Hi,

I am in the same boat with pixie... I just started the 4th year and I have bits and pieces written here and there, and some more analysis to do. I am very inventive when it comes to avoiding writing my PhD. Next week it will be a paper I need to finish. This week it was a consultancy report. Last week it was teaching responsibilities. The week before that it was a conference and applications for funding. It never ends.

I still have money until the beginning of the summer, but my supervisor is getting really annoyed with me. He set a deadline that I need to hand in a first draft, and he said I am doomed if I don't meet the deadline. So now I am really stressed, and have to give up on the idea of publishing the final part of my PhD. (I use publications as the number one distraction from PhD itself).

Deep down inside I know that we should finish as soon as possible and move on with our lives. But what if there is no prospect of a job? I delay graduation to postpone unemployment. My supervisor says that time you took to complete PhD also plays a role in employment opportunities, and he knows better. But publications and teaching experience also count and there is only so much we can do in these 3 to 4 years.

Hi hella13,

in the first few months of the PhD try to get yourself familiar with the literature. Make sure you keep good notes. Try to attend some seminars to improve your skills, like writing, statistics etc.
At the end of the first year, you are expected to:

1; know what you are doing (overall aims and objectives),
2. why (where is the gap) and
3. how ( a good methodology).
4. Some supervisors expect to have conducted a pilot study, and have some preliminary results, understand shortcomings of the methodology etc.

Those are all requirements for the upgrade report in my Uni. Finally, you should start the ethical approval procedure if necessary around mid-summer.

"it was finished but I could have done better"

The best PhD is the finished one :)

Hi enzyme,

it is quite common for PhD students to feel they are "being not good enough". Just type "impostor syndrome" :)

I hope you feel better soon and overcome these feelings of inadequacy that hold you back. Recognising a problem is the first step to solve it.

Good luck :)

Hi toneitup,

When I started the PhD and found that I cannot concentrate, I used this trick that works for me.

So, I start writing for 30 minutes non stop (with a timer). So, because you HAVE to write something, you start writing what is in your mind. Writing my problems, frees my mind (is like opening a little drawer and putting them there). So after I am done writing all my personal issues, I move on to the PhD, writing everything I know about the topic, and what are the main aims, and how I will achieve them. It is very entertaining to read these old notes, as you can actually see your PhD growing claws and wings and teeth :). Especially in the first year, it feels like you haven't made any progress at all, because this refinement of ideas is a very natural process.

Hi lemonjuice!

I am sorry you feel this way.

I started with my fieldwork during the second year of my PhD, and although my project was developing great, I also burned out. The triggers were the same as yours: first of all I was recruiting participants and I had a very low response rate from a particular group, and I was feeling hopeless because there is only so much you can do. I was also feeling extremely guilty for lost data (which now I know it is fine, it happens). I was also very very tired from the fieldwork itself, and I was sleep deprived. (Sleep deprivation makes me a ticking bomb).

It was around Christmas, so I locked myself in the house just lying in bed for a while. My supervisor noticed my changed mood and he was very worried (although he was a bit guilty because he was criticizing me of not putting enough effort). One thing that I did during that Christmas was to write a conference paper, which cheered me up a little bit (it is an achievement that normally requires little effort).

Now, that I look back, of course it was not worth it! First of all, the responses of this group are not even that important, and my PhD is fine without it. If I could give an advice to my past self, it would be to think how I would analyse my data. Which brings me to the second burn-out.... Beginning of the third year, finally cleared all my data and organised them nicely, but had no idea how to analyse them.... I asked help from five different statisticians until I found someone who could actually help.

For example, I ended up using multilevel modelling. This is a statistical approach to deal with nested objects (such as children in classrooms or patients in hospitals). In this approach, number of classrooms or number of hospitals is FAR more important than nested objects (number of children or number of patients). If only I knew that back then....

I also help the other students as much as I can, proof-reading their work, helping them with statistics, suggesting methods, sending papers etc. but there are some students that they are beyond help.

Hi Mr_ammar,

Here is a forum that we support each other; however, I find it arrogant to say that your supervisor doesn't know what he is doing. You have to consider that he is in the field for a while, so he has a very good idea of the general direction and the gaps of knowledge.

If I was in your place, I would follow my supervisor's direction (at least in the very beginning of the PhD). You also need to have a very strong knowledge of similar publications, limitations of different methodologies etc. Main while, try to keep detailed notes of what you read, and try to write in a daily basis. Universities offer graduate courses that can help you with academic writing, give you guidance on how to write a literature review, methodology etc. Effective writing comes with practice.

Hi there,

I work in a multidisciplinary project, so I ll say what I 've noticed (maybe not representative).... so, it came to my attention that one study on infectious disease costed so much money (they were doing DNA sequencing).

However, microbiology is definitely not dead, especially when you work with other disciplines like environmental health/ building science investigations. It is actually cutting edge (qPCR and ELISA for fungi and bacteria, allergens, fatty acids, plasticizes, MVOCs).

Anyway, what is important now is to see what you CAN do with the money and the lab you have.

You don't need to be affiliated to any University to publish.

In any case, if you have the viva now and manage to complete you corrections by April, then you will graduate on November 2014 (at least in my uni we have one ceremony per year).

You will have to find a first formal supervisor, as it is a requirement to have two supervisors to submit the thesis.

I had a similar situation with my second supervisor moving to the other end of the world around the time I started. A member of staff in the department was kind enough to be my second supervisor in paper, so that I could upgrade from MPhil to PhD. My second supervisor still has a lot of input by providing feedback for the publications, but he is not around for everyday stuff (such as discussing ideas). Moreover, I am aware that if he doesn't want to contribute, I can't put any pressure on him like I would do with the on-site supervisor (interrupt an important meeting with senior academics and start crying because he didn't read my paper).

"(I didn't, if I'm going to the trouble of wearing it, damnit I'm wearing it)"

Ahahahaha !!!

Well done! Massive congratulations! :)

Hi happyclappy,

patseya gave you an excellent reply.

I just wanted to add my personal experience which is the opposite from yours....I spent third year mostly writing papers, so I ve made very little progress in the PhD write-up. Now I am entering fourth year and I am not even half way in writing, editing and formatting the monster. We can only do so much in one year...

Hope you find some time after you submit the first draft to publish.

Yeah, I did the same as TreeofLife. I dropped a generic email to let them know that they are my referees for various jobs I am applying, but lucky for them, I was not even shortlisted for an interview!

You should focus on getting yourself better. Applying for jobs is a massive stressor, especially in combination with writing up. Good luck!

Hi marasp,

I am really sorry to hear about your troubles...
I also had a similar experience a few years back. I overworked myself: didn't sleep or eat properly; many days I was feeling exhausted but I would just force myself to go to work. I was admitted in the hospital for a week because of persistent fever, abnormal blood tests and very very low blood pressure. They didn't manage to find out what is wrong with me, and finally I was discharged. It took me a long time to recover, as I was feeling weak for months after that. During my recovery, I was also very depressed and isolated myself from friends and my partner at the time.

Having this experience, I realised that the way I was working was not sustainable. As BilboBaggins says, you need to find a way of working that doesn't endanger your health if you plan to stay to academia. There are simple things you can do to improve your quality of life, such as not working one day per week, working 9 to 5, and giving yourself plenty of time to wind down before going to bed. (and of course exercising and eating properly).

Please, go back to the hospital and have a complete health check up, as it might be something more serious.