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rewt
Friday, 3 November 2017 at 1:37pm
Monday, 24 June 2019 at 8:34am
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page 1 of 29 recent posts

Thread: Examiners judging my research on the wrong elements?

posted
16-Sep-19, 18:03
by rewt
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posted about 6 days ago
Hi Azhan,

Did they ask for corrections or any form of remediation? If it isn't too much, I would do what they say and learn from it. It is very common in academia to get bad reviewers who do not understand your research and there is nothing you can do about it. You can explain to them why they are wrong but it is usually easier to do what they say and move on with your life. If they are going to fail you it is entirely different but otherwise I would consider it a disagreement of opinion.

Thread: Lab / group size

posted
13-Sep-19, 16:33
by rewt
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posted about 1 week ago
Small labs aren't inherently bad. As you said there a few reasons why it might be smaller, like administrative duties. I think the experience of the lab members is far more important. If the one lab member is used to publishing in high impact factor journals, they will be far more helpful than 4 team members who only publish in low-tier journals. Smaller labs let you do more varied work and do different things without encroaching on someone else's project. Though a 10 person lab group can do far more experiments or studies. So i would be paranoid if you want a high throughput post-doc. You will be fine regardless.

Thread: Certain odd jobs vs potential 'real' position

posted
13-Sep-19, 09:52
by rewt
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posted about 1 week ago
Do all the uni work you can do while looking for jobs. There is nothing wrong with quitting for a better job when the time comes.

Thread: Efficient Ways to Encourage/Comfort, Please help

posted
07-Sep-19, 23:14
edited about 9 seconds later
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
I don't think many words will work but being there for her will. She is probably has massive anxiety and loss of confidence, I am presuming so correct me if I am wrong. So the worst thing you can do is focus on her PhD and jobs. So giving her some daily normality and things to look forward to is probably the best thing you can do.

Thread: Funding query

posted
07-Sep-19, 23:05
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
That sounds awful and you have done well to get the publications and external grants. I don't think there is anything you can do except keep asking. If he mostly sent staff to the conference I wouldn't worry about that. As if you work is part of his deliverables he will want to promote it. Just be awkward with sharing slides so non-one else can present your work. I wish I could give you more advice.

Thread: Applying PhD in UK for Sociology for 2020 entry

posted
07-Sep-19, 21:37
edited about 14 seconds later
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
If you are worried about not getting a certain level of guidance, consider your own strengths and weakness with regards to the project requirements. If you want general guidance you can choose anyone but if you feel you specifically want help with lets say disability studies, choose an expert in that field. There isn't a perfect recipe for choosing a supervisor, so go with the person who you think will help you the best. Also you can possibly get co-supervisors who can help with specific areas. I have a supervisor who only talks to me a bout section of my PhD as my main supervisor is utterly clueless about it.

Thread: Suitable laptops for science PhDs

posted
07-Sep-19, 21:32
edited about 6 seconds later
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
Can you get a laptop on your bench fees or from the department. Quite a few unis let you do it and it would save you some money.

Thinkpads are nice but I don't think they are worth the premium. A Dell with 8Gbs of ram and an SSD would do the job.

Thread: Applying PhD in UK for Sociology for 2020 entry

posted
06-Sep-19, 00:18
edited about 3 seconds later
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
I wouldn't be so open with real names on a public forum. It makes you semi-identifiable and shows that you don't care at all about these people's privacy.

What do you want from a supervisor? Do you want someone to actively collaborate with you, occasionally give you solid advice or just be a name on a CV? Generally the lower status lecturer's can be more supportive and distinguished supervisors are not accessible. So if you want to choose exclusively by supervisor I would consider how independent you want to be. If you are asking this question I don't think you are going to be that independent

Though judging your PhD options exclusively by the supervisors status is a pretty bad idea. I would also consider the location, the department's reputation, the project itself, funding and how you get along with the potential supervisor. Funding is usually one of the harder parts of applying for a PhD and I would seriously ask each supervisor what do they think or do they know of any options.

