hello, am wondering how long your supervisors in the social sciences take to give you feedback on a chapter? mine has taken two weeks now and am wondering if i should email them, but I also don't want to appear pushy. what do you do in the meantime. i've been preparing for a meeting that isn't happening. should i just start the next section - what should i do?

wow... supervisors do that?!

E-mail your supervisor and ask if they can give you a timeframe for feedback. Ask them to give you a date so that you can arrange a meeting to discuss the feedback. Each time you submit future chapters ask for a timeframe and a date for a meeting. Meanwhile though start on the next chapter - you'll feel better about your progress and it'll take your mind off things. Good luck!

Like D2I says - feedback, what's that?

dont wait, not unless you want to be sitting and twiddling your thumbs for months between each chapter. I'm now half way through my second draft of whole thing; the only bit I've had comments on is draft one of intro chapter, and that was only general remarks not red pen.

I have submitted three times to my second supervisor and not heard from them since February. Its May now. I emailed them asking about procedure about a week ago, and still nothing, not even an acknowledgement of receipt. And my first supervisor doesn't also give a damn. sometimes, i wish i never came to this uni in the first place. anyway, i'll just get on with my next chapter - it's me who wants a phd anyway. i don't see why i should acknowledge such people at the end of my thesis.

My supervisors are ususally very good in getting back to me, usually in a few days.

Opps, agree with everyone else, dont wait-focus on other chapters/aspects

driven2insanity et al- i know you feel that this is the place to bring your sacarcism, but am not here to ask for negative comments. for your information, they aren't of help. approval is necessary in my case, because each chapter depends on the outcome of the previous and that outcome has to be agreed upon. i don't know how you do things in your field, but that's how things work in my field. so don't downplay my situation just because yours is different. you have no right to do that.

I must be lucky because my supervisors are both quite good at giving feedback. The last I got was within a month of submitting the chapter - written feedback which was also discussed at our meeting. I have a timetable planned for the PhD and it's agreed that we stick to it so I submit on time (hopefully! I've also found in the past that if you chase them up about stuff they'll get round to it. If you don't already have a timetable of some kind you could give it a try because then it looks bad on them if you keep to it and they don't! (Should mention I'm social sciences too). Good luck.

Sorry you're having such a hard time Jojo. I would hate it if I was trying to contact my sups and they didn't respond. Is there anyone else at your uni such as the PhD co-ordinator (or similar) that you can discuss this with? It would definitely be worth approaching someone as they aren't doing their jobs properly if they don't respond to your e-mails! Even though the feedback will input into the next chapters, try to think about things you can do before you get the feedback from this chapter, e.g. planning of chapters, draft notes, data analysis (not sure what stage you are at?) etc. There is likely to be something that you can work towards before you get feedback. But do definitely try to speak to someone about this.

jojo maybe you need to learn to phrase your questions appropriately. You ask if you should carry one with subsequent chapters without waiting for feedback. Then you say this is not possible in your field. If you already have the answer, why ask the question? Clearly, not everyone can wait for feedback - because its not the answer you want, does not make it sarcasm.

aliby - if it was possible, i wouldn't be asking in the first place. i ask because i want to know if other people do that when that is not common practice.

It must be tough to be in that situation. I don't feel that I have to have feedback from supervisor to write my thesis - in fact, I'd be quite happy to submit it without anyone else having laid eyes on it. Sure, I'd LIKE advice etc, but if I have to do it on my own, I can.
But none of that's helpful for you...I think you should chase them up, but not by e-mail. Put a nice big smile on, knock on their door (or phone them if you're away from uni) and ask sweetly.
And at the same time (because ultimately you can't force them to do anything) carry on with your work as much as possible.

If the work is not going to be up to standard, then submitting without supervisor's approval is not going to make them happy! But (IMO) if they suffer for it, it's their own fault for showing no interest.
If the work IS up to standard, then a disinterested supervisor will at worst remain disinterested, and at best be pleased that they got a student through without slaving for it...

I assume if they havnt sent any feedback its all ok. But I always crack on with other stuff whilst I wait. I also feel bad pestering them and half the time I don't agree with their commenst anyway and ignore them. I would continue as you plan until they say otherwise, Also if feedback is important to you set some deadlines for them, get them to agree to them and then you can pester them legitimately as they agreed to it in the first place. Have confidence in your abilities this is your topic and whatever feedback they give it is only suggestions...you ultimately know best. x