Thanks Batfink, I hope I'm right and that I am making some progress, but will have to see what my supervisors say tomorrow. Have just had another read through the chapter that I submitted on Sunday and although some bits look fairly good (if I say so myself), there are some bits that I am not so sure about. But it is a first draft and we haven't really discussed these ideas before as it is something that I *should* know more than my supervisors about. So in a way my research has moved into a new territory and so the supervision of it, for this part anyway, might be different. I'm rather apprehensive about it all!

Anyway I'm waffling now! Have a wonderful few days off Batfink and have a relaxing evening Linda after your early start!

Sorry to hear that you're poorly Button, make sure you get lots of rest this week!

My horse is much better thanks, I've been injecting him with antibiotics for the past week and now he's going onto a different type of antibiotic that he can have in his feed so I won't have the stress of injecting him any more at least! This is just a precaution though apparently. It's probably for the best that your rabbit is having that delicate little operation Linda - do you have a female as well then?

After all the panic my supervision was postponed until tomorrow as my supervisors haven't had a chance to read through my work yet! I've been to a seminar though and I'm making a start on editing the ethics form that I wrote quite a while ago, but then had to put to one side as my lead supervisor disagreed with the method; fortunately he is okay with it now after a bit of convincing! Have seen an improvement in my writing since then so hopefully that means something!

Have a good rest of the day everyone!

I think getting some chocolate and fresh air is a good idea Batfink and well done for getting your journal article finished.

Hope your editing is going well too Linda, I only had ten days to write this chapter so didn't really get a chance to go word-blind, but I'm sure I will when it comes to editing it!

Transcribing has been good today, will do some more this evening but I have to go and bring my poorly horse in now and give him his antibiotic injection. I'm hoping that if his vet visit tomorrow morning goes well then my supervision in the afternoon will go well too!

Good (late) morning everyone. I had a naughty day off yesterday as I worked all week and weekend on my draft methodology chapter which I submitted late on Sunday evening. Was due on Monday but I wanted to give my supervisors enough reading time as I have a feedback supervision tomorrow. So yesterday was spend food shopping, catching up with housework etc.

Today I'm transcribing and hope to have this interview finally finished by tomorrow. I need to prepare for tomorrow's supervision as well, which I'm really nervous about; I hate getting feedback and this chapter is crucial for my upgrade. Still, I tried my best!

That's fabulous news - well done and congratulations Dr. Stressed! I've been following your posts and I am so pleased for you. Hope you have fun celebrating tonight (hopefully with champagne!) and I look forward to reading your viva story.

Enjoy the post-viva glow, I've heard it's wonderful! :-)

Natassia x

Thank you for the replies and advice, I suppose the main thing is making it appealing enough so that it facilitates discussion afterwards. I don't have any results as yet but will not be going into my methodology much - although it is interesting (if I say so myself), I think they will be more interested in why I am doing the project and what I have done before. It is on quite a 'friendly' topic that most people will have an opinion on anyway so hopefully that will work in my favour. More about context and applicability I suppose, and less about theory.

Agreed, most work is interdisciplinary to some extent now anyway. Mine (from a psychosocial perspective) is apparently 'transdisciplinary', although I mainly treat it as an intersection of psychology and sociology. I just say that I am in psychosocial studies as otherwise people might think that I'm an expert in both or that I'm in social psychology, which is something else altogether. I'd say that I'm okay with sociology but there are some aspects of psychology that I left a long time ago, e.g. psychological disorders, statistics etc.

I've been invited to do a 20 minute presentation of my work to undergraduates as part of a lunchtime seminar series. I was thinking of just doing an overview of my research to date as well as a little section on how I decided to do a PhD in the first place, as I think that they will be interested in this at the stage that they are at. Has anyone else had to do this before? It will be at a different site of the university that I am at now, where I will be teaching next semester, so I see this as a good opportunity for the students to get to know me a bit first. If they decide to turn up of course!

Any advice appreciated,

Natassia

Good afternoon everyone, I didn't post on this last week because I was so busy! Highlights were starting my methodology chapter, a couple of good supervision meetings and a conference. This week I need to finish a 5000 word section of my methodology chapter for Friday, aside from teaching etc.

My goal today is to write another (good) 1000 words to finish a section of it, but I have to go to a two-hour seminar later. Have spent this morning doing admin and the reading required for the seminar.

Have a good day everyone!

Good luck with getting the amendments done on your journal article Skig, and I hope your doggy gets on okay at the vets Button.

I'm plodding on with the amendments to my literature review from my two supervisors, again the same thing as I said yesterday but they are taking a while; think I'll be working over the weekend on this as well. Going to work until 4pm then go and ride my horse for the first time since I hurt my collarbone two weeks ago, so looking forward to that.

Have a good day everyone

Done - good luck!

Thank you for the replies - it was decided in Monday's meeting that I will get through my upgrade first (in March), then I can enroll as part time and start publishing, attending conferences etc. Basically they think that it would be best to get the upgrade done first and then it wouldn't be affected by going part-time.

So I have a busy six months ahead of me, but hopefully it will all be worth it and then I can start earning some money and enjoying my PhD process a bit more again. Fortunately my supervisors still think that it would be a sensible decision for me.

Morning all, hope you're feeling better Linda and welcome Gary!

Today I want to finish the amendments on my literature review chapter from one supervisor, and then get started on the amendments from the second supervisor if I have time. Think it will be a long day, and I'm all alone in the office on campus today, unlike most PhD areas we seem to have too many desks for only a few students!

Well I got through it, and although it was quite difficult and stressful the outcome was largely positive. So now I am reading though a methodology chapter of a thesis similar to mine so that I can start planning my own methodology chapter. Hope to have that done by the end of the day.

Morning all,

Have a terrifying progress review meeting at 11am, so just checking in quickly. I'm shaking and feel so sick, but hopefully it will be okay.

After that... will be amending my literature review, although I'm finding it difficult to think past this meeting now.

Have a good day everyone :-)