[hobnob]

(Original post by Cora Lindsay)
Yes- we even allow theses which are a series of papers bound together, with a general introduction and conclusions section

That's still relatively uncommon, though, no?

[threeportdrift]

(Original post by evantej)
Having money influences the motivation to donate.

It influences the total amount you give, it does not influence generosity - depending where you benchmark 'having money'.

http://www.cgap.org.uk/uploads/Brief...20the%20UK.pdf

I'm sure this will just confirm your privilege bias, but nevertheless it makes interesting reading. Of course this looks at all charities, and includes the real favourites like guide dogs, donkeys and lifeboats. However, it is very clear from my own experience in university (non-Oxbridge, RG) and independent school fund raising that donors are very often far from 'well off'. Propensity to give depends on affinity with the charitable cause.

[unilibrarian]

(Original post by sj27)
Hmmm... this may be a supremely dumb question, but...
One of the documents (chapter from a book) that I downloaded (I think I downloaded this one off the MIT Open Courseware site) says at the front that according to the copyright law of the US it may only be used for instructional purposes (their bold!). I presume this is to stop people selling it or something - I mean, if I use it and cite it in a bibliography I wouldn't be breaching copyright... or would I?

Hello I'm certainly no copyright specialist so please read the following with the big fat disclaimer that I am only talking about what I understand from a librarian perspective and am very willing to be corrected (!)

The short answer is that you probably won't be breaching copyright (got to be vague in copyright!). A huge number of publishers put these sorts of disclaimers at the front of their books which merely serve as a threat, but the threat itself actually promises things which aren't necessarily backed up by copyright law. They often say something like "No part of this book can be reprinted, distributed, lent..without prior permission from the publisher". This threat has never been properly tested in law, and it's thought (certainly in the librarian world) that this would be very unlikely to hold up in court because it threatens to prohibit what the law allows in some cases.

With your particular "instructional" threat - I think the response to this may be along the same lines as what I talked about above. If the site gives you permission to download and read the ebook, then it's reasonable to assume that you can also quote it for research purposes (as long as you pay attention to the normal rule of citing it properly, not reproducing a huge amount etc.) Also, I imagine what is considered "instructional" in law is not clearly defined. In the hugely unlikely event that anyone were to come back at you for quoting from the book, it would be even more unlikely that the publishers would be able to do much about it.

[Cora Lindsay]

(Original post by hobnob)
That's still relatively uncommon, though, no?

Getting more so. A few years ago, Birmingham used to require one chapter of a thesis to be a paper, or in paper format

[sj27]

(Original post by hobnob)
That's still relatively uncommon, though, no?

I can't speak broadly, but I know that in the US it has become quite common for Economics PhD "theses" to consist of 3 published or publishable papers (occasionally not even with an obviously common theme). One of these will generally be the student's "job market paper", which is the one they will send around when applying for academic (or quasi-academic, like the Fed) positions.

@unilibrarian, thanks!

[Cora Lindsay]

(Original post by sj27)
Hmmm... this may be a supremely dumb question, but...
One of the documents (chapter from a book) that I downloaded (I think I downloaded this one off the MIT Open Courseware site) says at the front that according to the copyright law of the US it may only be used for instructional purposes (their bold!). I presume this is to stop people selling it or something - I mean, if I use it and cite it in a bibliography I wouldn't be breaching copyright... or would I?

Can't see how this would breach copyright at all.

[Craghyrax]

(Original post by Becca)
Oh no, sucks that you bought the wrong ticket. Are they to Oslo Torp or Moss-Rygge (neither of which are anything like close to Oslo )?
Southern Norway isn't boring! You could get the train to Gol (near where I am right now) or Geilo, which are both lovely walking areas

Torp, sadly I was going to message you for ideas. The mistake we made wasn't actually flying to Oslo. We really wanted to go on the Bergen line because it sounds lovely. The mistake was not noticing that getting from Bergen to Trondheim by train (which we're doing a few days in) involves getting back on the Bergen Line and then changing at Oslo So we'd be travelling on it anyway, and now we're arbitrarily flying to Oslo and then taking a train for no reason So I'm trying to find somewhere to stay for the first night that isn't Oslo and perhaps involves a slightly different route, before getting the train to Bergen...

