the toughest part of doing a PhD is fighting your own inner demons. Or, in other words: At times, you are up against a most formidable enemy - yourself. But, it is just you. You can manage.
Gosh, re-reading this, it appears cheap. But well, maybe something or other rings true for you or is useful in a way.
Good luck. You'll get through this, and things will look brighter soon.

jojo, i am sorry to hear that things are going so badly for you currently.
did i ever tell you that you have often been a source of inspiration for me? when i came to the forum and you always made the impression of working veeeery hard, so that i felt i should stop surfing and get to work myself!
now, your posts sound as if you were really at the brink, which makes me sad, i deeply sympathise. as you asked what to do: first of all, take a deep breath. although everything may seem bad right now, it WILL get better. then, let someone you trust know that right now, you need their support without questions. don't just hint at it: tell them directly. it's like a deal, and you are not committing yourself to eternal dependency, nor are you asking them to give too much - just right now, you may really need someone. and that's ok!

-in a very practical sense, i get to decide my own working hours. when i was working 8-5 before starting the PhD i had serious sleeping problems. when you can't sleep and then still have to get up to go to work, the day is sooo wasted. now, except when i teach, i know when i go to bed that if worst comes to worst and i can't sleep, i CAN sleep late to catch up and the day won't be wasted. thanks to knowing this i usually have no problems falling asleep as the anxiety of "having to go to sleep NOW" is not there (except when i teach...) so for me, this seriously adds to my quality of life!

there are many good things about the PhD for me.
-i meet many new interesting people all the time.
-i get to spend days reading and thinking and working through problems until i am satisfied - not until whatever i've got can be sold to the client.
-i like the feeling of my topic becoming more and more MINE...
-i feel like i am going somewhere (even if i don't always know where). when working previously, i used to get bored quite soon. not in my PhD!

valentine's has only recently become something to pay attention to in switzerland - pushed by marketing efforts from flower vendors. i've never done anything special for valentine's yet. don't see why i should start. we do nice things for each other whenever we feel like it, which is often enough.

just went down to the SU cafe where they were serving pancakes. after queueing for a while i reached the front and was the first to be told that there weren't any pancakes anymore as the dough had just run out.

grumble.

you could try H&M. i found some good stuff there, and never really expensive.

if it is really bad, well you will just have to cancel. that happens to the best of us and IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

else, take painkillers and immodium or something, do the thing, then go home immediately and sleep for 12 hours. or something like that.

i hope that you will feel better soon!

olivia, i/we recently moved into a new place. the letting agents all said "no pets" in their ads etc. but when we told them we would like to have a cat (sometime) they were ok with that - i think because we didn't have one yet. when we viewed the house the landlord said cats would be ok. but when we got the contract it stated, again, "no pets". we had to explain to the agent that the landlord had agreed to a cat, and after much back and forth the contract was changed to say that we can have ONE cat and that we must pay for de-fleeing the house when we move out.
the point of the story being: the agents don't like pets. the landlords, often, don't mind. take this question up with the landlord, not the agent!