Keep in there people!
If you are completing your PhD without any hassles, fair dues - you have our jealous respect :p

Forget about PhD's and their ilk for a few days and enjoy the weekend. If not and stuck in the lab/office, listen to some Russian Circles or Steve von Till on Jango.com ... music is really one of the ways that I use to remind me of that its not all about papers and chapters \m/

We really should set up a music or interests forum ... surely something which promotes how we all remain someway positive would be beneficial. From Squirrell Baiting to New Shoe Acquistions ... it all counts!

Pineapple
Were we seperated at birth? In an exactly identical situation!!!
Really disillusioned y'day and was really tempted to get ballistically plastered, but a clear head today and while still in the fire, decided to turn it around, even at this late stage! Could have spent today moaning and face-booking/youtubing but just sat down, wrote up a plan to get a pivotal paper (my first - yikes!!!!) out the gap. I always thought I needed my supervisors approval but you know what ... its our work and if we have to pi$$ off a few people, so what! They are paid enough and its not as if half of them give a toss!

Had a meeting yesterday and after the supervisor said "what would you do if you had to quit?" I bluntly told him "There is f**k all out there!". We are like Vikings who have burnt the ships on the shore ... so I think its about time that we fought like people with nothing to lose. Sorry for the analogy and rant, but really feel like getting a battle axe at times :-s That said, started looking up some alternatives ... always good to have the escape raft.

One question that always perplexes me though ... when (which we will) get our PhD's, will we turn into those supervisors from hell??? Is there a specific course for that or is it just a case that the academic world weeds out the conscientious people who basically forgot that we are basically on subsistence wages and not here for the fun of it!

Donzo,
Although it is a book on educational research methods, the following is a great book and well laid out and helps to justify your decision as to use whatever qualitative method (also has a good load of references).

Cohen, L., L. Manion, and K. Morrison, Research Methods in Education. 2000, London: Routledge.
The latest version is availble ... get your dept. to fork out as it is well worth the investment.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Research-Methods-Education-Louis-Cohen/dp/0415368782

There is one or two good tables to quickly allow you to decide what methodology to use. I don't know of the Saunders book myself. I used Case Study and the classic "Applications of Case Study Research" by Robert Yin.

Publishing during your PhD makes it easier to defend in the viva (that said, you could always get a disagreeable SoaB as an external who will pick holes in everybody's work but their own).
7 months in! I would look at maybe doing a conference at the year mark to get a general feeling for whats out there and to focus your research (generally conference papers are easier ... note I said easier, not easy). As it gets clearer about the 1-2 year mark, then look @ publishing a paper as a Research in Progress. Then closer to finishing, maybe publish a second with your results. Other people would disagree, but hey, thats the purpose of a forum.
The whole area of publishing work would even demand maybe a week or so of research in itself (what journal, what is the style, reading up on writing itself). Pays to get a bit of help on board ... if people you know are working in the same area are approachable, collaborate (some people actually do share their research).
Good to see that you are thinking along that lines this early but give yourself time to become an "expert" in your field.
One bit of advice - get the references in order now as will need to look back thro' them when publishing.

Enjoy the heady days of first year ... if only I had a De Lorean and some uranium 8-)

Eska - Take it to your Tech admin crew ... they should sort it in 20 mins. Try not to touch anything registry-wise yourself.

I think you are forgetting one main point - what happens in the viva and the external asks "What did you mean when you said such and such?". It is your work you are defending and only you know how it is structured and then how to defend it. The procedure your supervisor is suggesting means you having to explain what you did and then her explaining back to you what she meant when she stated certain things in the final document - impossible and just waiting for a slip up to happen.
I thought everyone in an ideal PhD would submit work periodically, have constructive criticism given back with some understanding of the works relevance. Instead, it is the total opposite ... work dismissed on ten seconds reading and back tracking of previous advice.
Check out what the situation is with other PhD students in your group and if this is not the norm, make pro-active measures to improve the writing style. That may mean other people rather than your supervisor reading your work thoroughly.