[Becca]

(Original post by Craghyrax)
Torp, sadly I was going to message you for ideas. The mistake we made wasn't actually flying to Oslo. We really wanted to go on the Bergen line because it sounds lovely. The mistake was not noticing that getting from Bergen to Trondheim by train (which we're doing a few days in) involves getting back on the Bergen Line and then changing at Oslo So we'd be travelling on it anyway, and now we're arbitrarily flying to Oslo and then taking a train for no reason So I'm trying to find somewhere to stay for the first night that isn't Oslo and perhaps involves a slightly different route, before getting the train to Bergen...

What kinds of places have you found? Give me a list of place names and I'll see if I can help

[Craghyrax]

(Original post by Becca)
What kinds of places have you found? Give me a list of place names and I'll see if I can help

Thanks! I'll get in touch in a few days. Today is a huge bake-a-thon. Myself and a friend are trying out the wedding cake recipes and working out a plan for baking them en masse.

[scarlet ibis]

(Original post by Craghyrax)
Thanks! I'll get in touch in a few days. Today is a huge bake-a-thon. Myself and a friend are trying out the wedding cake recipes and working out a plan for baking them en masse.

OooOo Have fun (and do you need any help eating them? )

[hobnob]

(Original post by Cora Lindsay)
Getting more so. A few years ago, Birmingham used to require one chapter of a thesis to be a paper, or in paper format

More uncommon?
I read an article about this a few years ago, which said it was becoming more widespread, but I got the impression it was still only a tiny fraction of PhDs that were awarded that way. Having said that, it might be partly due to subject bias that I haven't noticed. English doesn't really lend itself to that kind of thing - partly because journals are insanely slow in responding.

[Cora Lindsay]

(Original post by hobnob)
More uncommon?
I read an article about this a few years ago, which said it was becoming more widespread, but I got the impression it was still only a tiny fraction of PhDs that were awarded that way. Having said that, it might be partly due to subject bias that I haven't noticed. English doesn't really lend itself to that kind of thing - partly because journals are insanely slow in responding.

Doh! Sorry! Getting more common, at least in science and engineering

[evantej]

(Original post by threeportdrift)
It influences the total amount you give, it does not influence generosity - depending where you benchmark 'having money'.

http://www.cgap.org.uk/uploads/Brief...20the%20UK.pdf

I'm sure this will just confirm your privilege bias, but nevertheless it makes interesting reading. Of course this looks at all charities, and includes the real favourites like guide dogs, donkeys and lifeboats. However, it is very clear from my own experience in university (non-Oxbridge, RG) and independent school fund raising that donors are very often far from 'well off'. Propensity to give depends on affinity with the charitable cause.

I am not looking to have my 'privilege bias' confirmed. I think the report you linked was interesting, but I disagree with its suggestion that the positive relationship between probability of donating and expenditure and the negative relationship between the amount donated and expenditure cancel each other out. That seems a simplistic conclusion to draw, and inconsistent with the rest of the report.

I do understand the point of view you were trying to get across: that someone on a low-income who makes constant small donations to a university is just as important for the university as the marquee donations made earlier this week (in the long term). The report denies this, but I think that you and others are right to raise the issue that an affinity with the charitable cause is likely to have a positive impact upon the level of donation for individuals (i.e. the individual college you attended).

But what I was driving at with respect to Oxford was that low-income students are in the minority so you are raising a relatively minor point in the grand scheme of things. If you take Oxford's endowment and divide it between its total number of students and compare that with my undergraduate university you see a vast difference. Oxford received £153,238 per student whereas my university received £29 per student. You might consider this a simplistic way to look at things, but it puts things into perspective. For comparisons sake, the University of Manchester received £4052 per student.

This is why I am very sceptical about the usefulness of donations to help eradicate social inequality and improve widening participation. In the Oxford case the donator could have had a far greater impact if he had donated the money into Welsh primary and secondary schools instead.

