Research Essentials

Good news this morning although… I was expecting them the Research School to refer to it as a doctorate, not as a degree – and, surely, when you’re telling someone they’ve become a doctor, you would address them as ‘doctor’? Sadly, it was all an illusion and 20 minutes later my doctorate was swept away [...]

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Long-time classics, international bestsellers, your favourite novel of all time. Hand on heart, is there any one of them that has absolutely no room for improvement? Take Genesis – a grand opening but also a sprinkling of repetition and some confusing plot developments. Pride and Prejudice – a carefully worked piece, but the third daughter [...]

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Congratulations go to Rebecca and Anesa who both successfully defended their theses. It’s good to be all through this nerve-wracking experience successfully. This has to be my favourite photo of the year, (thanks Patrick). Here’s what happened next for me. It took the research school 4 weeks to send me the letter confirming my changes. [...]

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I submitted my thesis way back in March but, somewhere between CREET and the Research School, the documentation was lost or abandoned for a couple of months. Add to that a spell in hospital when they finally got round to fixing a date – and I’m left with a viva in late August, when my [...]

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Vivas tend to be in the afternoon. This gives the external time to get to the university. So, I had all morning to get up peacefully, shower and try to be in the right frame of mind. I had lunch at about 10:30 because I didn’t want to have to be thinking about it at [...]

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The dreaded day approached. I’d been adopting the fairly successful “head in the sand” approach for some time. I enjoy writing and found producing the thesis a rewarding activity, but the idea of “defending” it against challenges never did appeal. I’d spend the past 3years 6 months not thinking about it and the run up [...]

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