A humanities PhD in the UK will take, on average, between 3 and 4 years full time. I think that the chances of a supervisor agreeing that something is ready after 2 or 2 1/2 years are minimal - actually zero. Not only for £ reasons (the university will want their tuition money) but also it is impossible to start, research, write, and defend a thesis in the humanities within two and a half years. I do know of some humanities PhD students in history who have do it more or less exactly in three but they are unusual and had projects that were very well defined and had been well trod in existing secondary literature. They had it written and examined in 3 years exactly.

So block out your diary for 3 years if you're an optimist and 4 if you are a realist. If you give yourself a two and a half year deadline you would allow yourself no time for research dead ends, procrastination, illness, relationships, and other life events of problems. It can't be done.

I diasgree strongly with the idea that humanities methodologies lend themselves to finish in 3 years. There is endless scope for endless redrafts, the caprice of supervisors (even absent supervisors), methodological or source impasses, etc etc

Having moved around a lot as a child and teenager (father choose a career that required moving a lot and long hours for little fiscal reward, though with an excellent pension - which I fear I will never have, but I digress) and seen the effect that had on my parents happiness (and my own as a child) I am loathe to be fully mobile as an academic. It is no fun being an adult at 40 or 50 with a few friends scattered across the country who it has been hard to stay in contact with and no close friends in the city. Nor is it fun as a child to have to switch schools and locales every 3-4 years.

This can of course have its upsides, being in different cities for various degrees can be exciting and you get to see the world. I loved being able to live abroad and learn a new language with a fellowship for the last part of my PhD. But, I realised that the isolation from friends and partner made it difficult for me to imagine hopping between short term fellowships. I also noted that a lot of the international staff there that had gone their chasing jobs had made big sacrifices to be there: living 4,000 miles from partners and children - and I have never seen so lonely a bunch of people.

Far enough if this dsplacement was for long periods of time - one can settle in and get a house and make friends - but, no, contracts are so short term that I can well imagine spending 6 months in Slough, a year in Milton Keynes, six months unemployed, a year in Newcastle, a year searching for jobs, a year in Dorset, etc etc etc. This would send me insane. I want to be surrounded by friends and live in the same city as my boyfriend - but I know how unrealistic this is if I pursue an academic career. If there was the actual prospect of a long term job in a single city at the end it would be a more attractive thing (city hopping) because one would know it would be only temporary. But in this market I could imagine sacrificing everything for a few short term contracts and ending nowhere. The thing that puts me off really is the realisation that I could probably imagine city hopping in the UK since it is not impossible to remain in contact and see people often - and a long distance in the UK is not a major problem if it has a "end date" - BUT my field is so small that it requires international mobility.

Provided I pass my phd (please, please!) I have a period of temporary university teaching for the academic year 2010/11 in the same institution I am at now. I need this geographic stability for a bit. But it won't be financial stability really. I want to try and publish as much as I can now, I think I have another 1 paper and a book chapter left in me - "my contribution to knowledge" (vanity, I know!) and then I might think about something which is a bit more stable and long term.

:) Thanks. Yes, another set of huge corrections would be my end!

Redraft/edit the first half of my third chapter before temp job and after temp job tonight. (a few thousand words)

My motivation and steady work pattern has collapsed like a souffle!

I have a lot left to do but know that it is just about possible if I could summon up the motivation to do it! Even dreaming of the title doesn't do it since it doesn't mean as much as I thought it would do to me. Raking over new drafts, old drafts, and in between bits = argh!

I think I am just tired and exhausted by the whole thing. Just fed-up.

Must get down to it. I have two chapters I love and two that I hate. I am trying to even up the quality of the last two which I must spend this week on. Then next week will be raking over the introduction and conclusion again. Again. The third draft of the conclusion and still it does not feel like it is the "final" conclusion.

I trust and respect my supervisors but I just wish they had told me at what stage my work would get me a "pass" even with major corrections - rather then drown in a sea of endless drafts.

:-(

Thanks, yes I am pleased because it gives me extra hope that my thesis will pass when I submit!! I don't want to create a brussel sprout of a thesis! (sprout)

This is something I think a lot about and it often brings me to tears. I don't think I am in a position right now to judge if it was worth it. At this point in time with generally low esteem and low job prospects I would say no, it was not worth it. But I hope a decade from now I will be able to say it was worth it.

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A paper of mine was published this week and I got tonight an amazingly complimentary email from one of the peer-reviewers who had hitherto been annonymous. I'm really suprised and happy that they went out of their way to read it again and contact me after the fact :)

I had a little blush of happy embarassment in my own company! :$

Since it is too late to text the boyfriend or friends to tell them - I thought I would post it here. Yay.

Any other rays of light in the thesis dark out there? ...

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Having lived in Germany and a big fan of the German language I have to suggest Germany as a destination. You could go to Berlin for a while - visit Potsdam - and then head out across Germany taking in the sites in rural areas and major cities:Southern Germany is amazing and beautiful (fairytale castles and medieval towns). The train system is great.

Congratulations! Fantastic! :-)(up)

Thanks, yes - I am hoping that the deadline and the fear will enable me to buckle down. Starting with an early start tmrw...urm....today!

After dithering and dreading and procrtastinating for the past few weeks,I have been imposed a deadline by my sup. I have two weeks to hand-in the thesis.

:-(

Wally - this IS talented songwriting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HjT4SQKJI

Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson "Go Do"