Hmmm...I would like to think that it's because they enjoy it and want to encourage others into their field. But my skeptical side is saying more PhD students = more data = more publications and all the good stuff that comes with that! I think really most supervisors will take on anyone they can get the funding for- at the end of the day it will mean their reputation will grow through the extra work that is produced, so why not?! KB

I wouldn't worry too much about what you present being different to your abstract- so many conferences require the abstract a long way in advance so it is inevitable that things will change between then and now. Just acknowledge that it is 'work in progress' or that you are now addressing the limitations of it in your current research or something to that effect and you should be fine! Good luck with it! KB

Yeah, I think you guys are right...I will say something to him when I get the chance. I just don't want to look like I'm bitching about my primary supervisor and shit-stirring. To be honest, they have a bit of an interesting relationship anyway- that is no secret- he knows what she can be like so I think he will probably tell me not to worry about it. I should have been a bit clearer- she hasn't ever put only my name on emails she has written, she always puts hers as well. Even so, I don't like her adding my name to an email when I really don't agree with the sentiment, and I have previously had to go round apologising and making amends because she has been rude to people in the department. I just don't want to be associated with that sort of thing, it isn't nice and I hate bad feeling. Why can't she just keep it buttoned when she's in that sort of mood?!!! Thanks for the advice guys! KB

Arrrgh. My supervisor is generally great. She knows her stuff, she's very quick to mark work and give feedback, and she's genuinely a very nice person- most of the time. Yet when she gets stressed she can be so rude to people. She doesn't think twice about firing off a really impolite email to people who have annoyed her (it doesn't take much to annoy her) and whilst normally that isn't my problem, it becomes my problem when she sends off rude emails on my behalf or sticks my name at the bottom of them. This has happened a couple of times in relation to teaching (I am the TA for her module) because someone has refused to cooperate with her for whatever reason, and now she has sent a nasty email to my second supervisor because he took a couple of days to reply to an email of mine. I mentioned that I was waiting for a response form him, and she said she would email to see if he would reply to her quicker, but she sent him a really nasty email telling him off for not responding to me immediately, which was absolutely not what I had in mind. Now she's had a nasty email back from him and is blaming me for expecting him to reply straight away (which I didn't, and I wasn't complaining about it). I have had many a conversation with others where I have stuck up for my supervisor because she has a reputation as a bit of a dragon, which I feel is mostly undeserved, but sometimes I can see where everyone else is coming from....I just hate being dragged into it, I don't want a reputation like that!

Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have any advice? I feel like emailing my 2nd sup to apologise for this but something tells me I might be better just to keep out of it altogether....

Cheers people, KB

Hey Supersteff! I know it feels crappy to just miss out, especially when everyone expects so much of you. I did get a distinction, which I found out after I started my PhD, but to be honest it really wouldn't have mattered either way. For me, the only reason I wanted a distinction was to get onto a PhD, and I already had that before I found out my result. You have got your PhD, that's the most important thing, and when you finish that nobody will give a stuff about your MRes. It doesn't mean you're not capable of your PhD at all, I know lots of people doing PhDs who got a merit or a pass on their MSc who are doing brilliantly. I know it feels crappy now, but believe me, in a few months you will be so busy doing well at your PhD that you won't give it a second thought, and nor will anyone else. You've done brilliantly to get onto your PhD so try not to let this drag you down! Best wishes, KB

Haha! I don't think I have ever found another PhD that I would rather have done than my own, but I have certainly heard what others in the department are up to and thought that I could continue doing PhDs for the rest of my life, because I am so fascinated by what others are doing too. Sometimes I think I don't have enough hours in the day to do everything I would love to do, and wonder how easy it would be to move into a slightly different topic further down the line etc, in addition to continuing to work in my own field. I guess it's good to be inspired by what others are doing, and at the end of the day if you don't find your PhD to be the thing you want to spend the rest of your life doing then you can always shift to a different area once you are equipped with the research skills you need. But yeah, I guess there is always a case of grass is greener etc....KB

Couldn't agree more! To be fair, my students are quite good in class and tend to be reasonably polite, but they cannot seem to do anything without first consulting one of us by email. The last assignment we set them involved doing a lit review and by third year, we expected them to be able to do a lit search. We even showed them how to do a lit search in class. Yet we got emails asking us to write a step by step guide for them on how to find relevant literature and what to do once they had done the lit search (write the lit review perhaps?!) and all sorts of questions that we had already answered or were completely ridiculous. And we have to find all their readings for them and put them up on blackboard so that they don't have to go to the library and they don't have to use the library website to search for and download the journal articles (all of which they have access to) for themselves. Even better, my pal had to write her class a step-by-step guide to how to purchase the course textbook from Amazon.com! It made me laugh anyway, I only thought my lot were bad! KB

Hey guys,
Thanks all so much for all your advice and supportive comments. I will make a to-do list of all the things you guys have suggested to do to calm myself down before the next one and hope it will just get easier. It is really difficult to deal with because there is no logic behind the panic....I am not quite sure why I am getting so wound up and when I think of the worst case scenario, it's not really all that bad! I do get nervous about other things from time to time, but this was just off the scale. I am always well-prepared and had spent plenty of time ensuring that I knew the material well and was familiar with the video clips and discussion points so I wasn't scared that I didn't know my stuff. I suppose the more nervous I got the more I was stressing that I wouldn't be able to get my words out and that was just making things worse. Oh well, I shall persevere and in time I'm sure it will get better- for now I shall just be happy that I managed to get through it and also relieved that there are others out there who also feel like this! Thanks people! KB

