I like Garamond and Georgia for many things, but have stuck with Times New Roman for the thesis because I think it is easier to read in longer documents.

That's brilliant, well done! Well deserved. I had a paper published this week too and so far I have only had one e-mail from a PhD student, but that was nice! The original reviews were amazing, though, so I live in hope that they will reveal themselves one day. It is in a weird (but really quite massive) journal which is run as an editorial collective, so the copyeditor is actually a massively important historian. Anyway, she e-mailed me after she had finished saying 'I have only had to make a very few changes to your excellent article'. I have to admit that I did a little happy dance around the room so I know how you feel! Enjoy it.

My supervisor seems to have just replied to an email I sent him... in May 2009.

The funniest thing is that it says 'I will print it out and go through it asap'!

I have seen him about a hundred times since then. Thing is, I have recently sent him a file. So I presume he is talking about that. But then why reply to this old email rather than the one I sent him TODAY? From a completely different e-mail address that I don't really use.

He is a riddle wrapped in an enigma, etc., etc.

Oh, I have too many of these! Just a few...

On hearing of my engagement, my main supervisor (a male prof in his 40s) got all giddy about the ring before saying, completely deadpan: 'He does realise that he will always come second to academia?'

My second supervisor is famous for his 'tactful' comments on drafts. Common (for all of his students, not just me) are: 'YUCK!', 'Err... no' and 'Help me! I'm lost'. Another gem related to his dislike of my use of the phrase 'appears to be the case', to which he responded: 'Why do you keep saying this? Did WW1 'appear' to start in 1914?' (I'm a historian.) My very favourite one, however, was 'Your sexism shocks me!!!'

One of them was introducing me and another student to somebody. The other student had just submitted, so he said 'This is X and she's just submitted', before turning towards me and saying 'This is CeCeF and she, erm, hasn't'.

My goals:

FINISH! Submission July; Viva September/October; Graduation December.

Book proposal submitted to a University Press by Easter (have been encouraged by a series editor to do this, so not getting ahead of myself).

Prepare post-doc applications for academic year 2011/12.

Sort out teaching (preferably new courses, or even my own course!) for 2010/11.

Another journal article submitted by end 2010 (I have two coming out in April 2010!)

Not much then! Oh no!

Well done on the upgrade, Stressed! And it's great that they were saying such great things about your academic future; recently my favourite historian (!) said something similarly morale boosting to me after a talk (she said I would 'go far' and offered to write references for me!). I was walking on air for about a week after (she is a REALLY big name in modern Brit cultural history). Sadly, though, I still have to finish the thesis... reality bites.

Speaking of which, I am on my last chapter! Yay! Just wish I could get a bit more work done before Christmas. The mulled wine is calling and working is getting harder and harder! (robin) But if I'm to submit in July (the current plan) I will have to do some more serious writing next week. Solidarity to all our humanities chums!

======= Date Modified 16 Dec 2009 16:41:20 =======
Are you in history, Sneaks? Because I can think of a few people who have published articles based on a BA thesis (so from the last year of their undergrad degree) but even this is rare and they are generally heavily revised with the benefit of a few years more training. Getting published in a peer-reviewed history journal as an undergraduate is exceptional; getting published before embarking on undergraduate studies, well, I have never heard of it...

So, while not wanting to discourage you Photoflo, publishing in history is not easy and you have to develop a thick skin. I wonder what the rush is? How about you work on this paper without the aim of publishing it in the near future and then ask the opinion of a professor once you get to college? They will be able to advise you as to how realistic the prospect of publishing this essay actually is. Otherwise you might not like the response you might get from the journal (History is not a particularly kind discipline when it comes to giving criticism), and it would be a shame if that discouraged you from developing your skills as a historian and as a writer.

I'm a historian too. The following is lifted shamelessly off my own department's blog. All hideously competitive, of course, but you've got to be in it to win it! Some open to all humanities, others more history focused.

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships, deadline in November, for three years: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/pdfells.cfm

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships; spring deadline; for two years; institution must pay half of the costs: http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/early_career_fellowships

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships; rolling deadlines; for one year: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/postgraduate/fellowships/standard/Postdoctoral_Fellowship.aspx

Institute of Historical Research Fellowships; March deadline; provides support (ca. £10,000) to allow students to complete their theses: http://www.history.ac.uk/awards/prizes#ihrfel

Jobs.ac.uk: listings include postdoctoral fellowships (including Oxford/Cambridge Junior Research Fellowships, as well as positions in research centres and historical societies; http://www.jobs.ac.uk

European Science Foundation; lists postdoctoral opportunities throughout Europe (http://www.esf.org) , as does Academic Jobs EU (http://www.academicjobs.eu) and the Marie Curie Actions section of the European Commission Research site (http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions).

