Hi all,

I am sure this has been covered somewhere in your extensive forum but i think i just need some current advice or
reassurance....

I am just feeling a bit low about my phd. I still love it but now i am entering my second year i dont feel anymore intelligent than i did when i started. I am having problems with rewriting a literature review for my
confirmation board (i cant seem to start on it) because i dont think it will be good enough. My work over the last few weeks has been really slow and very very few if any results and i an sure my supervisor is sitting there thinking 'what
the hell is she doing with her time?? why isnt she getting any better at this??' I spend a lot of time working or desperately trying to fix things i think i have mucked up.....i feel like i have climbed a really small hill, thought it was a mountain, and then seen the real mountain...

While phd students that started the same time as me are already submitting papers and increasing their
employability i feel like i am just left treading water. Any advice?

Lorna


Any advice?

======= Date Modified 26 Oct 2011 17:20:58 =======
Hi Splendins,

I am sorry you are feeling this way but trust me this is a temporary phase, you will definitely get out of it. Having said that, the whole PhD process has alternating phases of high and low times, it is just that the amplitude of these phases vary for each one of us.

About your problems with writing, it is definitely not an easy task but once you get started you will get the hang of it. I have had days when I have stared at a blank word document for hours without knowing how or where to start. It could be overwhelming if you think about the whole document which you will have to produce.

Perhaps it would be better if you split it up into chunks, say take one article at a time and write about the aim, methods, results/discussion and conclusions of the study done and its relevance to your work. You don't really have to write it perfectly, just write as if you would explain it to your friend/colleague. Set a range of number of words for each article and do them one by one. Once you finish the first draft go through it again and again, polish, edit and restructure if required and am sure this way you will end up with a very decent document. It is easier than done but it is absolutely possible.

Don't worry too much about others progress, some projects need solid back ground work which takes a long time than the other. You never know you might produce more than one article at a time once you have sorted out your ground work!

As one of the forumites says (Sneaks/Ady/Skig?? sorry if I left the name of the relevant person) "PhD is a marathon and not a sprint" - simple but true! You will get there eventually, we all will :-)

All the very best (up)

I know it's tough, but try not to become paralyzed by doing rewrites. Instead, consider it an achievement that you have read enough to write the first draft of your literature review. Also remember that creating multiple drafts of work is the norm. Supervisors don't expect things to be perfect; the main thing is that you are building on what you know and the advice your supervisor gives you. It's not necessarily about becoming ''anymore intelligent'', but about developing your skills.

Like Cindrella already noted, people progress at different stages, so comparing yourself to other candidates isn't necessarily productive - even if it is a natural instinct. Try to remind yourself that lots of people go through this and that you will get over that mountain in time! :)

Thanks guys :) I think i just need to take a deep breath and get on with it....sometimes the panic is just paralysing though and i spend time i could be doing useful things just calming myself down...

Am now trying to take my lit review in sections and hopefully this will work a little easier.

Thanks again,

Lorna

Definitely feel the same way as you, Splendins - Starting third year and feel no more cleverererer than when I started! That said, I did have an epiphany earlier this when I met with my supervisor to chat about my problems and discussing results, and then coming out of the meeting realising a whole hour had passed and it'd been spent mulling over the problem as a team.

I see my supervisor regularly around once a week so meetings usually last a half hour or less, and until now they've usually been spent either showing results or showing problems, and him giving me advice on what to look at ('e's the expert, I'm the apprentice' kind of thing) - This time, we were both tackling the problem and bouncing ideas off each other and trying to come to some conclusions. It actually made me feel like I was developing the science rather than just doing it, showing him the results and him telling me if they're right or wrong or what.

The development of me to that stage has certainly been gradual (taken 2 years to get here), but the process isn't finished. I haven't submitted journal papers yet (still don't feel clever/successful enough to do that yet), but feel like I'm on the way up the mountain. It's a long way off, but at least I have my hiking boots on now!

Thanks for sharing this zinar7, it really does make me feel better knowing there are other people in the same boat as me and im not having these doubts on my own. I am going to see me supervisor today and i am a bit scared she will throw the book at me, give me a good shake and tell me to get on with it....we'll see...i think the main crux of it is i need to a) work more productively, not just more and b) i need to give myself a bit of a break now and then instead of continuously beating myself up about it....

Lorna xxx