Is Firefox too much to ask for?

Karen.Hall — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 02:05:00 GMT

Apparently, yes. Liking Firefox and hating Internet Explorer is not enough of a reason for ITS to install a freely available program on my office PC.

Oh my Arts computer - with all your Mac-y goodness, decent programs and large screen - how I miss you.

The Art of Annual Report Writing

Karen.Hall — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 02:25:00 GMT

This weekend I've been working on my annual report. The good thing about this being my fourth one is that I have a fairly good handle on the forms and the process by now: I've copied the research codes over from 2006, sorted through my to-file pile for find the dates for various employment contracts (with the bonus of having now filed everything in the pile), and am now trying to get the one page minimum written section done.

Given that myresearchspace is inhabited by both research students and staff, I though this might be a good chance to ask about the written section of the report. I'm never quite sure what to write or what is really expected, beyond enough words to fill that one page. How much detail - and details of what - are useful? I've started writing a paragraph on my redrafting of chapter three, but do the people reviewing the report really want to hear about the pros and cons of organising it chronologically, thematically or according to which magazine the material I'm looking at was published in? Do they want a vent about the unrealistic, or at least challenging, expectations placed on casual tutors or part-time staff or a cheerful 'this is how I have made this situation work' with no critique of the structural issues involved? When talking about the conferences I attended, do I need to show I dutifully attended all the relevant sessions, or can I confess to blowing off a plenary to go shopping?

Part of the issue, I think, is that I have pretty good supervisorial relationships. I don't feel that they need much on chapter three, for example, because they were there when it happened. So my feeling is that I am writing for someone up the line at GRS and I have no clue what they know, don't know, or do/don't want to know.

At the moment, my report begins with 'I have written stuff. Thesis stuff. I have then rewritten this stuff.' Guess I'd better go and expand that.

Life in Thesis-land : red tape

Is Firefox too much to ask for?

The Art of Annual Report Writing