to PC-Geek, yes, thats a good advice, i shall do that. a different point of view may suprisingly create challanging comments

yep, PhD is VERY individual, totally agree. had a chat with a fellow PhD student in the same group as me (different lit period though) and she confirmed my observation, it is unhealthy competetive on our year. i guess i will focus on my work and be very selective.

do u want to post author and title and see if anyone here can get it for you?

theoretically yes, though it would mean finding a new college that would actually agree to facilitate this, going through the application process. i just have to wait and see what they reply will be, depending on the answer i will make a decision what next. thx

I'm in the process of changing my topic and although i thought all was good last week, my sup is not clear about it now. Which obviously makes it a bit of a big lowdown for me at the moment. It seems like it is very much down to the money. Although i am fully financing my PhD, new topic would require join sup from a different college, which means my home college would have to pay the 2nd sup to do it. The cant fund it from my fee. So to be honest, if they say no, i am not sure if there is any point in writing my original PhD, as i dont really want to. I just hope all will be well by the end of this week, otherwise i have to make a decision to resign (?!).

xeno, your sup sounds full of sh..t, i guess if he saw u fainting cos of the amount of work u do, that would constitute in his eyes a hard working PhD student.
ive just spent 2 weeks working non stop and i said enough, last weekend i read books for pleasure, nothing related to my PhD, not taking notes while reading them! and baked lemon tarts like crazy. and guess what, now i sat down again to read theory and it is suddenly all clear. PhD is our life at the moment but u need to have a mental and physical rest cos u will go crazy. be strong!

fumbi, positive thinking. good point. i have found 2 people with good intentions already. makes a difference. thank you.

thank you. I am on the 1st year and still learning how to talk to people and the behaviour. It's tough though but hey, im really happy i have found this forum cos we can ask anything and get the support.
I will stay positive.

i totally agree, i had lots of ideas for papers etc, and trying to grasp everything at the same time, when i told my supervisor what i was doing he looked at me like at a mad person, he also said writing my PhD is priority. I only do it when i really have the spare time, eg my supervisor is looking at the next chunk of work i sent him.
Also, if you have a good realtionship with your supervisor, i am sure s/he will advise you what to do, but I bet 99% will be focusing on your PhD.

I have noticed recently, a strange, a bit sick competition developing among PhD students on my year, that work within similar field. I know, yes we are all guarding our brilliant ideas we'd love to publish one day, but I find it a bit uncomfortable. Cos sometimes you really want to talk to somebody, or have somebody read your draft who knows what the hell you are talking about, or get constructive criticism. A person I sent my stuff to, didn’t even give me a proper feedback apart from ‘good’, that doesn’t really help, and I know there were mistakes cos I found them later! It makes me wonder, is it deliberate?
Not mentioning sharing information about conferences, some brilliant papers u know they will help somebody else.
Am I an idealist afraid to face the reality or people just got too bloody ambitious and egoistical?

InaP, i tell u what works for me, i guess everybody as his/her own way. make a proper plan, intro, chapters, titles help, then get whichever chapter u want to start with and make bullet points of the most important things u want to say, nothing elaborate, just a big idea and work around those points. whenver u get distracted look at the points and follow them. if u happen to have an idea, put it down, but dont develop. get the big picture first before going into details. hope this helps and good luck. i'm on the 1st year but have the plan sorted for the whole thing, it doeasnt matter it will change, cos it will, as long as u have something to work with and have control over your material, u should be on the right track.

bakuvia, thank you! had a lousy day today (apart from being invited to a new association as a member relating to my research, which made my day) and went to the university after work, and i just couldnt bring myself to go for the 2nd lecture. just left home and watched the movie 'touching the void' (Freudian slip describing the state i am in?
i was just staring at the screen, so tired couldnt bother to cook dinner. i am in the process of changing my topic which is daunting on me as well.
getting up at 6.30am to go to work and uni in the evening. i decided to do gardening all weekend, no books, no PhD, and lots of sleep.

i think, first of all you need to be passionate about your topic, i dont understand the point looking through the ads, if you dont know what you would like to research. good luck.

deciding to do PhD was the best decision I have made. I love it. I'm stressed juggling day job with PhD though, not PhD itself.

Exactly!!! I noticed at my college there is absolutely no difference apart from fees, between PT and FT. And I work just as hard if not harder than FTs. The only thing is the feeling of prestige. I spoke to my supervisor and he said it is utterly up to me how quickly i finish writing, it is all about whether I can deliver. So i figured out what's the point paying more and still doing the same. Unless you have a scholarship and u can afford FT then it makes sence.