I have to say my vice is maltesers - and no not just a small pack, one of those movie sized packs - all to myself, its horrendous! I lost 2 stone this year and really don't want to put it back on again, and would ideally like to lose more for xmas parties!

Yes - I do go for the hot chocs - I have to be careful that i buy them in sachets and not in a jar otherwise I find myself shovelling spoonful upon spoonful until the 'drink' becomes almost solid chocolate :$

I'm tempted to buy a rubiks cube - as I think it I need something to do while pausing from writing and I end up eating instead.

As the winter months draw in I find it hard not to constantly eat at my desk and have multiple hot chocolates.

Any ideas on what I can eat that isn't chocolate?

And no mention of houmous, carrot sticks or seeds as I point blank refuse to eat them.

try flight of the conchords audiobook! and any standup comedy

everyone feels silly most of the way through their PhD and if they don't they're lying! Other people will have other developmental stuff to be doing e.g. presenting, writing for journals, teaching etc.

Just do what you need to in order to develop yourself and stuff what other people think!

In terms of structure ALWAYS start with a plan e.g. intro, theory 1, theory 2, comparison, conlucsion. And lots of signposting!

In terms of making your writing simpler - I personally don't have that problem and am always trying to find 'big words' in my thesaurus lol. But my supervisor says she prefers is when I write normally. I think I just imagine explaining it to my husband, who is not a complete moron, he has his own PhD, but not in my area, so although he gets the basics, he needs the otherstuff explained in a less jargony way.

haha just re-read my post and saw that i have put 'in terms of' oh dear!

on the lightbulb theme

How many bankers does it take to screw in a light bulb?


Two--one to screw it in and one to screw it up

I think you will do this fine. I think you need more detailed feedback however. What is wrong with your writing? Is it how you structure your argument? How you support your argument with evidence? is is how you phrase things or the type of vocab you use? Could it be you need to break your writing up with titles? Do you provide enough signposting?

Just saying its 'undergrad standard' is not enough and you clearly can't progress until there is some more detailed information about your style.

ah ha!

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IAy6NCD0Iq0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=elements+of+style#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Maybe that is his management style. Have you ever seen kitchen nightmares - Gorden Ramsey ALWAYS knocks them down, makes them feel like crap and then they end up trusting him and having happy ever after lives lol
Maybe he thinks its the best way to motivate you!

There are some really good books out there too which help - one that I can't remember whcih is often references on here. It has simple things like using commas rather than brackets. e.g. rather than "I like chocolate (although it makes me fat) because its yummy" you would put "I like chocolate, although it makes me fat, because it's yummy"

Also - get a nice fat thesaurus. All those 'however' can turn into 'consequently' 'conversly' 'despite' etc.

like any kind of writing, I think reading must come first -and I don't mean for content. I mean for style. E.g. if you read the daily mail :-s then you will end up writing like it. If you read enough academic journals, you will end up writing like them. Why not have a flick through any of your sups publications and see how they structure their writing and what kind of phrases they use to make points. I know in my field its all

"in terms of...."

e.g. "in terms of interventions, they can be successful, in terms of..."

ok I'll start

One candle said to the other,

"are you going out tonight"

ok - so not a 'good' joke, but nevermind! :p