Not to fear Jojo, bazzab is here! I failed my transfer a week ago. To make things worse, the issues I had to resolve were agreed upon in the viva but my supervisor is now asking me to start from scratch almost!!!! I dont know what to do. Take the points raised in viva on board or listen to my supervisor?

I have to re-submit transfer report. Im told I have to 'specify'. However, when I do start specifying, it seems my supervisor goes the other way. I had a meeting and he pretty much generalised over everything. Im worried these issues wont be resolved before I re-submit. It has just dawned on me that the advice given in one meeting is contradicted in the next and I am feeling totally confused now. Any thoughts guys?

I dont like endnote. Reason- cite while you write. It only inserts the author and year in BRACKETS. However, this is not what is always required. I.e. According to Jones (2005) etc. Any suggestion? Apart from the obvious.

To those of you who didn't know, I have had my transfer viva today. It wasn't appauling, and I had some positive comments, but I have not been upgraded and have been asked to submit a protocol that entails the recommendations made. In short, the scope of my study was to large and I dont have the resources to complete it in the time-span given. I have been advised to focus on one particular aspect and develop experiments to suit this.
So, Im a bit down because I worked hard for this but I wanted to ask if anyone else had a similar outcome at viva and how they have coped?

Cheers

Thanks both DanB and the coastman. You are certainly right Dan, I am a major worrier. And yes, it is at 10am monday morning. The truth is, I am working like a trojan to prepare myself and I feel if only I had an extra week I would nail it (always the case!!).

Cheers guys for comments.

I have around 40 hours before transfer viva. Can you give me some sterling words of wisdom as I am feeling very uncomfortable. My work isn;t the best and I feel i will be chased and heckled out of the meeting :-)

Packed your things away in boxes. Blimey you must have offended someone! I would leave now and drop the complaint. Academics stick together and for all the good the student union do in backing your corner, you face an almighty mismatch. However, I am but a humble man and you may see things differently. The way I look at it, you could be waiting months for this appeal without income etc. Not a good position to be in.
Good luck

Maria you cant possibly want to meet some1 from a forum? Please tell me you have a bit more sense than that and I am being slightly naive about this!

1- How did they go about failing you? I thought the least they would do is give you a three month period to correct the problems that were detected (not supervisor but regarding the work you completed).

2- It seems a very unfortunate situations but I agree strongly with the other comments made. You DO NOT have to stipulate in an interview (unless otherwise asked) that you have already commenced a PhD and it didnt work out. Even if it wasnt your fault, perspective supervisors would be worried about taking you on as a student if they knew you had a harassment complaint against your supervisor and an academic appeal against your termination. It wouldnt bode well for you.

Thanks guys for all the comments,

Incase any of you are wondering, the viva is on friday morning. To be perfectly honest, Im slightly disheartened because my transfer report was submitted over 2 months ago and Im only now having the viva!!!
Anyway, less of my moaning. I am going to work all hours until friday and see how things go. At one stage I was ready to throw the towel in, but having read your comments- what have I got to lose.
One thing I do want to mention is that my topic is both fashionable but very controversial so in my opinion, any work will add to the debate which is obviously a bonus. However, my angle goes away from my area (Science- hearing more specifically) to a different area (education) which is where the difficulty lies.

Cheers guys

Really appreciate all your comments

Hi Guys,

I appreciate your words of wisdom. Firstly, I agree that quiting is the easy option and I should fight for the PhD. However, the reason I do not have datum is not because certain experiments/methods have not worked.
To my mind there are two types of PhD. 1- Where the PhD question has already been developed and you carry out the laboratory work (In a very basic sense). 2- You are left to find your own avenue/niche.
My PhD is of the latter nature and I have found difficulty in takng the first step. For instance, I would like my first chapter of thesis too consist of the results of a series of questionnaires. The probelm I have is deciding on these etc. I am just taking too long. (supervisor thinks im 3 months over schedule (13 months into PhD).

Cheers guys

My transfer viva is looming. I am already 14 months in. No pilot study. No data. A vague idea of what I want to do. And supervisor has just said progress is unsatisfactory. Quit before being pushed?

H- My report has been divided into three sections- 1, Lit review of topic 2, Conceptual framework 3, Methodology.
Lit Rev is great. Conceptual framework is ok, could be better. Methodology is somewhat disjointed and not particularly specific (which is what Im worries about).

I will let you guys know how it went. Cheers

My transfer viva has been arranged for friday 17th of November (after submitting the report over two months ago!!!!). from your experience, what is expected from you with the report and viva? I have found an area that I would like to investigate because it is a controversial topic. I am hoping to take a different approach (which is where the originality will come in) but I have not pinned down the methods that will be used. I have a rough idea of what tests I want to use, is this enough?

I have no real set plan. It varies every day. I try and get an idea on what I want finished by the end of the week and just focus on these things. Strange I know.