Hi,

I started my PhD in January as well, in the social sciences / public health domain. So far I've not written much (about 2000 words), although I have got lots of sporadic things written about quite a few articles. I'm in the planning stage at the moment, so I'm meeting with stakeholders and other important groups, presenting my work and 'getting it out there'. On top of this I'm designing the information sheets / consent forms and I'm about to start going through the ethics procedure (which will take 4-8 months!). Generally by October I'm hoping to start data collection. Other than that I'm just trying to build up my knowledge about the topic and methodologies through reading.

Generally I'm finding myself doing around 4-6 productive hours a day, although I'm normally in 'work-mode' for around 8. Recently I've found myself slacking quite a bit so I'm really going to push myself to get back into a good routine.

I have found myself saying yes to pretty much anything as well that would look good on my CV; i.e. presenting to anyone that will listen (!), giving the odd seminar when I get a chance, and helping run an online community for the school. I think I've got to learn to say no, as soon all of these things will pile up and I'll get lost.

Also has anyone else found that starting in January has been a hindrance? Because of the way my university works, I've missed out on most of the workshops they run for first years that have just started, as they timetable them all for October to December. Any decent ones after I started were all fully booked from the beginning of the year.

unfortunately I can't be much help, but what I can suggest is to look at the positives. It shows that you have the ability to critique your own work, and perhaps your knowledge is also constantly increasing, thus making your older work look bad. I know it's not even close to a direct comparison, but looking back at work I did a year ago, or even a few months ago to an extent it just looks awful. Even if I received good marks / feedback for it!

I find it unproductive to spear my own time (down)

Hi swetchha,

Feel like I should make my first post here. I've been doing my phd for 4 months now, and have barely wrote a thing! I've written 2000 words briefly summarising my research proposal, which will be built on slightly before going to ethics. Other than that I'm just creating participant information sheets and consent forms, along with attending meetings and presenting to the stakeholders of my project. Finding it hard to motivate myself to write, as I'm still trying to determine the exact focus of my study (I've determined the methodology and most of the methods, but still need a sampling framework).

Essentially what I'm getting at is that you've written far more than me! my study is what I'd call social sciences based. Must admit I also have worries about writing, particularly writing journal articles.