Came in today after spending the last few days off sick ... not a good idea! Still not 100% and falling asleep at the desk listening to Steve von Till's "A Grave is a Grim Horse" (some upbeat Friday stuff ;-)

Main point is that at times ya have to just say "F**k it!" and walk away ... but to make sure its not every time

Have a good weekend people

Bulbs - Two or three ways of doing it, but quickly
1. If using latest version of EndNote (X2), you can actually create groups (either manually or dynamically i.e. using specific keyword searches ... something akin to using SQL in a database). This allows you to create groups but still have the option of having the same record as part of another group. But beware - if updating to X2 it has been known to cause problems so please backup your ref. library on at least one external location i.e. store the relevant .enl library on a USB stick or post it to your own email account. The main problem with updating from an older version of EN is that you have to delete ALL traces of the older software
2. If you have a ref. type you know you will not use, you could modify one of the field names to become an "Area" field and then you could use this to label the record. Then you can sort the entire record using this.

Long story short is that it is possible and is worth taking a few hours to sort (saves you months later). I am sorry for the meandering but am still under the weather. If you wish for more details, have no hassles contacting me. Not really in favour of having different libraries for different sections as gets messy.

Also and possibly ironically, there is a forum on the Thompson website for EN users. http://forums.thomsonscientific.com/ts/board?board.id=en-general

Lastly, remember to backup your EN library regularly ... in updating to X2 last week, I nearly lost the whole lot :-s

I think the other respondents have the right idea - you have to let the person know that you will consider co-authorship (and as it is his work being the basis of it, there would be a good case for him to be primary author ... again, you'd have to balance that up versus not getting the data at all). Get your supervisor on board and quite possibly have a well-written plan as to how you will use this information and why it is then publishable (giving possible journals and previous similar papers) . Pass this by your supervisor, who should then contact the other person with suggested journals (obviously DON'T give out all of the results and ffs, keep it documented). Have heard of cases of research stolen on basis of conversations, so even an informal document can act as your Proof of concept. Main thing is get your supervisor to ask as it would look a whole load better (could always prepare the stuff and then CC him/her).

Worst case is that the other person says no, publishes his work and then you use that paper as the basis for yours, either developing or disproving the earlier one.

Papers to be rewritten and a new area of investigation to be done (why oh why did I say the revision would be ready for next Tuesday???). Thank God for some Neurosis to get me thro' ... think the vid of Locust Star is indicative of our collective plights . Taking tonight and tomorrow off.

Happy weekend anyways and good luck to anyone on the finishing straight. 8-)

KL - the doubt is with the territory,I'm afraid. It will push you to questioning not just your ability to do the PhD, but also your capabilities as a person. Main thing is to remember is that you are learning and that all the answers won't come at once and as another respondent said, progress ain't linear. As for the doubt, look about your office - is there anyone there that is uber-brainiac i.e. whats the difference between them and you? That said, why don't you ask these people (especially those near finishing) what it takes - each uni will have its own quirks and "rules of survivial" :p

You are still in your first year (and a good time to go in that first year). Give yourself until the end of that year to at least get the area honed down, not entirely, but to a point where the main topics are identified.

If I make a suggestion, which might already be suggested. Why not make the writing of a paper detailing the main literature findings in your area as a goal for the end of the first year? It will give you a quick insight to the workings of journals and paper writing. If not for a journal, for a conference. Make sure you tell your supervisor this - it will certainly grab his attention as he will want his name on the paper and will also show you are making progress. This will also serve as being one-two chapters of your finished thesis (ok, with revisions).

Two words KL - GET WRITING!!! It doesn't care - summarise the points of main papers into reports with your own thoughts. Chances are is that you have read some stuff that will give you an idea, but being human, you then said "I'll remember that when I need it". If you have EndNote, I would suggest getting a summary report of that and briefly look thro' the papers again. If needed, do a report on Methodology - it may not be directly related to your field of research but it will help to clarify it for you and will make up some bit of the actual finished thesis.

You will be fine - just clarify what is needed. Lastly, I would try to meet with your supervisor ASAP just to even sit down and spill out these reservations and what he expects from you. It is better now than two years down the line.

