Hi Natassia, yes, it all counts!! It all goes towards a tomato!! If I'm sitting here working, whether it be reading, writing, doing admin or email my supervisor, it's all work and it all counts.

...I wish the site would do something really special when you reach a new personal best tho - some fireworks would be nice!

Forgive me all, I'm going to be a complete wanker and brag. I've been working so hard lately, am going to let myself indulge in a bit of back-patting. Yesterday I did 22 tomatoes!! My all time high! And I had lunch and dinner breaks and took the dog out. So, a good day, and I was very focused. No-one else apart from forum users would understand my pride in this, so am being terribly self-indulgent and posting here.

Am writing up, determined to do 20 a day.

http://mytomatoes.com/ for those of you unfamiliar. It really does concentrate the mind. Now to start another day of tomatoing...

Hi Cakeman

I agree with Heifer, and I'm also in social sciences. Second author in this discipline is good, and it does look like a joint effort. It shows you can be published, and also work collaboratively.

Gennia, 1st author is the person who's name goes first, and who is usually the contact, but not always.

Me too Chrisrolinksi, me too. And I fear you're right Wj...

I see my peers, who've recently gotten their PhDs, picking up research assistant work and casual teaching, and trying to piece a career together. It seems there is casual work around, if you're on campus, visible, have good networks and are able to self-promote. Unis seem to thrive on the casual labour of PhDs...still, it seems a hard way to live, with no income for half the year, constantly having to look around and being on the periphery of the labour market. OK if you can afford to live like this, too difficult for many, I suspect, me included.

Well done Someone3!! Congratulations!! I'd deliver it to your supervisor personally and also take a bottle of champagne!

I think this is a stereotype - what are we talking here, people with thick glasses, inept and unable to get a partner?? I'm definitely neither, and my colleagues in social sciences aren't either. But then, I don't understand these terms anymore...

Yes, this is a good idea. I use a nice notebook in which I record all sorts of things - details of meetings, references needing to be followed up, ideas for future work, contact names and details etc. It's my bible. It's good to have this info centrally to help keep track of work.

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Thanks Ogriv, yes, I need to make sure that I don't get stuck in the civil service and do my best to find a research job somewhere. I've worked with too many people who've been there for 20 years or so, and they're still saying they're going to do something else with their life...must get over my negativity and try and be positive...

Sorry for hijacking the thread DanB, back to you.

Yes, that's right Ogriv, use your 'mistake' as an opportunity to point towards further research - people may never know that your study would've benefited from that extra data! And when you have your own research, based on your idea, you definitely will be more engaged with it.

Gosh Ogriv, you're being way, way too hard on yourself! Stop blaming yourself over what sounds like a perfectly reasonable way to approach research! As postgrad students we're still learning how to be independent researchers, and can't be expected to see everything, and plan for every contingency. You are NOT lazy! You did as your supervisor suggested, which is what all of us do. They do know more than us, we trust them to point us in the right direction, and are not to blame when the occasional piece of data is not collected!

Even if you did make a mistake, it's not a big deal. We all do it. It's part of the learning process. Your current sup should've spotted this, not you. Be a bit kinder to yourself, be glad you've met a better potential sup than your current one, and move forward.

There's a few threads around like this, so do a bit of a search and see what others have said. Yes, it does depend on your discipline and how you work, how fast you can write, how many conference papers and journal articles you also want to get published. I started off part-time, found it too hard to keep juggling between work and study, and didn't get enough momentum going, so I went to full-time. This is much better - total immersion is the way to go.

I've always worked about 50 hours a week as a full-time student, more now that I'm writing up. I'm not the fastest writer and am doing lots of rewriting, and have also done lots of conference papers etc, which has slowed me down a lot. 3 days wouldn't be enough for me to do a full-time load, but there are others on here who seem to be able to manage it.

Thanks for the citation Walminski, I knew my studies would make me famous somewhere. ;-)

I totally interact more with people here than in the real world. My 'friends' don't contact me for weeks, months on end, and yes, most of my friends are not 'good' friends. Just another casualty of this PhD. And living in this horrid town...oh, I'd better stop before I get too negative. I have another chapter to rewrite - joy!

Hey Eska and AL

Just hijacking this thread for a moment...yes, it is quite odd to feel attached to others in a virtual world - but nice too! Since I mostly work from home, I rarely have other students to talk to, so this forum is a saviour. AL, your partner is right to a degree - yes, we should be writing rather than being on this forum, but if it helps, good! Has your partner done a PhD? If not, I'd take what he's saying with a grain of salt - unless you've gone through the isolation, the maddening frustration of a PhD, I don't think a person can really understand.

Sorry to hear you've been having a hard time AL - it will pass, and you'll be on the up again.