yeah, it's looking like around 10,000 according to the powers that be. Unless I was proposing a whole new way of doing things, in which case it would need to be more. As it is, I'm using established methods within an existing theoretical framework, so one chapter, 10,000.

*Finally* started getting this down. Way later than I'd intended. 1500 words so far, how many am I looking at for a social sciences subject?

Similar to Jayney but without the responsive email! I've mentioned his on another thread - I relish the independence, but would welcome a bit morte interest in his/their part. Having said that, I'm happy with my once every two months meetings. Weekly? Wouldn't know what to say!

Mine are terrible at getting back to me. When we actually meet (not very often), it's always very useful and they are very focused, but in between, I doubt they give me a second thought.

I've been thinking about this recently. I like being independent and would hate someone checking up on me, but every now and then it would be nice to get a 'have you seen this article?' or 'interesting conference?' email.

I use Zoom H2. No problems so far.

Definitely each to their own - what works for some will not work for others.

The thing I've found really useful is keeping a blog containing notes and comments on everything I read. The thinking is, if it's public, I have to make them make sense, therefore, I have to really understand the article. Again, this is personal for me. I know that if I rely on notes in a notebook, I'll end up with some scrawled ideas that will not make sense later on. A blog is also a good way of enabling searching through notes.

Works for me anyway.

This all sounds quite healthy. Totally agree about those who are 'at work' but not 'working'. No problem with that at all, each to their own, but it can't be seen as x hours a week. These days, with so much other stuff going on (3 young kids, teaching, freelance work etc) when I work, I really do work. Same as you Rosy - a few focussed hours are worth a day to me. In fact, the time when I am most likely to get something done is 10-12 at night, when the house is unusually quiet!

I still maintain that the thinking part is an important element though, as long as you make a note if the ideas when you get out of the shower!

Continued....

I'm rambling. I guess I was just interested in starting a thread for those people who still feel they are doing well, without putting endless hours in. And if you are one of them, is it the case that you too spend a lot of other time thinking about your project? I'd also be interested in the subjects aswell. I'm in the social sciences side of Linguistics.

I continue to be intrigued by the variety of what people on here seem to think of as a reasonable workload for a PhD. Is it just that there is a massive difference between the disciplines in terms of what's required? I've worried from the beginning that I'm not doing enough, thinking that any day I'm going to realise what I've been missing and I'm going to start these 50 hour weeks and no holidays that people talk about. But 6 months in, and no sign. Everyone seems to think I'm making good progress, I know I do. I think I'm about where I should be. But I don't put that many hours in really, certainly not consistently. I do a lot of teaching, so that takes up time, and I do some web design. This is where I think the discipline may be an issue - I'm not in natural sciences, so I don't spend all day in a lab, most of my time is spent reading at the moment, with a bit of data collection and writing presentations. But I suppose I am thinking about my PhD *a lot*, when I'm doing other things.
.....

Good advice, thanks.
:)

There are two postgrad conferences coming up in my field only days apart. I'd like to be involved in both, but is it a problem submitting the same abstract to both? They are about 150 miles apart.

Thanks

You've hit the nail on the head Olivia. So much of this is self perpetuating. Sometimes it gets to me, but other times I just enjoy starting to be a part of this bizarre little world. I guess it depends what area you are in, as I;m sure a lot of papers in some subjects have relevance to the 'real' world. But if you look through a typical list of papers at a conference in a lot of areas (mine included) you'd struggle to find anything of value outside.

But as Chris says, don't question it! If *they* find out what's going on we;ll all have to work in banks or something!

sometimes when I walk the streets at night

Funding problems?

I do think there's a lot to be said for other demands on your time. It means that when you do have a few hours to devote to the PhD you make them count. I am incredibly good at titting about when I should be working when I have loads of time to do something, but the pressure of not much time seems to help.

So far anyway!

You watch, in six months I'll be giving you all the details of my mental breakdown.

I lurk here quite a lot reading various peoples experiences, with a general sense that I am not getting enough done! I was dying to comment on the thread about how many hours people put in, but when I worked it out it just made me worry more. I do a lot of teaching, and this takes up more time that should (I do love teaching though).

Anyway, I had my first panel review meeting yesterday, and all three were very impressed with the progress I'm making and very positive about the direction of my research! So I must be doing something right after all.

Just thought I'd share that with everyone. I guess I'm trying to make the point that a few (sometimes very few) focused hours work just as well as a lot of unfocused ones.