Yep it is quite normal and it can also be overwhelming at start. Just take it easy. Remember there are only two or three milestones that are really really important. Rest, you will learn soon over time.

Cheers

Hi Sparkles,

Firstly you are not alone. I would suggest that maybe try some club or society at the Uni, or if nothing, join the gym or swimming pool etc. You will find people with similar interests and gradually you will start to make acquaintances since you will have something common to talk about. PhD students tend to be this way somehow. I know I was like that. Also my flatmate (who was also my PhD fellow) was also like that. And then another flatmate that I had, was then again, the same way and we rarely got to chat more than say 5 min, e.g. in the kitchen. It can be very stressful this way but you need to find some common things to do with someone (e.g. gym class/yoga/hiking, music, walks etc.) and there you will find people of like minds and also you don't have to talk about or compare them with yourself (e.g. in their research and all).

Hope this works out for you,

Cheers

Hi Sneaks,

Have you looked at some of the TED talks? If not you need to check them out. Most of these talks are only few minutes long and needless to say, are very effective and given to a large audience. (up)

http://www.ted.com/talks

I am sure you can find someone or some style which you can emulate from here and then go from there.

Cheers

Hi Mayofc2000

First of all, welcome to the PhD and its assortment of ups and downs. :p I would say, while it might look like a lot of time, it is never too early to plan your deliverables. In other words, you need to socialize and meet everyone in the department (faculty/postgrads) and find out about all the steps that you need to go through (e.g. first year upgrade viva, report writing, Latex, how to use the Library/getting access to Journals via the University etc.) Make a research notebook (diary) and keep entering daily whatever you learn that day (references of papers/books etc.). In retrospect, there are two key challenges to get through (probably are University dependent) i.e. the first year upgrade and the thesis defense. (In addition to smaller challenges that will be thrown your way by a lot of people).

Anyways I hope all this does not overwhelm you but remember time will pass by so fast that you will soon be at the other end of the PhD (like myself) so take control of it and your life while you can. Later on, as you might realize, the PhD will take control over you.

:-)

Best of luck for a fulfilling and truly enlightening experience! (up)

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Hi Sneaks,

I don't have experience with Mendeley but did similar with EndNote actually (300+ pages). I had multiple chapter documents which I had to join. I ended up with such a huge mess that I had to do it twice. The second time, I did it in very small chunks, ensuring whatever was pasted was actually there properly. It was so painful that I had to control myself from switching to Latex (after doing everything i.e. my final submission). I am not sure if Mendeley allows it, there was a way in EndNote which made the citations unformatted and I turned off instant formatting.

Hope this helps in some way

Hi Matt,

I would say, make a weighted list of pros and cons. It all depends on how much data you have, how mature is your research (perhaps you can judge it by the quality of your work in terms of publications or publication-quality e.g.) and what will be the value addition of the new software. So, simply list the benefits and problems with both approaches. Now give each of these a number on a scale, say 1-10. Add and subtract them and see if the answer is something which makes sense to yourself. And since this is a general question and might be very important for others too, please do let us know on the forum what was your choice and if it worked for you later on.

Cheers

======= Date Modified 04 Oct 2011 05:19:06 =======
Dr. Mackem and Dr. PhdBug

I must say you folks appear to have been both quite lucky in terms of your supervisors. I had a very bad experience in my thesis editing/writing as my supervisor is one of those extremely busy and quite high profile people (Or maybe he just acts like one (down)). So, while I was writing, he never bothered replying to most of my emails with my chapter sections etc. and most of my correspondence was based on my (co-authored) research papers (which again he never got much time to review except in the rare instances when I was on phone with him waiting for hours as he got free from other emails etc.). Close to thesis submission, he probably spent a day or so with me pondering over the thesis and added/removed buzz words and other small editorial changes in my final draft (and that sums up his response on the thesis). Rest when I ran into troubles during my corrections, he did give me perhaps another 2 hrs or so (while I waited on him for almost 2 days). :-(

Anyways I am glad it is over now. And I am happy to know you folks did not have to go through this ordeal. (up)

All the best

Dr PhdBug

Heartiest congratulations!!!! And definitely very nice tips!!!(up)

Cheers

Hi there,

I agree with the others. Remember minor corrections aka typos are acceptable *examiners can find them and ask to correct etc.*. It is the big problems that are more worrying e.g. something they find to be wrong in their point of view etc.

As such, from what you have told us, I don't think this is a problem. Please take a long deep breath and relax!

Best of luck.

======= Date Modified 29 Sep 2011 08:41:28 =======
Hi Rina,


Hehehe Nice analogy. In short, yes. ;) Firstly assuming you keep an open mind and heart, it never hurts to submit to the highest ranking journal (most good looking journal out there :-x). Perhaps the most important thing you can ensure before choosing a suitable journal is for the scope of the paper to match well with the journal scope otherwise there are good chances that no one will even get to review it (Editorial rejection) though I have seen exceptions where some Journals still always get reviewers to review every article that they get (however badly written the article turns out to be) . Once it is past this stage, either your proposal (I mean paper. . . :-) ) will either get accepted (typically with major revision and rarely with minor rev) or else you will at least get experience (in other words detailed comments on how to make the paper a lot stronger and for re-submission in the same or another journal). If you think positively about this, all of these are actually win-win situations.

In my personal experience, my first rejection was the most important one because (while disheartening at first), its reviews essentially allowed me to understand what was really expected from a research paper from the reviewers' point of view. Afterwards, I had luck with a number of papers in a row. :p

Cheers

======= Date Modified 29 Sep 2011 08:04:26 =======
Hi Slizor,

Here are some tips from my side:

1. Try structuring your chapter using headings first and then write(or move material if already written) under the headings.
2. First put all the material together. Next, re-structure it so each para gives one idea and follows well from the previous one. And finally edit/proof read it all.
3. Don't worry too much about repetitions at the start of the writing. Once you are done with it, there will be many many more iterations till you are "really" done i.e. it is perfected.
4. If you worry too much about writing perfectly at start, it might end up becoming a block while you try to perfect it. And then at the end, you might still realize (as I always have), that it still needs to be massively edited/trimmed.

Hope these help

Cheers

And Congratulations to DrCorinne too! You made it to other end and now finally you can take a break!!!

Cheers

Excellent work!!!! Congratulations Dr. Kikuka!!!! Very well done. Please take a well-deserved break now!(up)

Hi Fredsmith,

First of all, congratulations on passing. Secondly, I have had a bit of a similar experience to yours where my supervisor did not agree with the corrections. In addition, the changes and comments were very harsh and I disagreed with them myself too. However, I realized at the end of the day that firstly supervisor's opinion *and my own* no longer mattered in the corrections and all that mattered is that I have passed and once I am done with the corrections, I shall never ever face my examiners again, in this way at least. Since it is only the examiner who can now approve the changes and somehow whatever I wrote, did not make sense to her, thus I rewrote it replying to her and the other examiner basically. I did not really follow what the examiners had asked for. I however added sections justifying my way of doing things. I also made a list of replies to each individual comment made by the examiners giving details of which section/chapter had been modified in what manner in response to their comments. So, at the end of the day, after going over my revised corrections for a week, the examiner asked me some more things (which I completed in around 2 hrs). ;)

And now, I am very relaxed. I hope you get it over with these corrections too. Best of luck(up)

Cheers