Thanks Sneaks and Screamingaddabs, eek I'm rusty on reference managers, does Mendeley come with a how to? Will it be easy enough to make it work now that I've already written a chapter?

Um, Screamingaddabs, I don't really know why I'm planning to put it all together in one document except for page numbers etc, as I'm no Word expert and I don't know how to make it work any other way, though I'm guessing there probably is a way to make the page numbers tie up even though they're in different documents?

What has made me really laugh writing this post is that I always put Word on my CV as a skill and it so obviously is not....!

======= Date Modified 25 Nov 2011 08:38:34 =======
Hello again everyone,

I was just curious, what is this Mendeley that people have talked about previously? Is it just like RefWorks or something?

Also, how many of you used a citation manager when you wrote your thesis? I haven't been so far, I've been doing it by hand (I'm writing all my chapters separately in different word documents then I plan to splice them all together at the end). I'm starting to wonder if I should use a citation manager because my methodology chapter had approx 50 references... so about 6 chapters.... roughly 300 references?! How many references is normal for a thesis?

Sorry lots of questions first thing in the morning, and on a Friday too....!:p

Edited to correct my awful spelling mistakes!

Congratulations to you! The hard part is over now - the sooner you get those corrections in, the sooner you can get on with your life Dr! (up)

Congratulations! I was checking the forum too to see if you'd passed! Well done :-)

I've only just started my write up so nowhere near viva yet but I just wanted to wish you luck! I think I remember reading another post about someone asking for advice before viva (I like to scare myself by reading tales of viva!) and someone said to deal with nerves don't be afraid to pause and take your time to really consider the question before answering. They will understand that you are nervous and I'm sure they'd prefer that to someone who acts as if it's not a big deal!
Good luck and let us know how you get on! :-)(up)

Agreed, Ian (Mackem_Beefy) has given some great advice here. I never knew there was a University Ombudsman. This is great ammunition to go to the Dean with as they will not want Ombudsman interference - it will make them look bad. You can't let them get away with it. Think of others who might have to put up with this guy in future as well as yourself. PhDs are extremely hard work and the last thing any potential PhD needs to put up with is someone like this guy who sounds like he has many issues not related to you personally, so why should you suffer?

Please let us know how you get on, I can't believe the lack of support you've had from your University, it's shocking!

I've just been reading about someone who took legal action against their university after their supervision broke down. It might also be worth going to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and seeing if they can advise you or get you a solicitor.

That is absolutely not good enough! There must be something you can do? He cannot be allowed to get away with this!!! Is there not someone higher you can complain to? Who is the chancellor (sorry if spelling is bad, I'm chapter writing and my brain is dying) of your university? Do not give up and start again because of this bully! Keep kicking up a fuss! Take it higher and higher until you get satisfaction. You can't let him get away with it because he'll just do it again. Go back to the Dean and tell him you're not prepared to quit and start again, is it fair that you've worked hard for 2 years for nothing?!

Thank you Emmaki, I'm approaching burn out with this chapter so I think it's time to set it free to the wolves! I got myself into a tizz yesterday worrying that I hadn't understood constructionism (and worrying about what examiners might ask me) but I feel better now! Thank you!

Hi,

It's not my area, I'll confess, but I think when you're considering starting any new research project you need to read widely around the subject. Try SCOPUS, Web of Knowledge, even good old Google Scholar and type "HIV/AIDS" "HIV/AIDS Jamaica" then read! Look for gaps in the current literature and areas that interest you. What do you want to know about the impact of HIV/AIDS? How can you find this out? What methods would you use etc... Then you're almost half way there! I'm sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs but I remember being lost in the early days of my PhD!

Hope that's a bit helpful :$

Hello all,

I was wondering if I could pick your lovely brains about my methodology as I'm having an epistemological crisis (I'm not even sure that's a word but this is how frazzled I am!). I'm having some issues with objectivity and subjectivity. I'm working within what I thought was a constructionist paradigm, and arguing that meaning is constructed socially by way of culture and the particular society/institution one belongs to.

However! All this subjective "stuff" is fine in my head but what's hurting my noodle is the objective "stuff". For example, I believe that there is an objective world out there that exists independently of social interaction i.e. the tree still makes a noise when it falls in the forest even if there's no-one there to hear it, the noise is interpreted based on your cultural leanings etc.

Is this ok? Or am I breaking a paradigmatic rule? I've cited Giddens and Bourdieu's theories of society, and Bhaskar's critical realism which states that there is still room for naturalistic science. Is this going to be ok or am I heading down an alley that I will get heavily criticised for?

I wish this stuff didn't hurt my noodle so much! Feel free to ask me more questions as now I've written the above and re-read it I'm not so sure it makes sense.... :$

Congratulations! And thank you for the tip off about methodology - I'm re-drafting mine at the moment and it was really helpful to read your advice (up)

Hi Eska and other Postgrad Forum people! I was sick yesterday so managed to get nothing done bar print off a paper before sloping back to bed!

Today is only going to be a half day for me so I'm aiming to add some critique into my methodology from papers I've read then I'm off for some fresh air as I think being cooped up all week hasn't done anything for my health! Hope your chapter amending goes well Eska, if it's any consolation I've got a chapter due in next week and I'm not looking forward to the additional work I'll no doubt get back for it!

Have a good day everyone!

Hi Tigger,

If it's any consolation, I know exactly how you feel! I have almost the exact same situation! My 2nd supervisor right from the start was not only rude in my interview but then started trying to push me down a trajectory that would align with his research interests and was not massively supportive of my study. My director of studies is lovely but can sometimes be a bit meek and does tend to go along with my bolshier (and in my opinion) often rude 2nd sup. It's been strained with the 2nd sup throughout my phd but it all came to a head a week or so ago when I'd submitted a working field diary with rough notes to myself in it, so consequently it wasn't neat, it wasn't referenced, it was purely to show what I had been doing. The first sup merely commented saying it was a good start but needed work. 2nd sup went to town with the red pen and corrected all my notes even though they were ROUGH and said my writing wasn't up to standard! They were notes! ARGH!

Anyway! I know it might be difficult as you're in the early stages and you might not have developed relationships with your supervisors yet but it might help if you email or arrange to meet with your director of studies and tell her how you feel. I did and although I still have to put up with my 2nd sup for now, I have given a warning that I'm not happy with his attitude. Perhaps you don't need to go as far as saying you're not happy with him per se, but it would help to get your DOS alone and talk with her. Also, do you have a third supervisor who can act as an independent outsider? If not you should have an independent person within your faculty who deals with pastoral support and you can access to talk about problems with your sups.

To be honest, it sounds like you've really done your homework with your research interest so I'd say stick with your idea and defend it til the end! It is your thesis, you are the one who has to work and live with it for 3 years and the one who will defend it at the end. So go for it!

I hope that helps a bit, in fact your 2nd sup sounds so much like mine I'm starting to wonder if we're at the same university and we have the same guy....!

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd join in as I'm now in write up and feeling the pressure! My (self imposed) deadline is August 2012 as I have a very pedantic supervisor who will take at least 4 months to approve the thesis for examination (my funding lasts until January 2013).

I think it will be possible to write chapters that need extensive reading in 48 days, the approach I've adopted to significantly speed up my writing is to read then type straight into a document on the laptop. Some of it I'll then cut out but at least it's all there electronically and will just need tidying up. I wish I'd done this from the very beginning as I have reams of paper notes from my early PhD days and I could kick myself now! Ho hum. Anyway good luck to everyone else writing up ;-)