Im in the 9th month of PhD. I have to submit transfer report the end of next month which has not yet been started. I am also presenting to the faculty soon but wonder if presenting what I have found in the literature is enough.
My question to the forum is this: How do you assess your progress? Are there certain benchmarks you have used?

(Ok that was two questions)

Cheers

Are you undertaking a scientific PhD i.e. with lab work etc, or a humanities PhD?

Hi Andy it is a scientific PhD.

DanB, I have handed in two reports to supervisors to date. Both fairly general literature reviews. That is about it as far as submission of work has gone. He said they were both fine but Im beginning to wonder if time is against me!!!

About 15000 words submitted in two reports. Why do you ask?

I thought it was fairly normal to be expected to write a literature review in the first year. I did and mine was 10,000 words approx.

I would say generally if your supervisor is happy with your progress everything is fine. I found my first year review meeting to be very positive and encouraging, and i'm sure that's the wayt he supervisors want it to be. Good luck!

Thank you MistaG and everyone else for commenting. My only concern with the issues raised thus far regards the supervisor's perception. I do not feel comfortable simply knowing that the supervisor is not unhappy with me. This seems a bit vague and subjective. After all, surely the PhD fundamentally comes down to one's own feelings of progress rather than that of the supervisor. Also, I have heard horror stories of people being told their work was fine by the supervisor only to find out in the transfer viva that it is not!!!

That's true. But if YOU are happy and your supervisor is too, then things are good! It's still early days, and i'm sure you will get lots of feedback at your meeting, (if not ask for it)and also a detailed plan of what is next. In terms of benchmarks, i feel the same and am in the same boat, but i guess there aren't any general ones, it's all very speicific to your project.