When its not "hip to be square": A short how to guide for shape cropping your pictures and images

By Lara Sanderson

Chuck away your square sided images! Ditch the rectangle! If you want to know how to change the shape of your image, now you can create hearts, triangles, inverted triangles whatever is in the shape art gallery in MS Word or MS Powerpoint. I thought I would share what Google search shared with me...

Using a photo got from the creative commons website fotopedia- I found a nice image of Lilly of the Valley that I would show you but my computer is quietly having a hissy fit. So in four simple steps

1: Go to drawing tools,

2. Crop function,

3: Crop to shape,

4: Choose your shape and voila!

Enjoy! It makes jazzing up those posters and presentations that much easier when you know how!

PhD Tips

By Keely Blanch

I came across this page full of helpful tips for your PhD. I could type them out, but really Morrell says it all so much better - just follow the link.

Kevin Morrell- PhD Tips

Balancing work and play

By Keely Blanch

University is a strange environment. On the one hand it offers training and the opportunity to make lifelong friendships and connections. On the other, it tends to be its own little microcosm, a parallel universe where, apart from the part-time job, the participants can all too easily become distanced from the rest of society while studying.The longer you're in the uni system, the more this may hold true.

One of the risks of postgrad study is becoming so immersed in the research process that you lose sight of the rest of your life. You know, those other things like family, friends, hobbies and sports that tend to be sacrificed for that next 500 or 1000 words that just have to be written. However, one day that chapter, even possibly the whole thesis, will be finished. What then?

I've noticed that all too often it is easy for students (myself included) to ignore the need for work/life balance. Sure, grad services at your institution will probably offer various support structures - Otago  for instance offers motivational coaches, postgrad activities, seminars etc all aimed at supporting postgrad study - but what about when your thesis is finished? Take my case. During my initial postgrad study years I made the classic mistake of focussing more on my thesis than on the rest of my life. I let things get out of balance.  I finished my MA, wrote an article, did some RA work, tutored a bit and suddenly my PhD start date was upon me. While I didn't get the couple of months completely off that I'd hoped, I did get a chance to reconnect in person with my non-university friends.  Luckily for me, my friends are an understanding bunch and apart from threatening that I would need a name badge, welcomed me back into the regular get togethers I'd so often missed over the last few years.

Anecdotally I've heard from other postgrads that they finish studying only to end up feeling lost and alone. Over the years of study they sacrificed their social circles and non-uni life for the good of their thesis. Between their experiences and my own, I'm embarking on my PhD with some new goals for the next 3 years.

1. First up is to recognise that (gasp) it's only a thesis. It's a full-time job, not the only reason I live and breathe. Maybe this seems heresy to some, and it will be interesting to see if I sustain this for 3 years, but I did discover during my MA that when I refused to work on weekends my productivity increased and the quality lifted. I put it down to the weekend time allowing me to recharge my batteries. Plus seeing my husband and kids is kind of nice.

2. I'm going to put more effort into staying connected with my friends - in person, not just via text and facebook.

3. Hobbies can be relaxing and taking half an hour to 'play' is a great way to unwind.

4. Exercise is good. Yes, I never tought I'd be writing that either, but I've discovered the joy of a half hour walk at lunchtime. A break and fresh air.

So what do you think I've missed? Any other tips and tricks to maintaining a work/life balance and staying sane through the research process?

Why... ummm.... what now?

By Shire Agnew

I am told we need to start to make posts. Who would have imagined, a need to actually write stuff for a blog? I’m not sure I agreed to this when I signed up. This actually means I have to do some serious thinking. Which leaves me with a blank page and the dreaded question, what should I write?

The husband of one of the contributors asked us “so what are you going to write on this anyway?” The answer of ‘umm, academic stuff’ was not exactly articulate, informative or indeed academically inclined. So what do we as postgraduate students want to write about, what do we want to share with our fellow students, or even put into words and out into the world?

I spent the last few days considering this. Did I have things worth saying? Did I have things worth sharing? Why did I ever agree to this? One of the things I know about myself is I am a nerd. I have accepted and embraced it and now celebrate it. It exhibits itself in many arenas, but for the point of this, my “nerdiness” means I love research, I love the learning, the articles, the theories, the writing that is part of my degree process. I love the struggle as much as the achievement. As I said I am a nerd.

This enjoyment leads me to want to share with others. I like sharing ideas, talking to others about some idea, some theory, some practical discovery. Perhaps because I am the only academic in my family or circle of friends I look to other students. I want to hear their ideas, be introduced to new concepts and tools, I want to argue and debate, even if I may never change my stance.

We have a postgraduate student community that could give us that, and yet we sit in our offices and get buried in our own work. It is understandable considering the workloads, the deadlines and sense of the overwhelming expectations. But I don’t think I am alone in the desire to talk with others in a similar situation, to get ideas and reassurances, to talk through the concepts we struggle with. Indeed we go to a variety of other blogs that deal with the academic process and journeys of postgraduate students, we buy books on writing and researching.

So I still have not decided what we need to write here. It may simply be that it isn’t up to me to decide that. I do think this blog could meet a purpose. It could be a place to share and communicate, to provide us with a postgraduate student community. That will, of course, require a bit of work. But the good thing about a blog is the work can be fit in, in those moments of procrastination, when you feel if you have to read one more article on the ethics of interviewing your head might explode, when you wake up at 3am panicking about an impending deadline.

I would like us to have a community, so I’m willing to write 500 words to say, ‘umm I don’t know.”