Oh dear, had a session with my supervisor who has said she thinks my work is still at masters level - not reaching PhD standard yet. She was very nice about it - and tried to be helpful. I've been asked to rewrite the chapter I had handed in (findings) and try again. Problem is, apart from reorganising it, and seeing if I've left anything out, I'm not sure what else I can do. Feel quite mentally tired now. There's nothing controversial or unusual about my findings unfortunately. They just confirm much of what has already been said. So I'm not making an original contribution, am I? Anyone else had this problem?

Hi there I used to always have this worry. As trying to understand what is the difference at each level is not as easy as it sounds. I mean its like over a summer holiday when you go back to uni you are suppose to be a better writer.

Atleast you are not far off anyway as turning masters work into PhD level will be a challenge but not impossible.

There is always an angle to be found in research even if you think you are just going over what others already did.

Have you tried looking at PhD theses in your area - you could ask your supervisor if she could recommend a good one - it might help if you had an example of what good PhD standard looks like?

thanks Bewildered and Methodical
I'm off on hols for a couple of weeks this weekend. Supervisor has said not to think about any of it on holiday, but of course I will! I intend to take one of the key texts and reread it, in case I'm just missing something. It's a good idea to look at the thesis in the area, and I will on return - I did at the beginning but that was a while ago. One of the problems I think is that I think I don't sound right - academically - sometimes, if that makes sense. So rereading the theses would help. I come from a practice background so am not a born and bred academic as such, and I think I struggle at times because of that. Thanks for your help. If anyone else has anything to add I would be grateful - but probably won't be able to respond until I return, hopefully refreshed, from holidays. Bye for now :-)