I'm sure there are lots of them out there!

I''ve just red a paper where they described one of their strenghts the relatively young age of their patient chort (mean age about 37). Fine, except they were comparing themselves to two studies where the mean age was 43 and 46. Hardly a huge difference!

Another "fun" game is mis spelling words in Web of Science and see how many things have been published with the spelling mistake in their title! More than you'd expect! (says the person who had to reprint a poster for conference due to mis spelt word in title!) :p

I got a book out the library which had the word language in the title - except it was spelt "lanuguage" on the spine. :p Bet there were a few groans when they saw that!

Aww, I thought this would be a thread about taking the piss out of things you've marked....oh well.


"Since it is mainly the westernized countries that have the capacity to intervene, we will examine the idea whether Humanitarian Intervention is being used as a smoke screen to pursue self-fish westernized goals, which mimic the ideologies of the colonial ere."

Not in the papers etc, but I brought a new book for my toddler so that when you counted the 'critters' on each page of the story, you counted 1, 2, 3, and 5. I thought surely this is an error?? I emailed the publisher and it seems that the latest version was reduced by a page by the editors but they didn't realise their mistake, oops :$ No wonder many children cannot count!!! At least they did send me a correct earlier version :p

Realised to irony in a thread about mistakes and I've misspelt cohort!

Slizor (or anyone else) feel free to add things you read in things you've marked!

...and read in the first paragraph! You could be like me so tired from writing that I'm much more inclined to make mistakes.

Tired of grading papers, too much work on your plate, supervisor hassling to 'help' out more in your department????? Read this link for tips on how to mark assignments and essays more efficiently.

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/a_guide_to_grad.html

I use this experimental method and it works!!! Only joking lol but it's tempting;-)

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Hehe! I have a friend at a European university (not UK, and I'm not going to specify the country) where one of the lecturers is famous for this (well, almost like this). At the end of the exam the lecturer picked up all the papers, threw it in the air, and said that the ones that landed on the table will get a pass, but the ones that landed on the floor will be failed. And he wasn't joking...

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I read a paper recently that made me laugh. There was a paragraph describing reasons for dropping out of the study. One sentence reported that an elderly participant had dropped out the study due to 'dropping her glasses and then sitting on them, which subsequently broke the glasses and rendered her unable to continue in the study'. I know it's not funny and detail is the name of the game, but it just seemed a little too much detail! KB

lol Keenbean. Slightly too much info there but does explain the drop out.

I have a long explaination for one participant not completing my study but have left the saga out my thesis. Maybe I should shove it in publications..............or maybe not.

I read a study into electrosensitivity- perceived sensitivity to mobile phone signals, wifi, etc. The study used real and sham mobile phone signals to see if participants really were sensitive to the signals as they claimed to be, or if electrosensitivity was a made-up illness. A follow-up study was carried out and drop-outs included one man who had apparently moved to a remote part of the country where he could no longer be contacted by phone...

Oh well, if it's okay.

My thesis is on the politics of oil. My students know this and I have demonstrated this knowledge on various occassions. Why, then, one of my students decided to include a point about oil and use statistics that were 28 years (!) out of date is beyond me.

Anyhow....
"The UN do not only target social development as a high amount of their efforts are also put into economic development, as poverty and unemployment is not only a major issue for the UK but for the whole of the world as one countries financial instabilit effects numerous countries in terms of globalisation and their economic markets."

I was disappointed they didn't reference unemployment being a problem in other countries.