Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could offer their thoughts or advice on my current situation? The details are below, but in essence I'm asking how you guys think publishing a thesis as an entire book compares to publishing chapters separately as journal articles, in the field of arts/ humanities?

I finished my literature phd last year and submitted a book proposal to have it published as part of a relatively new book series by a respected academic publisher in my field. I was delighted to receive an acceptance of my proposal, however the publication offer requires me to pay a 'subvention' towards the publication costs. I fully expected this, as I am aware that it is now common in my field, and the publisher is well respected so it is not a case of 'vanity' publishing. The problem is that, while the publisher suggested that most students in my position are able to get thesis publications funded by their department, my former university have informed me that there is no money available for this. I am currently out of academia (though am hoping publishing will allow me to keep that door open for the future), and it will be difficult for me to finance this myself, so I'm beginning to wonder whether it would be better to try to publish my chapters as separate journal articles instead, rather than investing in the book project. I didn't submit any chapters to journals during my phd, as I had always had in mind to try to get it published as a book.

Thanks a million for any thoughts you care to share!

Patseya, have you seen this scheme?

I finished my PhD last year and am now doing a two-year GTP at an FE college in order to get QTLS and probably move into secondary, but if I'd seen this last year I probably would have applied.

Good luck with your search!

Hi SallyK. I've got access to that. Do you want to message me your email address and I'll send it on?
Maccle.

That passion sounds like a good thing then :) If you're already very interested in the research project and if you do end up getting a funding offer from your current university then in your position I'd say you should go for it, without worrying about uprooting yourself unnecessarily.
I'm just coming to the end of my phd and have been frustrated at times because it's not real-world applicable, and I've decided that I don't want to stay in academia, but on the other hand it's a topic I find interesting in an academic kind of way - and which has its origins in my undergrad and masters work too - so I can say it's been a worthwhile experience for me, and if I did want to apply for research jobs I think my own focused phd path would probably stand me in good stead (again though, I'm sure others will comment on this with more authority than me). Fortunately I've been in a phase of my life where it doesn't matter that I haven't spent the last three years building towards my next career goal though - I'm funded and have enjoyed myself and that's enough for me. If you're set on a research career then I'd have thought that following classes on other topics during your masters as you're doing will help you in terms of giving you a broader perspective on your research, but apart from that having the same topic for masters and phd has worked for me, so I'd recommend it! ;)

Hi there,

Personally I don't think it's a problem at all to have the same supervisor across your three degrees, especially if as you say they're a rising star. You'd just be positioning yourself quite firmly as a young researcher in that specific field. You seem concerned about that maybe in terms of closing off other options, but a positive view of the situation is that being focused on the one topic already should help you when it comes to the phd. If you trust the advisor and the importance of the topic - to the particular academic research community you're trying to engage with, rather than the wider world necessarily - then such focus at this stage could work out great for you!

There are other important things to consider before embarking on a phd however, around motivation and resilience, I'd suggest that if you're half-hearted before hand you're less likely to last the pace, but I'm sure other people will have comments on that too. If you're sure that you want to work in academic research, then the lack of broader applicability of your topic doesn't necessarily matter in my opinion, ok so there will be limited jobs available at the end of it, but being narrowly focused at this stage may in fact help you work yourself into one of them down the line. That's my positive view anyway - others on here may well disagree...

Best of luck with it all!
Maccle

Well done Eska, that sounds like you're making great progress :) Does that long outline represent you overcoming the formulating problems you were having earlier? I'm curious, does it cover the points you'll make and your structure for every chapter, so that now you just have to sit down and essentially fill it out? That would be a great thing to have got sorted, taking lots of the pain out of writing!
Tanemahuta I know that must be frustrating, but just think about how useful it's going to be too: far better to take the time to really sort out your structure now, than to come up with a full draft that doesn't hold together at all - hopefully this will make your writing quicker too.

Hi all,

I'm aiming to submit in the summer too. It's a literature thesis, I'm trying to write about a chapter a month at the moment to have a full first draft by the start of June, and then spend a week per chapter dedrafting over the summer, to be finished late July and spend August on the admin-y stuff. I got the last chapter off ok, but this month am really struggling - have been under the weather and struggling to sleep, now feeling disengaged and can't rediscover my focus/ drive. Need to not let the writing timetable slip though as it's so tight as it is! Not all doom and gloom though, I've planned treats/ breaks for the end of each chapter, so I just need to focus on getting through to the Easter break...
Good luck everybody, think how great we'll all feel six months from now!!!

