Ok this will probably be my last post for a few days, since I will be going home tomorrow-so yesterday I achieved very little !! lol...read a few bits and pieces but my mind was on christmas pressies (who, what, and for whom!!) rather than work...today I have a million and one things to do including photocopying/printing, then I need to do my christmas shopping, cleaning my apartment to get deposit back!, then of course packing arrgghhhh....
see you in a few days back in UK!!! 8-)

Hi Squggles, Got to say this really, there is no point blaming your supervisor if you haven't done anything. (Assuming your not scienece based on specific dept project), A PhD is a solo effort, YOU should shape it, conceive the ideas, form it and see it coming together, It is NOT your supervisors responsibility to do that. They should merely be guiding you in terms of checking you are on the right road, not coming up with the concepts in the first place.

Sorry if I come across as harsh, but I think you need to put things into perspective. Look you still have time now though to rectify the situation. First of all get onto your conceptual framework, I am sure you must have a fair good idea by now of the direction you are going in even if you havent written any conclusions on paper, so get the framework established in terms of chapters, sub chapetrs etc- then get onto the process of writing each at a time. You can do it!!! Just maybe think less about the process and more about "doing". 2009 is a new year, so maybe use it for a fresh start and make it your most successful year yet!! good luck

ooooooooohhhh apparently the results are out at 12.01 on the times higher website! just a few mins... lololol

Hey Sneaks!!! I'm sure you can get the chapter done by Monday, even if you just aim for like 1/4 each day, like opening paragraph one day main next few days then conclusion for the chapter the next day...Gee your really lucky getting to lecture in your second year!! They must think really highly of you!!! I have had to exploit different opportunities elsewhere, outside of my dept because they won't create any for me here!! lol...

Anyways, today was a really good day though I am absolutely exhausted, I find that working during the day does this to me for some reason I never have the same problems with tiredness when I work my usual afternoon/evening schedule, but I think 9-5 is the way to go, since I realised its not really fair on my boyfriend when he comes home from work and I am only started on my work-so trying to bring our schedules into sync before I get back. I am returning back to the UK this weekend from where I am now on the Continent, and I am really looked forward to a fish supper and a sunday roast!!!! oh gosh I'm just thinking now about roasties and stuffing and loads of gravy from my local pub- which does the best sunday lunch ever!!!! lol..

PhDBug you are a star!!! Cheers for the link!! I have been in absolute stitches the past 10 minutes, reading the "189 things not to do at your Viva",

Thought I would share some of my favourites here:

Musical accompaniment provided by..."
"You call THAT a question? How the hell did they make you a professor?"
"Please phrase your question in the form of an answer..."
"And now, a word from our sponsor..."
"Yo, a smooth shout out to my homies..."
" Pass the collection basket.
"There will be a short quiz after my presentation..."
Rent a billboard on the highway proclaiming "Thanks for passing me Professors X,Y, and Z" - BEFORE your defense happens.
Have a make-your-own-sundae table.
Make committee members wear silly hats.
"I'm sorry Professor Smith, I didn't say 'SIMON SAYS any questions?'.
"OK, everybody - heads down on the desk until you show me you can behave."
Have everyone pose for a group photo. .
Mention your professor as "my helper."
Say that you'd like to thank a few people. Pull out the White Pages. Start reading.
Dress in a Wild West style. .
Preface with the story of your life.
Have someone wheel in a big cake with you in it. Jump out and begin.
This defense has been sponsored by the fine people at (your favorite corporation)..." When a professor asks you a question, argue with your imaginary twin over the final answer.
Videotape it ahead of time, and get someone set it up to show. Come in the back and sit there. When your tape is done, ask for questions. In person.
Plead the fifth ammendment if you can't answer a question.
Limit the number of questions that you will allow, and then when the limit is almost reached, go into aerobics terminology... four more...three more...two more..and...rest.
Roll credits at the end.
Bring a microphone. Point it at the questioner, talk-show style.

Tell me about it!! I feel like Im in shut down mode (like a power station beginning the process of switching down, with the power slowly being swtiched down) lol...Its really hard to work whilst listening to the radio because everyone is talking about chritmas and all the songs are very festive!!!

Back again, lovely and refreshed after my day off yesterday!! I am also on my 9-5 mission and feeling in a particularly unusual upbeat mood for 9am!! For today, I have decided to write a short summary report of all the things I have read n the last few weeks, so 1 or 2 paragraphs outlining the key arguments of each- this will then help form the basis of my third chapter which I will begin writing after christmas after some more reading- as it wil be easier to identify these arguments and points from each article rather than having to go through each of the articles from scratch.

See you later!

