I did used to watch this quite a lot a few years ago. Although i tend to keep this hidden from most as i dont think it ads too much to my image of doing a physics degree and PhD. I already get a lot of stick from my family:$. secretly though, it was watching stuff like this as a kid that got me into this mess in the first place. Anyways for your update, the Maquis was a bunch of rebel fighters who voyager was trying to catch in the alpha quadrent. Unfortunaltey both ships got knocked far from home in the delta quadrant by some big machine called the caretaker. Now they are all trying to get back home (which will take many years) and have formed an alliance. i think the first series has a lot of them arguing and mistrusting each other. Anyway i will not reveal too much, but enjoy;-)

When I ask myself this question I would like to think that I’m doing it to be able to prove to myself that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I don’t want to look back at life and always wonder if I was capable of doing this PhD. Sure, as I’m getting ready to submit now, I am finding it just as hard to search for jobs and frustration often brings this question to my mind. But I take comfort in the fact that the very best human qualities lie within overcoming what seem initially to be insurmountable odds. And in our very own little way, we are no different to explorers or mountain climbers who push to achieve the impossible. Sorry i got a little philosophical there :-(

Maybe we should be a little more careful about what we post. There are a lot of people on here who are looking for comfort and moral support whilst working hard to finish their Phd in 3-4 years. making threads about how many papers we should publish just adds unecessary pressure to people who dont need it.

Thanks for the support. After having a week to calm down and reflect i can see where i can take things for this chapter. It just means a lot more work before i can start full time writing. im going to take a larger overview than the paper with looking at a few extra materials. Hopefully this will allow me to edge a paper out as well and continue on with getting the PhD done. I find that being a PhD student is a much slower form of research than postdoc. Where they can concentrate on the papers i have to fill out a full foundation to all my research.
Thanks anyway for the support this PhD has really been an emotional rollercoaster.

Ok im currently half way through my third year now and everything was going great until now. I was just finishing my final experiments and getting ready for full time writing when i found a paper published last September covering the work in one of my chapters. how can i cope with this now? can i still include the chapter in my thesis or do i have to get rid of the whole thing? i worked hard on the data too but this paper has covered everything that i was ready to present. Please help i need comfort