In the U.S., the H-Net Job Guide fulfils the same functions as Jobs.ac.uk does in Britain; see: http://www.h-net.org/jobs). Some leading postdoctoral fellowship programmes are found at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (http://gsasgrants.fas.harvard.edu/pdg.cgi), Columbia’s Society of Fellows in the Humanities (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/societyoffellows/fellowship.html), and at the University of Michigan’s Society of Fellows (http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty_staff/sof/).

Having worked for a peer-reviewed journal and as editor of special issues:

'Forthcoming' shouldn't actually be used until it has passed peer-review and minor revisions, etc., been finally accepted. So anybody who is using it to describe work simply submitted is wrong to do so.

'In press' means it is actually in press! i.e. you have returned corrected proofs. So in essence, this can only be used if the article is in the next issue of the journal.

'Accepted for publication in ...', I think is fine for stuff that has passed peer-review.

Another option I have used is 'Scheduled for publication in ...' - this works best if you know the volume, issue date and the estimated date of publication. Although be prepared for the publication schedule to change sometimes due to reasons beyond the editor's control.

As soon as you have vol. no, issue no., page numbers, publication date (usually just the month) and a DOI (digital object identifier) you don't have to qualify it at all. It fully counts as a publication. But this tends to only be the case when publication is imminent.

Hope this makes some sense.

No advice - just solidarity. I am on a similar timeline (submission March) and have spent most of today in tears. We WILL get there but this last bit is damn hard. But I keep thinking that even though it is hell in the short term, whether I get an academic job or not, I think in the long-term this process will be the making of me. And you, and all of us!

======= Date Modified 20 Aug 2009 16:06:26 =======

You have my sympathy: I am now entering my 6th year of part-time study (although hope to be done in January). So I know what it's like to be in it for the long-haul! The hilarious (!) thing is that I've been told that if current AHRC procedures had been in place five years ago, the department would have given me an award. (We're one of the three institutions that sneaks mentioned, and the department has 4 AHRC this year, 5 next year and 5 the year after that!) Anyway, such is life! And I've just been accepted for publication in a top journal (sorry to be boasty!), so it can't all be bad...

Anyway, back to the original subject of A levels: I feel a bit sorry for the students when every news report mentions that next year it's going to get harder, that they have got too easy, etc. Even if it's true, let them have their day of glory!

Don't beat yourself up, Eska. I did get a first and didn't get PhD funding. Funding councils are a riddle, wrapped up in an enigma... :-)

======= Date Modified 20 Aug 2009 12:58:53 =======

Ha ha! Actually, my first degree did take General Studies (but specified that I had to get A or B in History and Politics) - luckily it wasn't needed. I loved my General Studies exam - included a section on the effect of various forces on canoes, which involved everyone in the whole exam hall trying to imagine they were in a canoe. Hilarious!

Edit to add: my A wasn't in General Studies. It was in English Lit.
;-)

I once did a very unscientific poll of History PhDs here (redbrick) and found that very few of us had got straight As at A level (I got ABBB, if we count General Studies!), only one or two (out of about 20 I asked) had. The funny thing about this is that most of us had got firsts at the same institution. Now the entrance grades for our subject area are AAA! We wouldn't get on to the course we teach on now! I don't think you can come to any proper conclusions from that, but I find it strange...

Also, I am female and a proud late-bloomer! But I do think some people are more creative thinkers than they are good at taking tests, and Uni just suits them better.

======= Date Modified 20 Aug 2009 10:19:12 =======
Wow - it hadn't really registered until you said, but it has been 10 years since my A level results too. Wow.

Like you, I never expected to be here. My secondary school was useless and, apart from English Lang and English Lit, my GCSE results were mediocre. Like you, sixth form college (which was genuinely the best time of my life) was where I started to reach my potential. I'm not angry with my school teachers anymore, and I know other people did well in that school, it just wasn't for me - I was a bit of an eccentric and erratic little thing and I don't think they knew what to make of me! Apart from my English teacher who is still like a god to me.

So, 10 years and here I am about to finish my PhD. I think most of my teachers would be shocked, but the ones who really knew me wouldn't! Quite good motivation to get on with this, actually: nearly 10 years in higher ed! (with a year out somewhere) :-)