I had my first interactive seminar today with 70 third year students, and my supervisor decided to come and watch (under the disguise of being there to 'offer support'!). I was a bit nervous anyway because I'm not so confident about standing up talking in front of so many people, and I don't have a lot of teaching experience with big groups like this one. But when I got there I was so nervous that I was just sitting at the front with my back to the students as my supervisor was explaining their next piece of coursework to them, actually fighting back the tears and thinking that I just wanted to walk out. I very nearly just ran out of the room. I couldn't even speak. Fortunately we had some technological issues with the room so were forced to take a break whilst it got sorted out, and I managed to calm myself down a bit. My supervisor realised I really wasn't good and offered to take over but I managed to drag myself through it and in the end it actually went okay, with a bit of input from her at times.

Does anyone else get this wound up? I mean I get nervous at other things now and again but not like this! I don't even know what I'm worried is going to happen, it's just like some physiological response that I can't control. My stomach is still in knots and I haven't even been able to eat my dinner! My supervisor is great but I feel pathetic and really stupid that she saw me like this :(

Does anyone have any advice for what might help? Please? I really want to be good at teaching and I think I could enjoy it but I'm struggling to get over this huge hurdle! It's beyond a normal level of nervousness!

Cheers guys, KB.

Hey guys! I got a distinction in my MSc a couple of years back, but it was a really hectic year trying to balance my research project with exams and coursework. I did have to sacrifice a lot of my personal time so that I could devote enough hours to my project, which was a great project but a lot more demanding time-wise than a lot of the projects my friends were doing. I also got a first in my BSc and would have been disappointed if I didn't get a distinction, but the people I knew who had firsts all got distinctions in the MSc, and a lot of people with 2.1s got distinctions in the MSc too, so with hard work it can be done. Even though it was the busiest year of my life, I don't regret giving it my all- whilst it isn't essential to get a distinction to get onto a PhD, if you are applying for your own funding then it might just give you the edge if you are in a competitive field. So don't burnout, but it's worth putting in as much time as you feasibly can I think. Best of luck, KB.

Hey! I have been advised to shoot for different journals with my PhD papers, just to show that your work is of interest to a broad readership really. The other thing is, a lot of people try to publish to journals where their supervisors or someone in the department happens to be an editor, so it might look a little strange/suspicious if you have all of your publications in the same journal, even if it is perfectly innocent! I guess when you have loads of publications in different journals then it matters less if you already have stuff published in that journal, but for the first few I would try to spread them around a bit. Although having said that, my supervisor did get two articles published side by side in one journal once, but they were kind of linked, so I guess that's different! Good luck! KB

Hey Emily! I have been told that publications are absolutely vital for your career, at least in my subject, but lots of people wait until they have finished their PhD to publish, and there is research showing that publishing as you go along adds another four months to your PhD on average. Getting your PhD is clearly the priority, but maybe you could start to think about publishing papers from it after you have submitted it, then at least you might have something on the way by the time you are being interviewed for jobs etc and by the time you have your viva. Good luck! KB

======= Date Modified 30 Oct 2009 13:13:40 =======
Sorry- I seem to have posted it several times and I can't get rid of it!! KB

Hey there! I have had very similar difficulties to you with my systematic literature review. I had to include both quantitative and qualitative studies, which were all based on vastly different concepts and models, and all with their own strengths and weaknesses to discuss. I think the main thing to think about is the structure, and how you can best structure it so that it is broken down into different sections which are headed accordingly. Maybe break it down into which set of development procedures you are talking about, and then within each of these sections to break it down further to the specific questionnaire, explaining the concepts as you introduce each one, followed by the critique. You could also have introduction and summary sections before and after each set of development procedures to ensure that the paper is structured in a logical way that is easy for the reader to follow. One thing that I had to do with mine was to limit the words that I spent explaining each model/concept. I had to do this to some extent so that the reader could understand the methodologies and results of the papers, but I tried to keep it quite brief and included references for if the reader wanted to read more about that particular concept/model. (I am actually now writing a second paper about the concepts/models in more depth!). And find a journal that will let you have a lengthy paper...mine was over 10,000 words excluding references and a huge table and it has been accepted for a journal which is specifically a review journal. Good luck with it :) KB

Good good, off you go then. I have a huge amount of experience with people who have survived the most severe of mental illnesses and gone on to be very successful, and these are some of the toughest cookies imaginable. These are the people who I have a huge amount of respect for. I have also witnessed many forms of ignorance along the way, and these are the people who I have no time for. There is no excuse for this sort of ignorance. This thread should be about supporting someone who clearly needs understanding and kindness, as most of us will do at some point in our lives. Let's stick to that, and quit the pointless debate when it is clearly over anyway. I hope you never have the misfortune to experience clinical depression, but I hope that if you do you will be offered support from people around you who treat you with kindness and respect. Best wishes all, KB.