Really interesting to hear your thoughts on this, especially the belief from some of you that it would be obvious from the ratings which individuals were not up to scratch even though its not supposed to be a reflection of individuals successes or failings. I'm not totally sure if it would be the same in arts/humanities as opposed to science based subjects though, because it can very often be the case, that due to the highly subjective nature of the pieces under consideration, the rating you would achieve would I think very much depend upon: who the reader is, whether they have an interest in that area and therefore whether they "value" the work as a result. So in this case, maybe the departments would only be engaging in a (bitchy behind people's backs!!) speculation game to attempt to figure who who got the high and low ratings in the repsective percentages awarded under the new system!! lol:p

I cant say I know too much about how the RAE ratings work, other than it will provide for each dept a percentage figure indicating how many of the staff achieve each quality grade 4*, 3* etc. I was just wondering then, so does that mean you would not receieve indivual feedback on your own particular article submissions-as the result is given in general terms across the dept i.e. you would know know how you had actually fared individually in the ecercise? Also linked to this, does that mean that the dept would only ever be guessing which particular 10% of staff only achieved the 1 or 2* rating given in the results- or would they be given the particular names of staff who fall within each category which would not then be published?? .....Just wondered on this, as it would be interesting to know if we as phd students are soon to be embarking on academic careers ourselves!!:-)

"Hoe is is"- what the hell???- So what I meant to say was "How is it going?" lol...

Hey Sneaks!! Hoe is is going today? Yeah I also like packing my bag the night before and also making lists-are you a Virgo by any chance? (organisers and perfectionists)...lol...

So, I have done my weekly plan and have been busy at the Uni this morning. So I will begin my phd work today now with more reading bah bah!! I hate reading at the moment and would prefer to be writing but it isnt possible for the particular chapter I am working on until I have got more of a grasp of it theoretically- so im planning on beginning work in around an hour and working for about 7 hours -until about 9pm-I'm on the usual afternoon-evening shift because of the things I had to do in Uni -but tomorrow I hope to change to the 9-5 shift, if I can, which has proven very hard for me to adjust to in the past few weeks (cause I’m not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination !!).

Anyways, tomorrow is planned to be my day off!!! yippeee... Tuesdays are usually my weekend 'off' day- though I have had specific committments in the past few weeks, such as papers and written pieces, so I havent been able to take it off but I am determined to start having this weekly treat day again, where I will have no thoughts of phds and just fun!! So planning on going christmas shopping and down to the ice rink again tomorrrow!!

Look we have tried to advise you, but you keep changing your story...I think you really need to speak to some advisors internally, because you seem to be going around in circles here! It seems like you want people to give you a specific answer, and if you get some advice you keep asking for more until someone will tell you what you want to hear. You really need to make a decision on your own, and while advice can help, you need to be decisive from within...

Scared, you need to keep yourself CALM...

I think what Stressed said is spot on (though I would not have necessarily phrased it in the same way). In otherwords, you have gotten this far, and you have achieved a university scholarship which is an excellent achievement, so don't let one idiot ruin everything you have worked so hard to achieve.

I know it can be more difficult defending yourself (I find its much easier to defend other people) because there is always that niggling feeling that you willl be judged as a troublemaker if you start making noises about something through a grievance procedure...but honestly, you know you have worked so hard to get to this point, so you must stand up for yourself! you can do it!!

Right now, I think you have gotten yourself into a state, so what I would say is get it all out on paper, its very therapeutic (really)- write a letter explaining all your grievances and what has happened- then once you have this release go to bed and try and get some sleep as there isnt much you can do at this time of night. In the morning wake up afresh, and do something with what you have written- either email it to some people or go and speak to the people in person and say what you have written.

Don't worry it will be ok!! You just need to get it out in the open and I'm sure everything will be fine!:-)

Hi Scared!! Well..you have two options you can either keep quiet and sweep this under the carpet for the sake of pleasing your supervisor (who prefers a cover up) and in which case I think you should really make sure that at least your supervisor knows the REAL truth if you dont want to pursue the formal complaint process-so at least if your supervisor knows the truth it wont affect you too much, in terms of a career reference, recommendations to progress etc... the problem with this is, though, that you cannot control what others think of you in the department, so if they have heard about the incident now and believe you are the one doing the assaulting, then you will not be able to control what is being said about you behind your back or what this post doc is going around telling others.

Or you can initiate the formal process, to set the record straight, so that you will not suffer any future negative repurcussions of this incident at any time in the future.

I think its your decision depending on what you feel comfortable doing, if your happy to let it go in the hope that it wont come back to haunt you, then so be it! be maybe its still a good idea to tell the student union advice centre so at least your side is documented by them on record, in case the situation could get worse, as these type of things often do i.e. the boy could do something again in the next few weeks...

[quote]Quote From scared:

My supervisor said that nothing is official and that he is not interested in my side of the story otherwise it will have to be in writing from both sides and this means formal. quote]

Sorry I have just seen this earlier post from you Scared, if it was me, the only option in my mind would be 'Make it formal'.

I think you have no option but to do this, not least for the moral implications i.e. if you don't this character will be seen to be getting away with it without due process. But actually, even more important for you now, is to set the record straight to clear your own name, since its obvious from your supervisor's words that your career will be affected by this in terms of negative slant on your reputation...