Hi Pink_fluff, I completely agree with Bilbo on this. You're catastrophising greatly and unreasonably predicting the most severe outcome possible. I'm really, really not far away from my viva at all and, like you, have some mistakes in my thesis - and things that I know I will get critiqued for. There's nothing I can do about it, but I accept that my thesis (as with most) isn't perfect. You, like me, have trained to be a researcher and we'll be expected to demonstrate this in the viva - which will include talking about areas we think are weak with our work and where we think we could improve things on reflection. Unless, and this is a very big unless, you've done something inexcusably bad that leaves the whole of your research completely flawed and wrong, or if you make yourself so nervous that you can't at least talk about and defend your work, you stand every chance of passing. An external examiner doesn't necessarily have to agree with your work, but they have to accept that it's sound (when it is).
The viva is what? Usually up to two hours and then it's over - that's it and never again. They've usually already made up their mind anyway (through reading the thesis) and the viva (not my words, my sups) works partly as a quality assurance exercise. You really wouldn't be where you are now if you weren't ready because, and I hate to be a cynic, a PhD failure looks bad for a university. YOU are the expert on your research and provided that you can talk competently about it (and you've already written competently about it), you will be okay.

Hi Arista, I've looked quite closely at the kindle when it first came out and have considered its potential academic application. Brilliant battery life, excellent screen to read from and a good pdf viewer. However, it's monochrome, you can't edit the .pdfs and all you can do with it is read stuff. This is okay for fiction books, but for academic reading and work, where you may want to highlight, cut edit and paste? I didn't get one for that reason. For an extra £70, you could get a decent netbook with a 10 hour battery life, which would enable you to do everything that you can do with the Kindle, plus some light work. I know which I'd go for, but if you quite literally want an academic toy for monochrome reading only then I suppose it's a good buy!

I really should be fast asleep, but I'm stressing over the viva and just can't sleep. Anyway, I've come across this on Amazon and it's on of the funniest things I've seen in ages. I can't stop laughing at the reviews. There's also a couple of other things items linked to it that have equally funny reviews. I'm not sure if it's real or what (I think it actually is), but it'll life everyone's spirits. It's on Amazon and the link is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001N6W8U0/cr3ation09-21

No worries, and thanks for both trying. I think it's one of those awkward papers that only very few universities (i.e. Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford) have access to online.

This is a bit of an ask, but I wonder if anyone has access to this paper at all, if they have a spare moment? Cornwell, C. J. and M. H. Schmitt (1990). "Perceived health status, self-esteem and body image in women with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus." Research in Nursing & Health 13(2): 99-107.
It's on Wiley-Interscience, but I only have access to 1997? Thank you.

You can't go wrong with a HTC Desire - a very powerful, multifunctional, Android-based mobile phone. It has lots of open source apps that can handle .pdfs, MS Office applicationms and network. An Iphone 3GS o4 4 would be a reasonable compromise, though I have a 3GS and think Iphones are a bit over-rated - terrible battery. I wouldn't use any mobile phone as a voice recorder - you'd need a large SD or Micro-SD memory card and I'm not sure how well it would pick up voices. I have a Zoom H2 voice recorder and it has proved to be brilliant - though a tad pricey at the time (it should have dropped now though).

I could be wrong but I wouldn't have thought that you were registering as a full time student. Do you now just pay a nominal fee for extra write-up time? That's how it works at my university. You're not a student, as such, when you pay for another write up year. Provided that you are able and are actively seeking full time work (or they think that), you can claim JSA. That's what's happening with me in my write-up year anyway. Perhaps somebody else will be able to add to this.

Although not a careers guidance counsellor, I think you could consider graduate recruitment schemes (Aldi springs to mind - they recruit all year round). If you did decide to stop on another year at uni, you most likely be doing a Masters and, given the lack of funding, you'd most likely have to pay for it.
I'd pay the Prospects website a visit. They have lots of degree subject-specific career suggestions and free psychometric tests that you can use to help you decide on what career you may be suited to. It's good that you're thinking about these things early because, hopefully, you can narrow down what you want to do and start applying in plenty of time.

I use 'I', depending on whether I'm reflecting and/or writing qualitative research. I've never understood the academic snobbery surround the use of the word 'I'. Some of the most important philosophical texts of our time have first person elements.

Well my job applications got sent off, in time for the deadlines, and now I wait - fingers and toes crossed. Will update when I find out what's happening...gulp.

Hi Bonzo, I'm not really sure what to say other than I wish you the very best of luck for the future. I'm glad your supervisor was supportive and that you can hopefully get a Masters for all of your effort and hard work. I'm not sure if you mentioned at what level you'd like to teach, but there are quite a few ways of combining teaching with travel. I've got some mates who just decided to get a way from it all for a while, and went to teach English as a foreign language in China. As an EU citizen, you can look to teach anywhere in Europe. Also, the Middle East (United Arab Emirates) occasionally advertises positions for English and Maths technology teachers (not sure at what level, whether secondary or FE). Having said that, I'm not sure going to anywhere in N. Africa is such a good idea at the moment. Australia is also a very nice destination, with good pay rates.
I'm not an expert, but if you plan on teaching I think you'd need to do a PGCE or certificate in further education qualification, depending on what level.

Plagiarism is actually more widespread than I originally thought. It's not just students that are guilty of doing it. I've actually come across journal articles (particularly reviews) and even a couple of books that have evidence of plagiarism. I suppose that when you do become expert in a topic, know about 'all' the sources, you can spot it.