Does anyone else find themselves clenching their fists in rage when people who have 9-5s and don't have much idea of what research involves accuse you of not doing any work/much work/as much work as them? Or that conferences are just paid holidays?

It drives me apoplectic with rage for several reasons

Given that I have worked a 9-5 (Only for a year admittedly) and got my first in my undergraduate degree through sheer hard work, I knew very well what represents 'hard work' and what doesn't.

I make a great deal of effort to ensure that I don't get lazy and fall behind, ie I make sure that I try to achieve something with each day in the office not just online or chatting etc and evaluate my progress regularly.

My advice is use Google scholar, you can see which papers have cited another particular paper. So you could put in the references you have and see which more current papers have also used them.

Good luck!

Keeha, I too am nearing 12 months of PhD study. A recent peak has become a trough after my supervisor suggested that my transfer report be postponed by a few months so I can do more reading.

However from talking to other PhD's and reading other posts here it is obvious that this is the norm and that people feel intimidated by the breadth and depth of knowledge of others.

I also found that looking back through all the notes I have taken and reading I have done that I have learnt an awful lot since I started and I am sure the same applies to you.

I am slowly beginning to realise just how emotional these 3 years are going to be...