Part of the problem might be that the post doc IS new, they may still be in student mode and unable to let go of anything. You must ask them both, together or separately, when you will be getting your own little bit of the project, and what this is likely to be. You could say that you understand that your ideas so far have been taken over by them, perhaps because they can get the results more quickly, but now you have gained some experience in the area you really feel that you need to get on with something more substantial. If it is an area you are interested in, don't give up, there is probably a lot of other things you can be doing at the moment that you will find harder to fit in later, so treat it as anopportunity to get some basic groundwork in place so you have a suitable platform ready for when you have a bigger part in the work.

Luckily the people here on the scheme are not doing this, otherwise the guy who came to ask if, as the pupils had seen the action of sodium with water, he could have some acid as he wanted them to see the action with that (not a chance wasn't my exact phrase, but amounted to the same thing)might have decided to do it without asking on the princple he was researching how to extend their knowledge

I received a copy of a journal today, and I just want to check something. The article is about science education research, and in it the person talks about teacher training(this is in a journal about science education) and suggests that those people on teacher training courses should be taking some modules at M level- fair enough - but the implication is that they should be doing research into science education whilst they are still learning the 'how to teach' bit. Now my query is, can they do this? do you need a basic knowledge about a subject before you can make innovations, I'm assuming that they intend to do some kind of action research which appears popular in this area at the moment, so how could you do this without having a solid grounding in current teaching in the area, you might just be 'reinventing the wheel' Any comments would be welcome because I think I may be arguing that this is going to cause a lot of problems in all subjects, but especially science.

My point is you never know what will happen, but you must look right into your heart and decide if you really want to go or if you are really crying out for someone to understand what you are going through. On this forum I guess we probably know a bit of it, especially those who are nearer the end - lucky things- which is probably one of the best aspects and they can help, even if it only to act as a sounding board for your thoughts,but so can your uni if they have good welfare services, so can your fellow students, if they are nice, and if not I bet there are some nice ones around - do you have a phone in helpline as at my uni? You could try something like the samaritans if you have some thing similar (I'm assuming here that you are not in the UK).

It sounds to me though everything is just too much. you need to stand back and give yourself a bit of a break. Can you give yourself a break? I suppose that depends a bit on your subject, so that may not be an option. however whatever you do must be your decision and although others can give advice, in the end it is yours alone. I decided to quit a course once, and family persuaded me to stay on a bit longer, and I did and it was rubbish i should have taken my own advice. I left after two years and the course was for three(but on the other hand if I had left after year 1 then my life would have been so different, and I kinda like the way most of it has worked out but on the other hand it might have been good anyway.

i expect its cos he started at the bottom and perhaps he has been given a bit of a hard time from similar people in the past, he may delight in the fact that these people who seem to have egos the size of mountains have to call him 'sir' and fail at tasks that people lower down the ladder could probably do standing on their heads. I think every one of them is out for themselves so they will never work properly as a team, if small groups were fired in one go it might concentrate their minds.

Wouldn't mind Mr, sorry SIR Alan as my super, but not sure about the otehr two

Once you have done a few, you will be able to see who has done the work, and who has been to the library the day before and dashed something off. (I used to work on the enquiry desk in the library on Saturdays, providing help especially for students who could not get in to see their academic librarian during the week, and the number of students who came in on Saturday afternoon wanting help with an essay due in on Monday morning was astounding, some third year students didn't know how to do a journal search, or sometimes even a book search, so I have no idea how they managed to get that far)One of the things I find most difficult is getting past the awful spelling and the tendency to write as though it was a letter to a friend rather than an academic piece of work.

My supervisor has been AWOL for a few months, but is now back on the scene,it isn't a good time of year for them what with loads of marking etc. at least that is his excuse and I believe him. He is also very active in the area and in demand and trying to get some writing done as well, so I'm just waiting my turn really. What area are you researching? If you need lots of imput from your super, then you need to perhaps be more specific, like 'I'm now looking at X and I would appreciate your help in locating the main sources, I think they are A, B, and C is this the right way to go?' Even if he is abroad, he can answer an e-mail, if he doesn't, tell someone. Of course if its lab based that's not a lot of help, I would try confiding in someone else. It is also in their interest
to get things right. Don't give up
too soon, you have invested in it already, just try to pinpoint why you are not happy, and have a go at sorting it out.

Well, at least I guess we might not come up with a bid of £5000 to do a bit of laundry , but then again, perhaps we would be inclined to write an essay on it, and who would be the supervisor

I can't see how anyone can get by in business these days and not be able to work a computer - unless of course one gets one's minions to do that. They all seem a bit lacking in basic skills though, so I don't really see why they had these high flying jobs before coming on the programme

Do you have the chance to take time out? At this uni we can defer for a while, and if you get to the stage that you feel you can't do it any more,perhaps what you needs is a bit of a break with no pressure to keep going. The whole process isn't like it used to be,my suervisor took a several years break in the middle of his and then ended up writing something totally different to what he set out to write, in those days you just signed up, did the work, any way you wanted by the sound of it, and then handed it in when you thought it was done. Now with all these targets for the uni to meet it is much more rigid and there is more hand-holding and therefore more interference in a way, and more need to keep going witohut a break. If you can get one, go for a break, tell your parents you need to do extensive philosophical appraisal of the subject and can only do it away from the uni to avoid inter-research contamination of your ideas.. Then go back with renewed vigour

If you took the offer thinking at the outset that it was a second best alternative and not something you really wanted to do, - was that the way you thought of it -, then maybe you should have waited for the right opening to appear, because someone else might have really wanted it.

If the subject is way away from your desired area, then going may be an option. If it is related, then if it started well you may just be in a bit of a slump period? If your supervisor is in demand round the world, then that just has to be lived with, if they are good it is just a fact of life. You could try to make sure they stay on task when you are talking to them - mine goes off on a tangent all the time, but you never know when they will come up with a little snippet which is valuable. I suppose it depends what subject you are doing, if it is science based then I guess they have more control over what you do, but you can still be proactive and get on with stuff when they are not around. If they offer criticism, ask them what you need to do to improve what you have done?

Don't forget to ask the librarians, they may know where to look, and if they don't they may search with you, which will give you an idea of how you should be searching too. This could be important for your future research as if they are like the ones here they will try to get to know your area, where the best sources are, and may even send you notes about something they have found. Also, remember to read journal stuff around the periphery of your area too, as sometimes they will touch on your own stuff, or have references worth looking up.

Second supervisor is, I think basking in reflected glory of first supervisorand being sort of 'best mates' if you know what I mean, he doesn't really understand what I want to do - he was the one who made all the fuss about my initial proposal, so I'm looking upon him as a critical enemy at the moment. however if I really needed his help, and because of my subject that will come a bit later, I'm sure he would come up trumps, and if he didn't then I think I too would ask for someone with a bit more time, after all you are the customer.