First poster: advice much appreciated

I submitted my first full draft to my supervisors some months ago. I had previously received written comments on 3 of the 8 draft chapters which I had sent to them during the past two years. I wasn't too worried as I thought I would receive written comments on the first full draft but this is not to be. I have asked for this feedback but been told that I need to take ownership of my thesis and that they have other priorities. Perhaps my expectations are too high? What do you think? Is this similar to your experience?

Gaia312

I think your expectations are just right. Your supervisors should be prioritizing you and your thesis. You should push for feedback and emphasize that you want to pass and it won't look good for them if you don't. If they still won't review it properly, you could go to the head of your department or pastoral academic for advice.

Is there anyone who'll at least check the English for you, for grammar and punctuation (colleague, parent, friend or other relative)?

It's considered reasonable for students up to standard taught Masters level to take ownership of their dissertation / project as the people who supervise the project end up marking it. However, at PhD and MPhil / MRes the role of the supervisor is much more involved and they should at the very least be giving the draft a read through. It reflects badly on them if a PhD candidate suffers due to their perceived negligence.

Ian

I feel your pain. I sent my first full draft to my supervisor in January and have heard nothing since, although I am five drafts further on now!

Given it is now April I gave up on my supervisor and decided to 'take ownership'. So the document was sent to the binders this afternoon and will be submitted next week.

Although to be safe I read through a couple of other Phd's from ethos in my area, doing a comparative analysis to make sure I had not missed anything - thankfully I appear not to have done. I also used a professional proof reader to check the grammar and spelling errors Which was expressive but worth it.

I would really recommend you compare your phd with a couple of others and check the basic structure and content if all ok ask someone to proof read it for you.

Good luck

Thanks to all of you and for your support. I will indeed compare the structure of my thesis with those of others in my field and send it to a professional proof reader. After some pressure I did receive a few helpful oral comments from my supervisors recently. Good luck to all of you