I am a fraud just like you, but I work really hard, so no one will find out...
:)

From my limited experience in academia, there are MANY MANY ways to go to the same place. So your background is irrelevant to the research you are doing.It is absolutely possible that architects, medical doctors, microbiologists, chemists, building engineers, educationalists, epidemiologists and a few other disciplines might be working in the same research area. True story.

What do you mean when you say top academic? The top academics in our department don't do any research at all. They are under constant pressure to bring the money in, so they spend their days writing grant proposals, managing people and managing money. No thanks, I'd rather be a research assistant forever.

I really don't know why your first supervisor is not letting you collect any data. Try to have an honest conversation with him what he thinks the outcome of the thesis will be and how you will achieve it.
Use your second supervisor too (typically you should have one) , explain your situation and ask for advice.

how I hope I will fit everything in 60k!

Writing a massive 80K thesis is an evil plan: you are trying to bore the examiner to death until he agrees to pass you!

And I also faced something similar, first 30K were easy to write, the closer to the end the harder words come out. Editing takes SOOO much time, and at the end of the day it looks like you haven't done anything!

Try to take breaks often. I spend a large part of my day like a tanning lizard under the sun. So, I grab a coffee (smoke two cigarretes), go back in write 100 words, then out coffee (chocolate) .....whatever keeps you going....

Hi brit 27,

It also seems to me like a case of academic jealousy. My advice is that no one is going to read this PhD anyway so just do what you have to do and move on. Your papers are out there, and this is what it matters. Really.

Hi tt_dan,

ask your supervisor. Normally professors don't put their names on papers unless they are really good.

You shouldn't quit, you should stick to it. You already did half of the work.

You just described my life.

Just keep swimming.

Hi Zheng,

generally it is harder to publish a literature review than a research paper (at least in science) because editors are less interested in publishing reviews than original research, so it can get rejected although it is a good piece of work. Some people get invited by the editor to write a review on a specific topic. Other academics might approach an editor and ask if he is interested in publishing a review paper. The paper still goes under peer review as normal.

I managed to publish my literature review and gets more citations than any other research paper! I put a lot of effort in producing a decent chapter and I thought it would be a waste if it was not published. I genuinely feel that a lit review is harder work than publishing results and sets out the basis for your PhD.

Hey,

don't worry, you will probably get accepted. Conference organizers always miss deadlines because they are academics :)

You should aim for 3 big conferences during the PhD and at least 1 journal paper

Good luck

I am also supposed to finish in September... Especially over the last 2 months I feel increasingly anxious to the point that I am not productive. I am also tired after these last 2 and a half years of working non-stop.

"Where are the publications?" is a question that torments me too, as I need to publish but I am miles behind.

Sometimes I am worried that I will pass as I am so successful at failing....

Assuming that a medical genetic PhD allows you to get a post-doc in forensic DNA post doc, I would say GO for it.

I am doing my PhD in a very specialised area that I love, but I am aware that once it is over I will have to move to other research areas, and this is the case with most academic staff in my department. And it actually offers valuable lessons because you can transfer methods from one discipline to the other.

Hi satchi,

Last year I attended a workshop on how to get published from a professional author. His number one advice was to make a good first draft. He was using mind maps. In the middle he was putting the basic conclusion of the paper. Then he was adding the headings, then the subheadings and then the paragraphs as bullet points.

One very important thing is to find your targeted journal,and copy the structure: Use exactly the same number of words for the title, the same number of paragraphs for the introduction and so forth. Make sure that you have references from the same journal.

Sometimes it is a matter of luck, as it might be that they just published a paper on a similar topic and they don't want more. In multi-disciplinary research one editor might think that it is too technical while the other editor thinks your paper is not technical enough.

Hope you don't get discouraged and keep re-writing your papers... Also remember that it is quite difficult to get published in high impact journals. Good luck!

Hi Philosophy PhD,

congratulations on securing funding!! Advices (you always have to consider the source though):
-Get some proper holidays, because you never know when will be the next time you will have carefree holidays again!
- Save some money (you will need them in the case it takes you a bit longer)
- Reading of basic material that you will need in any case, like "how to write a literature review" or study basics statistics ( depending on the field, maybe you don't need them in Philosophy), or some basic book on your field.

Encouragement is not something we get often :)

And yes, on average I don't expect to get away with anything less than 15 drafts, so I submit paperFINAL file (we all suffer from premature naming) and then I end up with paperFINALFINALFINAL :)

There is only one advice: Just keep swimming...

Hi incognito,


how much time do you have to finish the corrections? It was quite rude of the internal to reply after 4 months! Hope you have enough time to apply the comments.

I would say that receiving comments is probably a good think as it will improve the quality of your work before you have it published. Don't panic, some academics are notorious sticklers, my second supervisor sent me 100 comments on a paper that has been already peer reviewed and accepted by the examiner!

So just keep going, you need to feel happy and in control of the process! You are almost there!