I can't design stuff cos I am rubbish! Can we have a cat or an ickle bunny wabbit?? - with a hat!?

will we be able to put pictures as our avatar any time soon?

no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

you can send a summary of the meeting with action points the day after and see if your supervisor agrees. Then your sup might start to realise all the things he is saying e.g point 1, change this, point 2, change that, point 3, change everything, point 4 re-do whole PhD etc etc.

I would go with the wine being a no-no lol, but how about being a teachers pet and taking the odd box of chocs?

My supervisor brought 3 PhD students over when he moved to my uni (before I was doing PhD). They were given all the facilties e.g. office etc in our uni, but were also allowed to continue to use resources at the old uni including online resources and email - seemed to work quite well.

I commute about 2 1/2 hours each way, door to door. I've found it ok, apart from when I have to get in at 9am, I have to then leave by 6am which I hate. Luckily I have a cousin I stay with occassionally if I need to go in that early, so I just go up the night before. THere are two things I do have trouble with. THe first is the cost, a few visits into uni a month can cost hundreds in train tickets :-s . Secondly, you sometimes get the feeling that others think you are lazy cos you are not always in i.e. when you plan your week around coming in on Monday, then they have an ad hoc 20min meeting on weds and complain (not to your face) that you weren't in. My supervisor is fine with me not coming in as much, but other department members find it difficult to see when you are doing work. I find that making yourself very visible is important. e.g. when you are in, go to see everyone, go in on the days you know they will be there etc. Also remember not to go on facebook at home cos they will know !! ;-)

======= Date Modified 15 Nov 2008 11:03:03 =======
[quote]Quote From sneaks:


I do loads, use this with a digital dictaphone (although make sure you do a practice one to make sure all the settings are ok and it is actually recording)



http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=30352



/[quote]



This allows you to use a digital dictaphone, I use a Sony one



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-2gb-Digital-Dictation-Black/dp/B0011971N8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1226746831&sr=8-1



to record directly through the telephone, you can then upload the files up to your computer so you can play them back using the transcription buddy program I mentioned.

Definately mention it - you don't want your sup finding out by reading the article after its published!

For transcription use "transcription buddy" available for free at www.download.com it allows you to use variable pauses (on digitial sound files), which you can set your self. I have mine set (at the moment) to

play 15 secs
pause 2 secs
re-play back 7 secs
(then play 15 secs again etc etc)

So it continually loops and you can change the times according to the speakers speed. Therefore you never need to press play, stop, pause, throughout the transcription, it just keeps rolling. Its fantastic. And its free on 30 day trial, but if you uninstall it after the trial is up and reinstall it you can use it again forever!

I do loads, use this with a digital dictaphone (although make sure you do a practice one to make sure all the settings are ok and it is actually recording)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=30352

I often find them easier, although with mine, I have to make sure they are speaking somewhere where they can talk confidentially, e.g. in a separate room otherwise results may be affected by their colleagues listening in at work.

try this course

http://www.kent.ac.uk/english/postgraduate/taught/cw.htm

I try to work 7 days a week but mainly because I tend to work from 11am-12 then lunch, then 2-4, then break for the evening :p so I have to work weekends to catch up. I tried to do the whole 9-5 in my first year but realised this year that if I want to get the thing done in less that 20 years, I will need to work weekends and evenings occassionally. I tend to go through weeks of working like crazy, then two weeks of vague admin work, then a crazy week again, I think its whatever you think. I know a lot of people who work for 8 hours a day, but accomplish the same amount of work that I get done in an hour, but it makes them feel better to think they have been 'working' for so long.

Depends on the subject. The biggest difference is usually the level of critical analysis, e.g. "this theory says this, but this person disagreed, but his study was rubbish cos of this, therefore the study is....." etc etc. My marks increased dramatically using signposting more in essays in my MSc.

Many universities do this, it often depends on what policies they have but most require students to do research training. This training usually has to be on research council approved masters degrees. I took a masters at my uni, but had to do 4 modules from the 'research council approved' masters to keep them happy, its just one of the rules. I argued myself out of several of the modules because I proved I had enough experience but still had to do an exam and piece of coursework.

If you friend is on an EPSRC grant then he should have applied for a 1+3 PhD rather than just a +3 and he would therefore be paid for the extra training.

My issue isn't really with noise, more about feeling relaxed, and with others in the room I just don't feel like I can be. At home I can just be more laid back and therefore work better as I am not as stressed. And I can get several cups of tea an hour without getting funny looks!