ooh nice one! I'm actually feeling ok about mine too, between one sup asking have I got enough to do , and another sup telling me I'm trying to do too much, I think I've got it figured out! Plus, I'm about to send off my first journal article for submission! Just waiting for the rejection/rewrite now!!

and why did her father let her go on the omnibus when he knew it wasnt for school?! It seemed to Jemima that there was more to this than chance....

mmm it depends on what mood im in usually, but if I'm doing some work that is pretty mundane like data entry I prefer listening to cheesy lively music as it numbs tha pain a little! Generally though I'm ok with lyrical music as long as it's not too catchy. I love listening to Tom McRae, Elbow, Snow Patrol Jeff Buckley and the new Temper Trap album is just great!!

"Quick everyone, get off the bus" it shouted, gesturing wildly to the elves. Otto the bus driver tried to attack the stranger, jumping from his seat, fists clenched and baring horrible cracked yellow teeth. The stranger batted Otto away with a swift fling of his arm and began ushering the elves off the bus. Upon noticing Jemima he stopped suddenly.....he gasped and all the colour drained from his huge face...."You've come...." he said...

Hi Chris
I'm not sure how it works for humanities, but in Science (in my dept at least) it is possible to just stick in the paper as the chapter.  With an introduction bit just to say that it's published or in review, it's possible to have it as a chapter and any extra work that went into the study but wasn't actually published can go into another chapter. Saves time having to totally rejig the whole thing and rewrite it to suit the thesis, also it means that the more papers you publish during the project the easier it is to write the thesis and pass the viva (as it's obviously publishible standard, novel contribution to the field etc).  Can you do that with your subject?
:-)

Hi there, I hope noone minds if I budge on in here! Just trying to do the 7th draft of a paper that's taken about 9 months to get this far and I've been doing some serious procrastination all day so I thought I'd better do something about it! So the plan is, to hack the paper to pieces again, restructure, and redefine the main points, and redo tables and figures to send it to my sup tonight...good luck everyone! and congrats on finishing ur bit eska!

Nice thread Walminskipeasucker :-) Personally, having had a bit of a crappy morning, I've just returned to the office after a long lunch, where i took some time to watch tv and have a shower which has totally lifted my mood, and I can get back to work without being stuck in misery land....it's being able to do things like this that make the PhD all worthwhile sometimes! Obviously i can't spend every day mincing around and doing whatever I like, but I really appreciate the relative autonomy of academia. Being able to chose who to work with, to some extent anyway, is great, and being able to chose what I want to work on, and how I want the project to develop...these are a few of my favourite things!
Lastly...the travel! My supervisor once said to me that one of the bet things about academia was the travel and he wasn't wrong! With a combination of hard work, and sheer luck, I've had the opportunity to travel to Cork, Bristol and New Zealand to conferences and labs, something I sincerely appreciate!!

Hi Eska

I've never gone from flat to single room, but I have done quite a bit of both. It's a tough one to decide on, as everyone is different. I find that after spending hours and hours working in my room, it's possible to switch off (as mush as usual anyway ;-)) by deciding when to finish work exactly and when you're done, put all your notes etc away in a box or something, easily accessible for the next day but still out of sight. Then open the windows, go for a walk or watch a movie, something that gets you out of the room for a while so you can wind down. Then when u go back to go to bed, its fresh and your work isn't the last thing you see at night and first thing in the morning. But I would definitely say use a desk if you can, don't work on the bed or you'll never get a good nights sleep again! Hope that helps!

Thanks for the replies guys! I've heard that it's possible to get a visa ok if I already have a job, however I would ideally like to move over straight away and job hunt while I'm there. My sup told me that if I try to change from visitor visa to work visa it's extremely difficult and usually customs request that you return home while your visa is changed, which isn't really ideal. But if we are married then it's easier, or at least engaged, I think there is something there for that anyway...

Anywhoo, thanks for the help!

Hi guys, another thread from me in 2 days, you can tell I've got too much work to be doing!!

I was just wondering if anyone knows what the craic is with moving to america post phd? Mr algaequeen has been offered a postdoc there for 2 years, and the plan is that when i finish next year I'll move out there with him. However, I've been hearing very different stories regarding my ability to move to USA and work. I though it would be relatively simply to get a temporary work visa, having a boyfriend living and working in america, but one of my supervisors has told me that it's very difficult to move over if I haven't already got a job, and that we will most likely have to get married if i want to get a visa! Anyone know any better?

thanks!

Yea I agree that it's definately first years who are the biggest issue. After hearing them repeatedly refer to lecturers as 'the teacher' it's clear it takes a while to get the hang of the more peer-to-peer attitude of university life. I remember coming on myself in frst year and being at a talk given by the head of school, who informed us of the various ways in which uni was very different from school, to be being told that your lecturers were not there to spoon feed us through uni and that we were very much in control of our own learning, I was super excited! I really enjoyed being invited to communicate with lecturers on a much more mature level. I'm not sure if this still goes on in first year these days, but I'm pretty sure that first year student have no idea of the actual workload that uni staff and postgrads actually have!

lol, although I'm a one star nobody, this is possibly my favourite thread of all time!! I shall retreat back to my corner now... ;-)

oooh how can you tell?! Thanks for that Sacha!!

and thanks chrisrolinksi!! :-) Made me all happy now!!

Hello there! I just noticed I received a star, so thank you very much to whoever has given it to me!! As I had no idea how they worked I hunted through the threads and found a few relating to stars and I have now figured it out. As it seems there are many people who just don't know what they are about, can I suggest to the nice folks who control the PhD forum land that they maybe make it a bit clearer the function of stars and make it easier to give stars? Only being able to award stars to the useful helper when they are also online is a bit difficult methinks!

Just a thought! :-)

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I'm not sure the students I have been working with are demanding as such, however I have noticed a definite shift in laziness and rudeness amongst them.  I've done 3 years of lab demonstrating on a biology module, and the first year was great. There were of course some students who were messing around but most just got stuck in and did the work.  Last year I had a student who just didnt understand the concept of preparing slides and had concocted some sort of multi-slide-sandwich, with about 4 slides all piled up and was wondering why he couldnt see the leaf he was looking at....this year, about half the class repeatedly refuse to bring in appropriate lab equipment (I'm talking blank paper and a pencil here for drawings..), continually ask for help on the most mundane things because they wont listen to the lecturers introduction at the beginning of the class and refuse to think for themselves, and always ask for the answers!! I had one particularly memorable student this year who asked for help on something, when I got there she had been using samples that someone else had prepped and as a result of not doing her own work, hadnt a clue what was going on.  I told her (again) what she had to do and said that I would help her if she needed it but I wasn't giving her the answer, and then she got all indignant, saying 'well, is this going to take long, I have stuff to do you know...' in the middle of the 3 hour practical slot! I couldnt believe it!  About 10 minutes after, she went to the lecturer and feigned sickness so she could leave early!!