Thanks bewildered.

SilentLake it is not the end of the world. You can learn from this. You can use it to your advantage!

What language were you doing the PhD in?

I will add that in no place does this document say Postgraduate Journals are not acceptable places to publish work.

The document focuses more on the type of work that can be used as evidence NOT the place it is published in.

In fact the "Unclassified Quality" of work, is work of a quality that "falls below the standard of nationally recognised work. Or work which does not meet the published definition of research for the purposes of this assessment", and work that is published in PG Publications can of course be of a standard which "meets the published definition of research" (defined in my previous post above).

Having read this I cannot see how the journal is at all relevant other than being a publication.

If the research was in a Postgraduate Publication and was One star Quality i.e. "recognised nationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour" then Huxley you are correct.

This is a very interesting debate.

On the one hand (as Bewildered and Hutzy seem to be arguing) only established academic journals have good research in them.

On the other hand (as Huxley and Marstonmoor seem to think) postgraduate journals are good places to learn about publishing and also a place to get your work out there before going for bigger journals.

My questions for everyone are these -

1) Are the two points of view mutually exclusive? Can these opinions not be combined?
2) Why can PG publications not be submitted to the Research Excellence Framework?
3) Is the Research Excellence Framework not just for staff of Universities?

Hey sorry to hear about that. I wish I was there I would have beat him up for you. Did you go to the police? At least you didn't get hurt physically, although it is still a traumatic experience...

I think you have made the right decision because it is clearly what you wanted to do, even if it gets harder later. Everything will go well because you are feeling the pressure and will focus on the task at hand.

Yes I am familiar with discourse analysis, in a broad way at least. I have read a lot of Foucault and know about how power functions in language. If you are interested in language and power then Norman Fairclough has written a good book entitled (surprise) 'language and power'. So what I know of discourse analysis is predicated on Foucault's analyses of how desire/power have come to function in our institutions throughout history. I think his 'history of madness' pretty much covers the genealogical formation of desire/power in an institutional sense.

So my knowledge about discourse analysis is basically limited to Foucault's genealogical and archaeological explanations of discourse. So much more of a historical view on discourse rather than an analytical approach to institutional linguistic features, as my knowledge of linguistics is weak. Who are the big names in linguistic analysis of institutional regimes of truth?

Yeah my Master's degree research project is about the normative capacities of theological science fiction and fantasy.

That's brilliant that you have got a full stipend for you MPhil. Excellent news! If you can do it for your MPhil then you can do it for your PhD. What is your research project about?

Yes I think you are right about applying for the funding. I know a guy who just secured full AHRC funding today for his PhD and he is going to help me with my application for funding. I am very happy about that and he offered no problem without me even asking him!

Good for you for having the ambition. Go for it. I firmly believe that if you try hard enough and for the right reasons then good things can happen. I am sorry to hear about your financial situation. What is your academic background? What did you do for your Undergrad? Have you completed a Master's? What are your plans?

Thanks very much Nick for your very balanced and informative post. I will take everything you said into consideration. I am indeed pursuing an academic career, however am under no illusions that I will actually secure one. One advantage I have is I speak French and I could apply to French Universities for work as well as British. In fact last time I was in France I was offered a job at a university, not as a lecturer or research assistant but as a tutor. I love research and love seeking excellence. I am trying to get published at the moment and am presenting at an academic conference I helped organise in two weeks. As long as I get to keep learning/researching then I will be happy. However I am not limiting myself either. I'd rather die than not try, and I am enjoying it all at the moment so am very optimistic. I've already been through hell with the secondary teaching and really cannot see it ever getting worse than that, even if I did end up in a homeless shelter and begging on the streets.

OK I will scan all the funding webpages of the Uni's affiliated with the Russell Group. Thanks.

Encouraging words wowzers, thank you! How did you apply for your scholarship was it through AHRC? Thanks!

I am not a Maths or Physics graduate, but, as a Secondary Teacher of English with eight years experience I would question the willingness of post-Docs to get involved in behaviour management in schools when they realise British kids don't give a @#?* about education and just want to swing on their chairs, argue with the teacher, fight with each other, watch DVDS and just generally be horrible little spoilt brats. How many researchers want to deal with that? Is that why they did a PhD? Not to mention curricular changes, horrific politics, general exploitation and extremely elementary levels of learning, abuse from parents, inspections, logging of everything relevant or otherwise for no particular reason, bullying, lack of funding, resources and effective workspaces... buildings falling down and rain water dripping onto classroom PCs... etc etc... ad absurdum... ad infinitum. This is not why people do PhDs. It is a good idea in principle but it will never help education or post-Docs too much I don't think. Cynical but true I think. It just sounds like a way to maintain corporate control over education and our schools.