Hi all,

I have just started my Phd and coming straight for undergrad i am finding the lack of monitoring and control over my time a little strange. Just wondering how many hours other humanities based PhD students spent working per week or day in their first year? I am feeling guilty whenever i am not glued to my laptop at the minute! Everyone keeps telling me to relax but am finding it all a bit odd!

Thanks! :)

Hi, I'm also doing a humanties based PhD and I find that the time I spend working varies massively - some days I'll only do one or two hours (particularly as I have a pt research job), other days I'll work maybe 12-15 hours depending on deadlines. The general advice is to try and treat it as a f/t job, so working around 35-40 hours a week. What I would say to you is to try and avoid the temptation to either work 7 days a week (you'll burn out) or, as you don't have that control that is there in taught courses, to let things slide. I've just registered for my 2nd year and I can't quite work out where its gone - it really does seem two mins since I was just starting.

This is one of the hardest aspects of research training, that self control aspect and its something that we all seem to struggle with at some time or other. You are 'self-employed' so if you want to work evenings do that, if you prefer to work first thing, do that, but try and get some kind of routine in place to keep yourself sane and try to ensure that you hit the deadlines you'll be given and keep working steadily. The first year is strange and can seem rather aimless when doing a humanities degree as in my experience it is lots of reading, getting foundations in place and prep work unlike our science based peers who do things rather differently.