I don't live with my folks, but I definitely recognise the feeling that other people don't understand what you're doing with your time. My mum assumes that when I'm not at uni I'm doing nothing (I'm at uni about once every three weeks, for supervision!). I would find it very difficult to go back to living with my folks - I have responsibilities in my own home, but I think there is a difference between that and the expectations of your wider family.

I would try to suss out which are the key authors/papers for your topic (using things like number of citations to guide you). Once you have some core papers sorted out, it's easier to start drafting some writing and then approach other papers with certain questions in mind, e.g. which methodology did they use, how did results compare to the key papers or theories. As I've progressed with my thesis, I've grown more and more likely to gauge papers by a quick read of the abstract - you start to get a feel for which ones you want to immerse yourself in and which others will just function as a reference for a point you're making.

Hi Wallace, if you haven't already, it might be worth looking back at jobs you've had in the past and either trying to get back in with those employers or trying to get something similar - maybe not what you want to do in the long term, but I think it is true what people say about it being easier to get a job once you're in a job. In my experience, the whole business of going out working day to day, and being able to pay the bills, makes it much easier to be in the right frame of mind when the right opportunity does come along. I hope you find something soon.

By completely finish, do you mean viva and corrections done? If so, then you'd have to be submitting around the 2.5 year mark, and hope for no more than minor corrections.

Hi Emily

The early stages of a PhD can feel very strange and it's not uncommon to question whether you've made a mistake - I know I didn't feel great about mine for the first semester. You may want to give it a bit more time to find your feet and work out whether you're just experiencing initial doubts or whether it's not going to be for you. Having a lack of passion for your topic will make things very difficult in the long term for a PhD, as you need to be able to stick with your topic even when things aren't going according to plan. Again, are you sure you have no passion or ideas? I would be very surprised if you had been offered a PhD place on this basis! Good luck whatever you decide, but my instinct would be to give it a bit longer before making any decisions.

Congratulations IntoTheSpiral! And thanks for sharing your blog - interesting to see how those silly niggly printing things can trip you up at the end - thanks for the heads up!

Yes, funding applications can be annoying and time consuming - you get to know which ones can be accessed more easily and which are ultra-competitive though. Anything to make the CV look like you will be able to keep the cash flowing in if you get hired :-)

Yes, I agree that hiring should be down to the individual qualities of the applicant. I didn't realise that self-funding was seen as such a negative at the hiring stage. I know that when I started my PhD, we were told that applying for and getting funding was a good thing for our CVs, so I guess that anyone self-funding should also try to get some external conference grants or similar to tick that particular box.

Fallenonion, my income went UP slightly when I got a PhD bursary, because in fifteen years of working I had never got myself into anything better paid. It happens. I'm glad you have managed to get something better and I can understand that it would be hard to lose an income you are used to, but there is nothing 'fishy' about my situation, I have just had to cut my cloth accordingly for many years now. I had a week in a cottage in north Wales in 2009 and have not been away from home since then. This is reality for a lot of people. I am truly sorry you think there must be rich parents waiting in the wings or something dodgy about the accounts of people like me, because you are putting a division between us that really shouldn't be there. It is rough for a lot of us.

I'm in my 40s, working class, first generation in the family to have gone to uni, and able to do a PhD only because I got funding. Not subsidised by anyone and have managed fine, with a little bit of paid teaching work here and there. Most PhD students I know are in a similar position. It's not helpful to stereotype people and I'm not surprised this thread has gone the way it has, following the comments about being subsidised by rich parents.

To the OP, I would echo the concerns of others on this thread. If you are financially able to support yourself through a PhD and are accepting of the fact that you may not get any return for all the money you put into it, fair enough, but if you are in a more precarious financial position I would think it would be a very difficult road to take.

Congratulations Tuutikki, great news - hope you are celebrating!

I am drafting my discussion/conclusion, Hugh, and am definitely going to be referring back to previous literature - I can't see how it would be possible to have a proper narrative without revisiting the gaps and priorities identified at the start of the thesis and saying how your work builds on previous research. I'm sorry you're getting contradictory advice.

Btw, is anyone else getting increasingly ratty with relatives saying, 'we must arrange to do something/come and visit before Christmas' etc? I don't need the nearness of Christmas pointing out to me at this stage, thanks :p