how long did everyone spend doing their literature review. guys, i just saw my supervisors and am slowly getting really discouraged. what should i do? am only 2 months into my phd. how many times do you have to rewrite a chapter before it's fine. am getting worried that i will not be able to finish this phd in 3 years at this pace.

I haven't done one either, and am wondering if I ever will! I know a few people who are finishing now and never did one, and had no problems but I am thinking its a good way to focus your mind....or just get even more confused!

Well is the intro to your thesis not a literature review?

Makes sense to do it before you start digging into the nitty gritty stuff!

I started 1.5 months ago and have been working on mine. I will hand it in after xmas which is ideal.

Yes H, I guess what I meant was they did not do one right at the beginning. I have not yet written a lit review as my fieldwork season had to start as soon as I did and I had a quick read of everything I could find that was relavent and took it from there. It does mean working backwards but it seems ok so far. As for jojo, 2 months in may seem loads but as lunch man says a solid foundation sounds like a good idea. You are also at the beginning of your training so lots of things will go wrong and supervisors will be critical but advice on the right path is helpful, try to see through the negative stuff.

hey guys. thanks. i was getting worried that am still gonna be writing mine by Christmas time. i sometimes feel that a lot is expected of me. i have to see my supervisors each fortnight to show them what i've done and am feeling this is not enough time to i.d. a trend in the literature an dhand in typed work prior to this appointments. at the moment am working on keeping up with them and just reading other people's lit reviews and summarising them in my own words :(. is that silly! how else am i supposed to survive this!! i plan to read the articles in full over Christmas :). frustrated, jojo.