The revenge of the stripey socks - a DFW adventure

Pippilongstocking

Hi all

Well money wise - rubbish I bought a sandwich at work

Meeting wise - very calm and sedate - stood up for myself and progressed in so far as I am now documenting it all

Didnt really get anywhere - no they dont think its unreasonable to ask me to hand in a draft that is infact a 'finished document':mad:

My DOS will not look at small sections nor will he correct or rather proof documents to help with grammar etc they will look at large sections though :cool:
My Aberdeen supervisor has suggested I be formally examined in June :eek:
My head of Dept lovely but slighty ineffectual supervisor helped to agree all of these points as well.:cool:


I did however ask for my DOS to refrain from rolling his eyes when I wanted to suggest something that he didn't agree with. I also managed to ask him not to be over critical and personal with my work as I don't ridicule him when he has a lack of skills in a professional sense (ie when we are out in the field).:rolleyes:


Therefore
I seem to be getting no help with improving my writing
I seem to be now gettting examined in June
And I lost a whole morning during the meeting :cool:


My Third party monitor - has agreed initially to help with my writing and proofing until I can find a mechanism in my own college to sort that bit
And has suggested that she speaks confidentially to my nice but ineffectual head of department in Orkney to see if there is a way forward
She has also suggested that we might like to think about a change of supervisor (thinking about that one)

Off to write another section.

Uni hope your form goes ok
LT -

lucielle

Go Girl, well done you.
L

taka

Well done :T Fingers crossed it has the desired affect and your 3rd party monitor can help!

urg123

Go Fay - well done for standing your ground and demanding to be treated with respect by DOS.

One other suggestion - some universities have 'Learning Support advisors" or such like who can support people with writing. They aren't just there for undergraduae students so I could be worth a look. Someone who isn't involved could provide you with some useful writing support. You might as well take advantage of all the services available to you.

urg x x

DawnW

So glad it went ok Fay. Urg's suggestion re learning support is a good one - you might also check out specific postgrad support / courses for scientific writing etc. Writing is a skill like any other, that anyone can learn or improve. It never gets easy - but you do get better at it with practice (she says, procrastinating about finishing latest paper )

Good luck x

Cheery_Daff

Hooray! Well done you! Hope you feel better for at least TELLING them all they're buffoooooons

Your 3rd party monitor sounds great (what is that? We don't have those I don't think!) And I'd definitely go with a change of supervisor if you can, it's bad enough having to write a phd, without fighting your stupid supervisor through the whole thing.

Speaking of which... mine emailed today after looking at my timetable, and told me to STOP writing what I'm writing this week (my conclusions, after say "Daffy I think it's about time we FORCED you to write some conclusions" - even though I have explicitly TOLD HIM that 'forcing' me to do anything, does not work!).

Anyway, where was I..? Oh yes, I was writing conclusions, on his say so, believing that I can't do it yet and what I actually wanted to do was the methodology, which Nice Supervisor had advised. Now he wants me to stop the conclusions, and start another analysis chapter.

Is it acceptable to say no? I have stripey (and furry!) socks on right now (along with cheery red cords!) so I might take a leaf out of your book Fay and email this minute!

Hooray for stripey courage!

EssexHebridean

*waves* hello Fay!! Big hugs to you for being Mrs Assertive person - I bet you were on a high weren't you!! Seriously - well done. I am terrible in even vaguely confrontational situations as I go all nervy and shaky....not helpful. I put my pink, purple,white and blue stripey socks on this morning as sort of "long distance stripey confidence vibes" for you so glad it worked! :j

Pippilongstocking

HIya do feel a bit better for having stood up to them a bit, but didn't get the results I wanted or any extra help

Thank you for all the positive vibes, just altered my post a bit to make it a bit more understandable

I was being sarcastic about my brilliant ability to actually effect any change - cos I haven't managed to get much changed, but now its all formally documented

BUT I did stand up for myself

Karmacat

Good for you for standing up for yourself, Fay. But ... June? Thats, um, next month. How come? Everyone I've ever known doing a PhD takes years to finish writing up the research. How come they've put a time limit on you?

I think the "rolling eyes" bit says it all - he's being condescending and arrogant in the extreme, just putting you down the first chance he gets. Nasty.

But the very, very most positive of vibes for you on writing these next sections.

Scottishmummy

fayjmck wrote: »

BUT I did stand up for myself

Well done you. I work alongside someone who gets snippy with people at the drop of a hat. I have put up with her comments for two years but finally snipped back at her last week and felt great. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day - not for what i said to her but just the fact I said anything - I was so pleased with myself.:D