Looking at the donation patterns in (a private school or) a Russell Group university seems largely pointless when you look at the unlikelihood of low-income students attending these institutions in the first place. Your sample is basically a small affluent demographic. This was why I was also critical of the other things you listed that development office's do, because I believe they perpetuate inequality by standardising it (e.g. a Bristol alumni is only going to offer work experience to a current Bristol student). Essentially, if you do not get into the right sort of university then you are screwed. Certain employers and professions are completely out of bounds. It is the old issue about CVs and personal statements again: low-income students simply have less opportunities, because they are on lower incomes, so they have less to mention so they are less likely to receive offers.

What would be interesting – I think – is donation patterns across higher education (there are over a hundred universities in the UK, after all), and also the influence of widening participation on donation patterns, because I have a feeling that this would directly impact upon some of the things you mentioned. Those on low-incomes are more likely to donate so it would be interesting to see if this pattern continued when they were – in principle – put in a situation where they had access to more income (i.e. a graduate career). Of course, the reality the different but I hope you get the idea. In addition, the impact of higher tuition fees upon donation patterns would be something for the future too. It might also be interested to compare the student/endowment rate of universities with colleges against those of a similar size (e.g. York against Bristol) to see whether it makes a difference outside of Cambridge and Oxford.

I think this topic is done and dusted so I have nothing more to say.

[Craghyrax]

(Original post by scarlet ibis)
OooOo Have fun (and do you need any help eating them? )

Probably yes! I really don't want to put on any more weight!

[scarlet ibis]

(Original post by Craghyrax)
Probably yes! I really don't want to put on any more weight!

Are you baking in Cambridge or Norwich? I'm too busy this weekend to take a trip just for cake sadly (although normally I would, happily!)

[Aeschylus]

The_alba graduated from York (well PHD-ness) on the same day as me. I wish she'd post more. She was awesome.

[apotoftea]

(Original post by Craghyrax)
That's not true. For every other student I have asked whether they write essays purely for that supervision/tutorial, and whether that essay is reviewed by the supervisor/tutor before the meeting, and whether they go over that piece of work together in the supervision or tutorial, as well as topic it is on. I have also asked whether these tutorials are either one to one or two to one. The answer is always that they don't.

If evantej is talking about tutorials or supervisions for dissertations or other significant pieces of coursework, then Oxford and Cambridge do not differ from other Universities. However when people talk about the supervision/tutorial system, they don't really mean those kinds of supervisions/tutorials that are used for significant pieces of coursework. They mean the other sort which happen two or so times a week and take the place of things like seminars/group work elsewhere.

If you are suggesting that I should not make assumptions about things I haven't experienced, then I fully agree. However I do not consider it an assumption if I have asked other people with first hand experience and they have provided me with the necessary information.

Its a bit like trying to suggest that seminars are just the same as lectures. Even if I had never been to a seminar, I could safely say on inquiring into its nature that it was significantly different to a lecture. It is just a specific sort of activity.

Personal experience and knowledge from other people's experiences are two different things in my book. But I see your point.


/sorry lots on the mind

[0404343m]

(Original post by Cora Lindsay)
All our theses have a declaration in the front which basically says that everything presented here hasn't been used to support any other higher degree submission. So work in papers which hasn't been presented in another higher degree thesis can be used in our PhDs.

Most universities have that sort of declaration in their theses, so get hold of yours and have a look

Yeah- I think this is one of the issues. Depending on the wording, it can be made to read like as long as it's not from your MSc/MA/MPhil it's fair game, otherwise it can be made to seem like everything in it can't have been used elsewhere. My supervisor doesn't want me using up PhD material though. If nothing else getting permission to use the chapter that's potentially been an article in a book won't happen, and that could really mess things up. Annoying, since I had a few months of research that's (now) not relevant to my thesis. Seems it's not going to work as a standalone until at least a couple of years down the line. Drat.

[Becca]

(Original post by Aeschylus)
The_alba graduated from York (well PHD-ness) on the same day as me. I wish she'd post more. She was awesome.

I wish that too

[Craghyrax]

(Original post by scarlet ibis)
Are you baking in Cambridge or Norwich? I'm too busy this weekend to take a trip just for cake sadly (although normally I would, happily!)

Norwich unfortunately We'll put up photos, and of course you'll get some at the wedding.