My supervisor is taking the last part of one of my thesis chapters away to read at a conference and wants to come up with a defendable conclusion. Shouldn't I be doing this? I've had a go in the chapter he's taking away, and some things I had to learn during the write-up so I'm not really an expert on this chapter. Does this mean I'm not doing very well? We've not discussed the final results before.

He's not really read anything of mine before my thesis as I have no papers, and whenever I've asked him if I should learn an area he's said no. I've ended up having to learn these areas to some degree, a lot in this, my 4th year but feel I now don't know what I should. He's not really showed an interest in my progress either and I worry I'm not where I should be after a PhD. My last few talks have gone badly too. The last I was questioned really harshly (not my fault) and my 3rd year talk my supervisor used the questions as a vehicle to talk to his friends about a related postdoc project and I just looked really stupid like I didn't know anything as not my project. I've just been left to work things out on my own, but I don't know if I have.

Hi cc,

sounds like there is a communication problem (supervisor trying to help? All of a sudden interested? You thinking that not good enough? Offended maybe as this would normally be your job to write the conclusion).
I think the only way out of it is actually to ask for clarification, best personally, if need be by telephone or E mail. E mail has the advantage that you can state explicitly what you want to know yet obviously the disadvantage that is not interactive.

I have to say I'm a bit suspicious... you should be the one taking the piece to a conference and he should support you on this!

Your supervisor may be trying to help you. However, in this case, what you seem to be getting is a missed opportunity to get feedback on your work and even to identify the areas of real weakness and work on them. Plus, losing confidence in your ability to be a competent researcher.

I agree you need to clarify this with your supervisor... but I'd say do it *in person*.

I lost confidence about 2 years ago. I'm not staying in research.
Anyway it's not ready to take to a conference. He's been to several conferences though on the postdoc's work and off again this week.