Sounds like you had a busy time! I'm kind of lucky with some of that, since my PhD is at the University where I did my undergraduate degree, so I have known all of the staff members, my supervisor etc. for years! I'm sure things will settle down into a regular(ish!) pattern soon. You sound to me like rather than be de-motivated by all of this manic running about like you actually enjoyed it, so I'm sure you'll be just fine.

It's definitely possible if you can actually stay focussed during the 4 days. For my honours dissertation I wrote 15,500 words in two days and got an 'A' for it and a first overall. But then I find that I work much better when under serious pressure - for some reason I focus a lot better in this way. BUT I never found anybody like that apart from me in my entire undergraduate degree. Some people write a lot better in bursts (ie 1000 words one day then nothing, then 3,000 another day etc.), while others seem to prefer the consistant approach (ie 500 words a day every day). Are any of these your usual approach? Either way, let us know how you get on! :)

Right, well in that case - remember to keep facts and opinion seperate. You have to be careful not to dress opinion up as fact because that's when experts and other academics will tear you to shreds or discredit you. Ensure that even for your opinion you hav it based on something tangible rather than inclination. make sure you try to reference opinion too in order to demonstrate how you arrived at your conclusions.

Hah! Now THAT is the question!! I think it really depends on how much input you feel the supervisor has had in the research you are using in the publication. I think if it is a purely factual article then you should include the supervisor, as they will have helped to guide you in acquiring those facts (assuming those facts are discovered through your PhD research). If the article is more opinion based then it's a different matter - your opinion, your name!

Do you feel confident enough to write an opinion based article? If so, you'll need to be thick skinned and not worry that others may not agree with your opinions (INCLUDING your supervisor!).

cont.

3. Know your journals - some like work of completely different styles. (ie some like factual work, others like opinion etc.). If you follow what they seem to like it will be easier than if you write something 'off the wall'.

In terms of conciseness / relevance. When writing something, I set myself a deadline of a week before my agreed deadline with the publisher. When I'm finished, I'll close the article and not even look at it for at least 3 or 4 days then read over it again. Sometimes you'll look at it with fresh eyes and think 'what on earth was I thinking writing that' or 'I could write that slightly differently'. Also, get somebody else in your field to read over it, who will know the background though not necessarily the specifics. If they can understand and grasp what you're writing then you know what you've written is good. If they don't, then you know there's something missing.

Hope that helps...

Ok, well in that case the advice I'd give you is the following:

1. Look for either an area that is currently topical that you can look at from a different angle, or one which is not often discussed but you think should be for some particular reason. Don't choose something that has been done to death.

2. Don't be afraid to open a dialogue with the editors of the Journals you're seeking publication with. For my first piece I simply emailed the editor and explained that I had an interest in publishing some work that was a response to a rather topical article another academic had written which was very very biased. I explained that I felt having another article from a different point of view would be good to strike a balance. He agreed and that was it. The more you can get talking to these people the easier it will be to get published.

Sorry Donut, I meant to write in that reply, my PhD is in an academic as opposed practical subject (ie Law based), so I'm used to writing lots of garbage! Is your subject more academic, or is is mainly practical based?

To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I knew of any decent sites. Personally I try not to take too many tips from websites on writing articles as I have a style that I feel comfortable writing in, and I have a nagging feeling that the quality of my writing might not be the same if I was attempting to follow somebody elses guidelines... but then that might just be me, I'm sure others wouild tell you the complete opposite....

What is it you're looking for ideas for? The topic itself? Or styles of writing, relevance etc.?

I can only speak for myself, but I did my first Journal article as a response article to something that was at the time a topical issue. To me, that made my task slightly simpler as the areas being discussed were already there for me to add to / agree / disagree etc. I'm not sure about length, but I think it was around 3,500 - 4,000 words.

For my second publication, and writing on a topic not previously (recently) discussed, the experience of my first journal was great and helped me to create something shorter but more original.

Don't know if there's much you can take from that, but hopefully it might help in some way!

Hi again. Thanks for the responses. I'm glad I had some positive feedback, my superviser was a little cold on the idea but hasn't tried to actively disuade me from taking it. It's only during term-time anyway (24 weeks) so I'll still have more than half of the year when I'll not be working and hence be able to dedicate 5+ days a week to my research.

Just wondering what anybody else thinks here. I've been offered a role as a part time lecturer during term time, and the position involves one day a week travelling to schools within the local region and giving short lectures basically to promote the university.

Do you think this would interfere too much with my other commitments (full-time PhD, part time teaching on a studentship), or would it complement them?

I don't want to overcommit myself, but I am really struggling financially and could use the extra money....

No, that would be a bit sill since you would then earn more NET if you earned £39,000 gross than if you earned £41,000.

You have your basic tax free allowance (around £5,000, can't remember the exact figure off the top of my head).

Anything between your £5,000ish and your £40,000ish is taxed at 22%.

Anything over your £40,000 is taxed at 40%.

So in other words, if you earned £50,000 then:

£5K is untaxed
£35K tax at 22%
£10K tax at 40%

Hope that clarifies a little.

I wrote my own research proposal before the university knew if they could offer a studentship (just to do research there), and when they found out they could and had to advertise for it they used my exact, word for word proposal as the advertisement! In one way I found it complementary, but in another I was slightly annoyed that they didn't even let me know they were going to do that...

Hi sctlnd200,

Of course you can email me, though I'm not too sure if there is a way to private message my address to you on this forum as I've only just joined here...

I'm only just starting my PhD so all I really have any experience of are the application and interview stages, as well as putting together a proposal. Although I have had two articles published in journals in the last year so I have a little experience in that also.

Thanks for the reply!

Hi sleepyhead,

the clause is very generic, it just says that I'm not permitted to work anywhere else for the duration of the studentship. It does seem to be a bit vague and leaves me wondering exactly as you do whether that may simply be with reference to other academic work, I might enquire about that.

Thanks for your reply!