Hi Cunegonda.
I definitely don't think you're too old for a phd! Obviously you'll already know that it means a few years of being on a very tight budget, and I agree with bewildered that it has to be a very serious question if you were to self-fund as to whether it would be worth it financially, as the phd itself does not guarantee a job at the end of it. However, if your project was for example producing a first translation of a significant literary work then that may well have practical results useful to you after graduation. I'd suggest that if you can find funding you should go for it - I'm in languages+lit myself and am funded so it is possible to find. I don't know about the situation of international students with UK funding bodies (does an EU student definitely count as 'international'?), but I do know that if you're willing to go to Ireland, Trinity College Dublin for example has an Italian department and an interest in translation studies, you might try looking there?
Good luck :)
Maccle

Here you got tt.
http://www.postgraduateforum.com/thread-23946/

Hi student_32. I've replied to your other thread on this - I really don't think you need to worry!

Hi student_32. I think you should take their comments at face value, it's completely legitimate for them to have asked for more information, and then have declined to take you on. They're being encouraging in saying your project is interesting is all, most academics are far too busy and caught up with their own research to try and steal a student's idea. Please don't email them to accuse them of that, in my opinion you'll sound very unprofessional and may burn bridges which will be important to you in your future career.

I'm definitely finding that framing is the hardest bit (not that the other stuff is easy)! Trying to figure out how to structure such a mass of information... I'm developing a massive hatred of 'linearity', and feel like I can't possibly explain something properly/ convince my imaginary reader of something in one chapter, without their having imaginarily read all the later chapters too! It feels like a great challenge at the moment, and I'm sure that once (/ if) I do figure out the right structure it will be very satisfying, but it's just so frustrating and slow at the moment!

Sorry, just needed to vent there :p Hope everyone else is doing well :-)

Hi all,

I've just seen a call for journal articles on a topic that I'm really interested in, and on which I have some work done already for my thesis. So I'm thinking that I'd like to submit to them, sort of just for fun really, I think because I believe in the argument I've made in my chapter and wouldn't mind the idea of people being able to read it in article form. I've already pretty much decided that I don't want to stay in academia after my PhD, so I'm not really looking for publications for the sake of my career, and equally I'm not so anxious at the thought of publishing something as I would have been before, because I think it doesn't really matter to me if it doesn't work out. However I think I might benefit from getting more feedback on my work, and it also would give me something to distract me from my main work at the moment - in a good way, as I like to have a few things on the go at time.

The thing is, it's not a journal I think I've ever heard of before, possibly because its title and its website are in a language I don't speak. The call for papers was in English, and came through a reputable mailing list in my field (although I don't know if that really means much as they probably don't filter for standard?) and previous editions seem to have articles in a variety of languages - not something I come across often, but perhaps not that bizarre given the general focus seems to be comparative literature/ language studies.

So I suppose I'm asking whether people think I should bother with submitting to a journal I've never heard of before, and whether anyone has any thoughts or advice on things I might consider when making my decision? What, if anything, do you think should motivate an article submission from someone like me? Is there any particular reason to worry about a journal's standing, and if so how might I establish this? It's not carried by my university's library, but a google search shows several prestigious universities do carry it (though beyond the library search engines, the other google results are for websites I can't understand). Of course I could ask my supervisor, but he's fairly hands-off and I prefer to be independent really where I can.

Sorry if this reads as a very silly question! But I'd be very interested to hear anybody's thoughts, thanks in advance!

Maccle

I'm aiming for next September too. It's going to be a really hard year but I'm desperate not to go past my funding! I'm humanities so need to sort of write and research at the same time, I'm aiming to have rough drafts of everything by the end of May, and then spend three crazy months over the summer trying to weave it into a coherent thesis. It should end up having seven chapters of 10-15k each, Eska this is where I'm at at the moment:
Chapter one: drafted. Chapter two: nearly done, should have a complete draft by next week. Chapters 3+4 halfway there, draft by the new year. Chapters 5+6 work on Jan-April, Conclusion chapter in May.
Hmm, somehow writing that out for all to see makes me skeptical and more nervous about the task ahead. I'm staying optimistic for now though! Good luck all (up)

Hi Huhu,

Something that sprung to mind on reading your post, I've noticed a few different websites recently offering 'thesis coaching', i.e a private service from someone who has completed their PhD or maybe even has supervision experience, who will go through your work with you over skype or something. I don't have any experience of it myself so can't recommend it personally, but it sounds like it might be set up to help people like yourself. I know that the guy who runs the 'three month thesis' website has a science background, so maybe see if his service appeals to you? http://3monththesis.com/phd-support/thesis-coaching/

I don't know if that will be helpful but as I said, it just sprung to mind on reading what you said so thought I'd mention it. Apart from that though I can empathise with knowing how difficult thesis writing is, but try not to let your supervisor's unhelpfulness put you off. It sounds to me like he isn't doing his job if he's failing to support your work, but I'll leave that to others to comment if they can offer any advice or have experienced a situation like yours.

Good luck and all the best (up)