If you have a look at 'The Burt Affair' on wikipedia it details reserach where a respected academic made up a whole heap of research - even fabricated the research assistants that were supposed to have worked with him!!!

It is obviously an extreme example but unfortunately there always have been and always will be academics who work without integrity

Unfortunately I know of a lot of cases where this happens... outliers removed and unexplained results ignored. I even know of academic reports (that have gone on to influence govt. policies!!) having the images deliberately docotored to enhance the impact of the findings. This is par for the course with some researchers I'm afraid :-s

I personally think it's disgraceful and it is a shame your friend has done it - from my point of view it completely invalidates her research. In simple terms it is cheating!! Not for me!

I went to a great seminar yesterday and had the opportunity to meet an academic whose work I draw on heavily in my thesis. I am sending him a follow up email to say how nice it was to meet him and to follow up on his invite to give a talk at his uni. I'm happy with the email that I drafted but I'm unsure how to begin it.... He was very informal and was referred to by his first name throughout the day, but it seems a little casual in email. However Prof. Smith seems too formal.

So how to address it.... Hi Bob? Dear Bob? Hi Prof. Smith? Dear Prof. Smith? Any other suggestions?

This is one of the most crucial emails I could ever write so need it to be perfect!!

Hey all,

Just been having a chat with my supervisor about funding cuts, and job situation etc. I'm hoping to start looking in a few weeks and am getting a bit worried. I've been hearing about whole departments being got rid of! Most of the cuts are at prof/senior lecturer level so won't affect me but I think the whole situation is concenring. It's so childish but my overwhelming reaction is - IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

Greedy bankers have screwed up our economy and now universities are paying the price. Job cuts, tuition fee increases and funding slashes will forever change the face of academia.

Not a lot I can do about it, but if I don't have an academic job within a year I'll be returning to do a PGCE. Anyone else got a 'back up plan'? Anyone else have similar concerns?

Hi,
Don't normally post on this thread but wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS BILBOBAGGINS!!! :-)

Funding is being cut all across academia so this isn't too surprising I'm afraid. Your potential supervisors should be able to advise you on the best way to proceed

I'm keen on this style of writing too, but like you am unsure as to how to do it. I've spoken to my supervisor about this and I've used personal stories/anecdotes in my thesis but have put them in footnotes. That way there is a personal aspect, just not in the main text. Is this something that could work with yours?

Hi Loonyloo,
Sorry to hear you're having such problems - i can only imagine how awkward it must be!
I would advise you to think long and hard about such a decision. I imagine you will have to come up with a very good reason for wanting to change supervisors, especially to one with less expertise. It would negatively impact on his career. These things also have a habit of getting out and academia thrives on gossip so be careful.
Maybe working from home, keeping things on professional terms only and trying to move on socially should be tried first?
Hope things work out for you

It's definitely worth doing - once you get used to the input page it doesn't really take long to put all the references in
i spent a couple of days just putting all my references in once I'd been on a training course for Refworks and it was definite time well spent.  As I said I have friends who have spent weeks doing their references at the end of their PhD (plus there were panics over a couple of references they couldn't find!) and so comparatively it was time well spent on my part.
It's worth forming a habit of putting them in regularly as well - I do it every time I read an article now
Plus it's useful for additional papers, etc.

At our uni you have submit an 'intention to submit' form which appoints your examiner and alerts the examiner that a thesis will be arriving withint a few weeks. Once submitted vivas have to happen within 3 months

Hi Florence,
Glad to hear you are feeling better today :-) Fingers crossed tomorrow is better yet! xx

that's made me think of a story I heard a while ago (can't remember the source!): This guy lived across the road from the hospital and after a night drinking would ring an ambulance. They of course would pick him up and take him to A&E. The guy would then check himself out and walk home, having saved himself taxi money. The paramedics obviously worked out what was going on and on one call out they took him to another hospital - a good distance from his home. He had to pay for an expensive taxi back and never used the ambulance as a taxi service again

Maybe you should tell your brother that every call out for an ambulance costs the NHS at least £500

That's awful. NHS needs more power to say 'no!'

Hi,
Have you had any contact with your supervisor at all in the past year? I know academics can be scatty and hard to track down at times, but a year is a LONG time!
Have you been contacting your supervisor regularly during this period? What report hasn't been accepted?
I would arrange a meeting with your supervisor ASAP, making contact anyway possible - emailing, ringing and hanging out their office door if necessary.
It isn't possible to do a PhD without a supervisor - their knowledge and guidance is needed and on a purely practical level (at my uni anyway) they have to sign a form to allow you to submit. No signature = no submission.

Hey,
Sorry to hear you are struggling ((hugs))
One of the first things I had to learn when I started my PhD is to NOT COMPARE yourself to others. Projects, working styles, and supervisors vary immenssely so it is a false comparison - repest this to yourself regularly. Friends I started at the same time with (now in my 3rd year) seemed miles ahead of me in the first year and are now having to go back and do more testing while I'm concentrating on writing up, so it's swings and roundabouts.
As for the confidence that is something that will develop with time - although you will still have attacks of 'I can't do this, I'm so rubbish...etc' right up to hand in!! I had one a few weeks ago!
The links in your project will emerge as you progress and develop your knowledge
If you are seriously worried about your progress speak to your supervisor and see what they think - sometimes they forget we need a little encouragement!
Please don't compare yourself to others though - it is an impossible comparison to make
x