"Elements of Style" by Strunk & White. Small, concise and more importantly, dirt cheap:p ! Went to a writing course a few weeks back and the presenter didn't like "Eats, shoots and leaves" one bit, but it is subjective. I am sticking with "EoS" as it is short and to the point.
Also, for writing technical papers "Fourteen steps to a clearly written technical paper" by Comptom is a good and short paper. Using this and a few more papers in conjunction with EoS.
I do think that you need to assign time to this process (which, of course, won't matter cr*p to your supervisor). Sad but true!

Lads and ladies,
If you have any advice on this, it would be appreciated.
Basically, I have given myself a tight deadline, but need to (6 weeks) to get the first draft of a first journal paper together. It is important for various reasons (behind schedule and more importantly, to get s'visor onside - kind of a last chance). Without wasting your time, a quick summation of the paper is ...

An examination of SME (small company's) attitude and capability to collaborate in projects (selecting potential partners and management of projects). This followed a case study of several small companies in a specific region, assessing several areas
> Threats & opp's facing SME's (To give some context)
> Attitude towards supply chain coll (benefits, barriers, elements needed for improved coll.)
> IT capabilities, experience of coll. tools, perceived needs of IT to enable coll.
The case study work was exploratory, it will form the basis of future work. There is a cross-over between the areas of Operations Research, computing and commerce, but basic question is do any of ye have an opinion of possible journals to submit this to? I am sorry for the lack of detail and if any more is needed, I can send a PM. I do know of the use of Impact Factors and that, but ANY advice from people in the same neck of the woods would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Bonzo

Dazed,
Good to hear that we have been some help, but please get things sorted for yourself. I know reaming off quotes is cornier than the Green Giant but I think a few Mark Twain quotes are apt to a few of the issues you mentioned... you can apply them as you see fit ...

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.”

“The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.”

“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

And finally, this one is for all of us!
“It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.”8-)

Blackbyrd - been there, got the t-shirt! You're not alone in feeling like this and it is not restricted to 2nd year. I am not trying to bring ya down, but it's just how you adapt an attitude of "F**k them! I am getting my PhD!" sooner rather than later. But that said, make sure you can do this without losing the fact that your PhD is only an means to an end - not to bring about a mean end! Don't let it get on top of ya and if you feel it is, don't give up and DO NOT suffer in silence!

I am certain that if you actually sat down and actually went thro' what you have done already, it is pretty sizeable. You are probably feeling about 2 inches off the ground after each meeting, which usually descends into farcical criticism from your supervisor (who probably uses the same lines as the last meeting).

Worst case scenario is that you go to your supervisor and demand he speaks to you and start setting up proper meetings. This will mean more work from you, but isn't that why you are in the PhD. Force the issue! Ask yourself a few questions!
1. Did your supervisor interview/look for you to do a specific project?
2. Was this project outlined at the outset of the project?
3. Was this agreed between all partners?
4. Are you experienced and organised (surely shown in your CV)?
5. Have you produced some work, even as insignificant as you may think?
6. Has there been an agreed protocol as regards meetings (frequency, taking of minutes, etc.,)
7. Was there an agreed list of reports due at specific points?
8. Were you an expert in this area before you started i.e. I thought the whole purpose of a PhD was to learn, so therefore you shouldn't know everything!

If you can answer a few of these without the blame falling on you, what do you have to worry about? I went thro' similar and am still in a bit of trouble but can see a way to get it done (but MY WAY!) and it was exactly at the same age that I had the same thoughts. I am now into my 3rd year (its gonna take 4-4.5 years) and have realised that why the f**k should I be groveling - it should be the other way! We are giving our time! Maybe its time to actually air your concerns to the supervisor, but in a manner that will be constructive i.e. state that maybe there is a need to focus your research and you would appreciate their help.

End of the day, your supervisor is actually financially and otherwise profiting from your research ... make them work for it! So what if he/she gets pissed off for five minutes ... I am still sure they will still put their name on any paper that comes out of your research as a result of the restructuring!

Sorry for the rambling nature of the mail - feel free to use this forum (or your friends at the college) to air your grievances. You are not alone and if you feel that you are inadequate, you are joking yourself!