Overview of aelys

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Is being at a highly reputable university the only way to progress in academia
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Quote From TreeofLife:

Unfortunately you are correct. As with everything in life, status matters. Perceived respectability of your advisors matters. You can break out of this, but it requires a bit extra effort I think.


Agreed. But I'm tempted to ask, what kind of extra effort?
It seems that OP is already doing everything (presenting, publishing, reviewing, and networking, even if not successfully). Apart from ploughing on until there is a chance to go to a better ranked institution, I don't see many other options..? :-/

Do I HAVE to publish my work in the conference proceedings?
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Quote From marasp:
If yes, do I have to email the conference committee and explain that I will be publishing my paper somewhere else? What if I offer to publish in the conference proceedings a note (i.e. a very short paper) on the topic instead?
Thanks in advance
Mara Sp.

It is perfectly acceptable not to publish in the proceedings, and I don't think it's necessary to send any follow-up emails. If it's been a very large conference, some editors might ask the authors in advance to state whether or not they plan to send in their contribution (this helps them organise the volume's sections, ensure sufficient number of reviewers, etc.).

Regarding other formats (notes,commentaries, etc.), these may be mentioned in the CfP the organisers/editors will send out, but if not, it might be worth contacting them and checking if they would be willing to consider such contribution.

4th unfunded year, bills to pay and need a job!
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Many many thanks for taking the time to write this, I will definitely try these options. :)
The language I translate to/from isn't that common, but there's no harm in asking, at least the competition shouldn't be that fierce...

4th unfunded year, bills to pay and need a job!
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I've recently started a partially funded PhD and it is really challenging in terms of time management and dealing with anxiety and uncertainty that comes with temporary jobs I've had so far. I hope this will improve when I find something more stable.
Unfortunately, there are no paid work prospects in my department, but everyone has been really supportive and helped me in networking.

@marasp, I'd be grateful for any advice on approaching publishing houses in the UK?

How many departments should I apply to?
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Hi Massimo!

Regarding your question about the number of departments, I hard to give an exact number. However, given that you are an EU student, it might be advisable to widen the net a bit, since there is not as much funding as for the UK students.
It is definitely worth contacting professors with a more general interest in the field, you might discover that they have already supervised similar theses or they might suggest other prospective supervisors within the department or colleagues from other universities. Also, note that perfect matches are relatively rare and that academic staff is very mobile, it is not uncommon for a supervisor to leave the institution and the student to be allocated another one.

New to the forum and looking for a motivation study partner
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Try GradCafe. :)

Changed my mind after accepting the unconditional offer
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Follow the funding. The other uni will offer your place to someone else.

Can I get full time work right for studying Phd?
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As far as I know, for a full time PhD, your visa will have a 20 hours limitation.

Also, apart from supervision, some programmes do include mandatory research training and in some cases, you might even be advised to sit some courses from MSc/MA level if your supervisors think it could be useful.

I don't know your research field, but in STEM, for example, you are likely to be in the lab 9-5 every day. I'm pretty sure that a full time job is not a feasible option.

In any case, check with the international offices of the universities you're interested in - I am sure they will offer you specific, up-to-date information.

First PhD Interview: Prep/Expected Questions
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Sorry to hear that. But the fact that you were interviewed clearly indicates that they thought you are PhD material. See if you can get any feedback, it might be useful in further applications.

TV programmes as primary data
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Quote From mancbella:
Thanks again aelys. To clarify, you transcribed only the bits of the programmes that were relevant to your research? I am interested in bits of programmes and am transcribing those, but am also providing a summary of the rest of the programme, so that it can be easily seen where and how the transcribed sections fit in. Still very time-consuming...

Yes, and each bit was preceded by a sentence or two providing a bit more specific context (the general one was within the text body).

I can imagine how time-consuming it must be... :( I suppose there is some software that might which might help with transcribing the clips you have downloaded and immediately available, but I'm not sure to which extent can these be of use to you. Still, it might be worth looking into it if you're terribly short of time...

Good luck with writing!

Overlapping studies
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If she's in the final stage and there isn't a lot of coursework left on this other module, the uni will probably allow it since it won't greatly affect her work on the masters, especially it being a part-time programme.
Fingers crossed everything sorts out...

Overlapping studies
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Quote From TreeofLife:
Just tell them she has quit it even though she hasn't... how are they going to know?

Some unis have a form stating completion or suspension of current studies which has to be filled in by the other institution and handed/sent in before the admission. As others advised, check the regulations.

Writer's block
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I second all the advice given.

It seems like you have a committee in your head, criticizing your words even before they're written and you need to make them shut up.There is a software/platform called Draft (similar to say Google Docs) which has a very cool feature named after Hemingway. It follows his "Write drunk, edit sober" motto and, when this mode is on, you cannot make editions or changes, you just have to WRITE.

Also, I'd recommend the books "How to Write a Lot" and "265 Troubleshooting Strategies for Writing Nonfiction", I've found them very helpful in alleviating my own writing issues. :)

TV programmes as primary data
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No problem.

I've included in the appendices transcripts of all the dialogues containing the target structures. Relatively few of those were cited in the text body, but my supervisor suggested I provide an exhaustive list in the end. Eventually, one of my examiners asked me to provide background in some cases and then link it to certain theoretical aspects but this was actually a nice chance for me to show off... (and I happen to know he was quite familiar with the corpus).

Maybe sample pieces would work for you, providing detail and contextualizing some key points in your analysis/finding? Of course, this completely depends on the nature of your research topic...

TV programmes as primary data
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I had such data in my MA research and, when writing up the methodology part, I briefly introduced some basic info on the corpus (genre, authors, key topics, etc.) and some other aspect relevant to my research questions. I was advised to assume that the person reading will not be familiar with those particular sources.

However, I would suggest you discuss this with your supervisor(s) and/or look for other theses in your field who used similar primary sources.