I reckon would be smelly.....so why all the secrecy on the stars then? I reckon that there is no actual reasoning to them...which is why you havn't told us what they mean! They are clearly not related to number of posts (looking at h and sylvesters) and i don't think its to do with length of being on the forum...because olivia joined exactly one month before me and has a star already...it has to be to do with something that is on our profiles as you have no other information about us...i will figure this out you know!

Just posting to see how many stars I have!! ...Likeing the charachter countdown and word count at the bottom!!

Just posting to see how many stars I have!! ...Likeing the charachter countdown and word count at the bottom!!

And better than 'bolshy' which is how my other half described me after a few dates!

Hypothesis- why are you fitting a normal (gaussian) curve? If your data is skew then it will never fit! If it is count data (0,1,2,3..) then have you tried a poisson curve? Or maybe you are trying to test the assumptions of your analysis in which case taking logs, or square rooting or recipricol sometimes makes the data more normal?

Just been to my supervisors office for our meeting raorganised for 2:00 and he’s not in…! Do’h! Have sent him an email saying ring me when your in and I will come back downstairs. I bit annoying really, as I always end up not getting meetings or being squashed in!

I don't really want to say anything to him, as he is a good supervisor and very enuthusiastic about my PhD. I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. I think he is making up for the fact that we havn't been in contact for about 2 weeks, cos he was away/busy.

No am not lab based...but can't work at home because I live with the in-laws and find them stressful enough in the evenings let alone seeing them during the day!

well...not literally but...we had a meeting on monday for about 2 hours, one yesterday for 1.5 hours with another colaborator for a paper...today we we're supposed to have a meeting at 11am, but he came up to my office (i am on a different floor) to say that could we change it to 9.30am as he had double booked- then at about 10am someone else turned up for another meeting and i got rescheduled for this afternoon. He's just popped in to my room to say I must read some paper as it is good...when will I get some time to actually do some work!!

Don't get me wrong, my supervisors are both really great but sometimes I need time to work through things at my own pace. Anyone else experience this?

I definitely agree with the comment that the PhD is a rollercoaster, there are some days when I can't even stand to think about my PhD but there are other days when I get so excited about the littlest things!

Today I am flynig high- I have just come to the end of a horrible analysis that I couldn't do and my lit review is really taking shape. I have learnt so many new things in the last week, it really is amazing. I'm even starting to get to the point where there arn't enough hours in the day to keep working- am planning on taking a load of work home this weekend and am quite looking forward to it!

This is a really interesting issue. I am 22 and will be around 25-26 when I finish my PhD, which I guess is about the right age to think about marriage and babies. I fully intend on being a full-time mum for at least their younger years. I used to feel a bit guilty about why I am doing a PhD when a career that actually puts it into use might possibly be delayed or not happen. But I love my PhD and I don't think I am wasting my or anyone elses time or money by doing it.

I find that without writing things down, I forget what work I have done! I end up going round in circles, and so by writing up as I go I can progress in my PhD. So I am starting to write out parts on my introduction and lit review (I am a first year).

I know that in a years time (or maybe less) I will read what I have written and cringe, but the basics will be there and it will be easier to improve something that has already started to be written than something that doesn't exist yet!

I was just wondering if anyone on the forum knows if it is possible to convert my references that are in microsoft reference manager to BibTeX so that I can reference them in LaTeX files?

Thanks!!!

Morning everyone! Sounds like everyone had a good weekend! Sorry I didn't clock back in on Friday, I was in a rush to get back home and didn't manage to have time! Last week was a resounding success, I managed to write the first 6 pages of my lit review, which I am really proud of!
My Aims for today are:
1. Find all the papers and notes relevent to the next section of my lit review.
2. Write up some notes for lit review section.
3. Review some changes on a paper.

Morning everyone. Just having a little break from todays work:
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Today's Aims:
1. Write up three sections of literature review, which I made notes for yesterday.
2. Tidy my desk as it looks like a bomb's hit it!!!
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Hope everyone has a good day's writing today!!

Hey guys! Clocking out now, it's been a long day! Here's how I did:
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1. Ordered my book, and have sorted out an expsenses claim so can find where it needs to be handed in tomorrow.
2. Sent off the last bits of consultancy analyses.
3. Did loads of research for one section of my literature review and have written some notes on it. (with references)
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Have a good evening everyone!