Hi everyone,
I'm having a tough time so far this semester - I've had some disagreements with senior people in my department (over how fast I should be working - I want to work quickly through the coursework, so I can start my fieldwork this year, but the department has other ideas...), so now I'm a little bit stuck, with my research on hold for an extra semester. As a result, I just don't feel the motivation to work hard anymore - I feel like if they don't want me to work efficiently, why should I? I know that this is for me, not for them, but at the moment I'm just doing coursework stuff (and department admin), and pretty much ignoring my own proposal and research. Any advice on how to get that motivation back again? Last semester I really was excited by what I was doing, and this year it all just seems a bit pointless... Thanks for any suggestions :-)

This post made me feel a lot better - good to know I'm not the only one!

Hi again! No problem :-) I have been sending a brief (5-6) page version of my research proposal (I've done a pretty wide literature review, so I'm fairly confident that I'm making a little bit of sense...) - first I email and say what I liked about their work, and then ask if they'd be willing to help out, and if they say yes, then I send my paper. I'm still in my first year, and haven't thought too much about people stealing my ideas as yet! That said, I probably wouldn't send it out to anyone - I've picked academics who wrote great articles, but generally from a different angle, so they know a lot about what I'm trying to do, but it's not really their thing. I made sure that it was presentable - a nicely written piece of work, even though I specified it was a draft - so they could see where I was going, and hopefully point out things I had missed. So far it has been really useful for me - the people who have replied have made some very insightful comments, and helped me to narrow down my focus a lot. I've found that younger academics, especially those who have completed their PhDs in the last 5 years, have tended to be most helpful (maybe because they remember the stress??).
I've also done a similar thing to you, working with a different professor from my university for a journal publication. I figure it can't hurt to learn from as many people as possible...
Good luck!

Hi Apple - I'm in a very similar situation! It is really frustrating to have a meeting and not come away with any useful feedback, and with the feeling that they haven't even read what you wrote... Because I've been feeling so adrift, I've started to look for help from other people, to make sure I'm still making sense. I'm pretty independent too, but it's nice to know you're not making stuff up! So when I read something that seems like a great piece of research, with a method that I really like, I write to the main author - and people have been surprisingly willing to help. I've had 3 or 4 really nice academics read through my work and make some great comments, which has helped a lot. Other than that, I can only wish you luck, and let you know that you are not alone dealing with this...

I've been working on my PhD for almost 6 months, and I think I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going with it, what's missing in the literature etc. I really like my topic (I hope this enthusiasm lasts!) and I'm excited to see where the research goes. But I need some advice about my supervisor - We met last week, after I sent my proposal, and some background documents a week in advance (sup doesn't really have that much background in my exact issue, but is supposed to be really good on methodology). When we met, he didn't really have that many comments, and the ones he did have made me think that he hadn't really read my proposal, at least not to the end, as much of the stuff he was suggesting was already in there. Some of the other stuff was kind of off the wall - completely different methods (like using photos instead of a survey) or issues that don't seem that relevant. There's not really anyone else I can work with in the department unfortunately, and I'm pretty tied to this location through funding. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get more useful feedback? Thank you!

Hope you slept a bit better! Another thing that might help establish a rhythm is to set up some kind of routine, kind of reminding your body that it's time to start winding down. Have some herbal tea, read something nice for 30 minutes in bed - try and have the last hour before bed without computer/tv/anything too alert. I went through a phase of not sleeping well at all, and that really helped me. Good luck!

Hmmm.. I would try what I do for jetlag - set your alarm for a normal time (8am) regardless of what time you go to bed, and then you'll have one day of feeling really tired and grumpy on a few hours sleep, but you'll be so tired by the end of that day that you'll go to bed by 10/11pm easily. It should get better from the next day onwards! Good luck - sunlight is also supposed to help, so you could also try keeping your curtains open to wake you up earlier (if you don't live in a big, noisy, light city!)

Thanks!

Hi everyone - do you know if in text citations count towards a final word count? I'm writing a lit review paper, and of course have hundreds of citations, and my word count limit is rather low (6000). My professor has insisted that I refer to EVERYTHING that we have discussed, and so I'm really struggling to cut the words down and still have a coherent paper. Is it cheeky to exclude the citations?
Thank you!

Hi - do you mean entering them manually into the database or importing citations? For entering them in, you can use the category (reference type from the drop down menu) "Book section" and it should come up as a chapter:
Root, Maria P.P. 1992. "Within, Between and Beyond Race." In Racially Mixed People in America, Maria P.P. Root (ed.). 3-11. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Hope that helps!

Thanks Bonzo, that helps a lot. I hope you're feeling better :-)

Thank you - I appreciate the advice! My supervisor is sorted out now, so things should be a bit more organized from now on... Thanks again.

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Hi everyone,

I've just started my PhD, coming back to academia after working for 5 years. It's been a bit of shock, and at the end of my first semester, I'm still feeling lost... I've been trying to have regular hours and work on a schedule, and for the most part, it hasn't been too bad. But this week has just been a total loss - I'm distracted with finding an apartment, and have been doing the bare minimum. And I feel very guilty :-( Do you guys work everyday? Do you always have this nagging feeling that you should be working when you're not? I guess I haven't been helped by not having a supervisor this semester, so I'm suffering a little from lack of guidance. And the pile of books/articles is just getting bigger and bigger? How can you ever read everything?!

Sorry that this is such a negative post - I'm generally a happy person! Just a little bit overwhelmed... I wanted to say hi, anyway, and hope to get to you know all better over the coming years :-)


k.