Thread: New PhD - to quit or not to quit?

posted
05-Sep-19, 16:58
by rewt
Avatar for rewt
posted about 2 weeks ago
Quote From dummythings:
To be honest I might be over-dramatic and most of the stuff are what the other lab members told me. They might be exaggerating because they are under stress and experiencing burnout.

I am only three days in.

But I might be relying too much on what the lab members told me and it made me far too biased.


Honestly I was reading your post and thinking that you should quit, until you said you are three days in. Every job has a settling in period and if you quit at the first sign of trouble you will have problems in life. Also PhD students are literally the worst sources you can find. I think most PhD students during their PhD do not recommend doing a PhD, as it is probably the most stressful part of their life. I would give it at least 1-3 months before leaving.

Though you don't have to quit immediately if you want to leave. You can still turn up do some work and collect the money while looking for other jobs.

Thread: Reading: How many pages?

posted
04-Sep-19, 10:40
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
You read enough until you feel comfortable with the literature. There is a joke in my department (engineering) that the PhD students know the literature better than some lecturers. As you only need to know enough literature to apply it and expand upon it, as you can't be an expert in everything.

Also I don't think quantity matters as much as quality of the work. Again in engineering, I could read 10 papers in a week and only 1 would actually be useful. Then my supervisor will read one paper that month and it will be that useful paper as she has a knack for finding the most useful works. So knowing what to read can save a lot of time.

Thread: From PhD to Masters?

posted
04-Sep-19, 10:36
by rewt
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posted about 2 weeks ago
Most universities allow PhD students after a year to leave and write up their work as a Masters. It is pretty common for people to fail the first year transfer and be allowed to submit a masters. So if you are doing well experimentally they should let you write up.

Thread: Looking for some advice.

posted
04-Sep-19, 10:34
by rewt
Avatar for rewt
posted about 2 weeks ago
Don't know anything about comparative literature but do you have a methodology and timeline/ gantt chart. That sounds like a lot of work and you want an achievable project.

Thread: problem with a co-advisor

posted
04-Sep-19, 10:27
by rewt
Avatar for rewt
posted about 2 weeks ago
That sounds really awkward and frustrating. I haven't been in a similar position and this sounds like a difficult situation to resolve without hurting anyone's feelings. I think a polite conversation with your main supervisor might be best. or if that is too confrontational it might be better to solve the problem in little steps and gentle nudges to get her to change.

I would focus on trying to get her into the teacher role. Like say that you want to practice presentations for some upcoming conference and that you want to answer difficult questions yourself. Or that you feel that you can't include data in your thesis if you didn't do it yourself. Therefore her doing experiments is harming you or duplicating results. Also you could say that your are doing a specific methodology even though it might be wrong because you want to learn it/ improve at it. She clearly wants to help you but if you are firm about what you want to do she will support you.

Thread: Help! Do I continue my PhD?

posted
04-Sep-19, 10:12
edited about 6 seconds later
by rewt
Avatar for rewt
posted about 2 weeks ago
Quote From firebolt:
Thanks everyone for your replies!

I want to say that, yes I am unmotivated and maybe I will quit my PhD. I'm only scared of quitting and doing something else and finding myself in the same position there too. Hence, I'm debating if the real problem is PhD or me. I don't wish to regret losing such a good opportunity.


You don't have to make the decision immediately. You can continue your PhD and just treat it as a job, while looking for a job. I think a PhD can become all encompassing which is damaging for your health. Taking a step while exploring other options can give you some space to consider the bigger picture.

Thread: Dissertation Partner being published but not me-same data

posted
30-Aug-19, 20:38
edited about 22 seconds later
by rewt
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posted about 3 weeks ago
I agree with abababa, usually a simple conversation can solve misunderstandings like this without any drama. I know in my field (engineering) there is a tendency sometimes to avoid putting someones name on a paper unless necessary.

A third alternative to abababa, is write your own paper with the data. Suggest to your supervisor that you think it is publishable and that you want to try. I have seen 2-3 papers come out of the same project that focus on different approaches/conclusions. If your work is different enough your supervisor might like the idea of 2 papers.
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