I think I've hit the PhD wall! I'm full-time but will probably need the full four years to finish. I'm just starting my third year which means I'm only half way through and still have two years to go. But I'm beginning to feel unmotivated (or is that demotivated) and can't think about all the work I have to do. I'm going to have to work full time in my fourth year and now I've started to get worried about that and whether I'll be able to find a job.
My supervisor has been great and is very encouraging abourt my work, but as I've said in previous posts the rest of my panel are pretty negative and I've been led to believe that they will let me get on with it and then they will seriously think about whether I can submit after these four years. With that cloud over my head I have started to think is it worth all the work I need to put in. If after four years I can't submit or fail if I do, I'll have wasted all that time. I won't be able to get the job in academia I want so will have to think about other areas of work, and I'm in my 40s so it's going to be difficult. I'm just tired all the time at the moment and when I have a lie in at the weekends I feel guilty for not working. I imagine doing a 'proper' job and having money and free time and at the moment it seems like a good idea.

I'm doing a very arts-based Phd but need to put some of my findings in graph form. I had a look at this kid's site but it looks too complicated already!! I will have a play around and see if I can work it out. So far I have been using Word as I really only need simple bar graphs to show information in a table in a different form.

Actually it's not too complicated but I have too much data as it only allows you 6 groups when I have more.

I don't intend to give anyone any extra help that isn't available to others. At the seminars I make it clear that people can e-mail me or ask questions in seminars re essay questions. If this girl does come to see me I still won't give her the answers but try to point her in the right direction to find them out for herself.

I've e-mailed her back and suggested she come to see me after the next seminar and we can discuss how I can help her if she needs more help as I took from her e-mail that I hadn't given her the help she required. I also said if she had an essay plan then I could look at that with her.

I think it is easy to forget that the leap from A levels to degree is quite difficult (like the leap from Masters to PhD!!!)

Thanks for all the replies, lots to think about there. I think one of the main problems is that more and more GTAs have to teach subjects which are out of their areas, so although I know enough to be able to take seminars, and know whether people are on the right lines for their essays, I can't recommend books as I just don't know the field well enough. The course I'm teaching has four sections, each on completely different topics in the general area, taught by four different lecturers. How are GTAs supposed to know all of this. Therefore I can only go from the course bibliography and suggest they do more research in the library to find additional works.
I don't really know what she wanted me to say as she was on the right lines and I told her so. Unfortunately I've only taught the class once so far so do not really know her as a student yet.
I think I may e-mail her again and ask if she has five minutes at the end of the seminar next week as it's easier to talk face to face and if she has an esay plan I could look at that.

I had an e-mail from a student asking for help with their essay. They asked if the books they were looking at would be relevant and what the direction of the essay question was. They also said they thought they should look at a particular area and was there a list of books on this.
I replied that I wasn't going to give them all the answers as part of studying at university was to learn to do your own research. I said they were on the right lines with the direction they were going in and they should use the library catalogue to find books and articles on this topic. I thought I was very fair with my answer but now I have just received this reply.

"I have done this already but thank you for the advice. I was merely asking for direction
as my tutor last semester was more than helpful in this area. I will remember not to do
so in future. Thankyou for your help, I understand that you are encouraging me to do my
own research."

Not sure how to take this! The tutor last year (who I know) may have been helpful but whenever I reply to questions about coursework I always try to be as helpful as possible without actually telling them what to write. I encourage them to find things out for themselves but would point out if they were going in the wrong direction.

I suppose I should just ignore this e-mail but I am annoyed by her tone.

Love the Calvin and Hobbes reference Avalon 68. I used to read them all the time.

I'm in humanities/arts. I don't write for the lowest common denominator now! My writing is very different to when I was a journalist but I think some of the comments made are valid. Yes, maybe it's too chatty. I've tried to back every argument up with relevant evidence. But I think perhaps it is the tone which is coming across as less academic rather than the actual content. So I think I need to tighten everything up so that there is no superfluous waffle.

One of the criticisms of my work is that my writing style isn't academic enough. I was a journalist for many years so I had to write for the lowest common denominator. My subject is really interesting and I enjoy writing which may mean I get carried away with my ideas and become less academic in style. But I don't really know how to change this. I hate reading work which is full of long obscure words and convoluted sentences and usually give up because I don't undestand the content. My supervisor says my work is well-written and easy to understand but that could be a nice way of saying it is too simplistic. I am booked on to an academic writing course soon but would appreciate any suggestions on how to improve academic style without becoming pretentious and difficult to read.

Thanks for the replies guys. There is someone whose opinion I respect who I have asked to read a chapter of my work, with my supervisor's approval, and even encouragement. I know she is very critical so I'm not looking for an easy option. She is on quite a few panels so I'm not sure she would have the time to join another one. However if I know I have the support of others then it might not be so difficult to deal with the one panel member when she is negative. As regards external examiners, my supervisor has said we need to get someone who is as far from this person in their outlook as possible! We both actually thought of someone who might be suitable who is a theorist in my general area, although not an expert on the historical period. But I'm arguing that we should use some theoretical ideas from this area and apply them to the historical period I'm looking at which no-one seems to have done. (I'm also trying to get into the mindset of the people of this period so trying to avoid the trap of just applying modern theory from a 20th/21st century perspective to a different period).

One of my panel members has no MA or PhD but has experience in her field of museum curating. However after two years my work has taken a theoretical path and I feel that although some of her advice has been useful, she is maybe not the best person to be having an input into my PhD assessment process as she has no prior experience of this. She has been very negative throughout all my panels, and I would say verging into bullying and harrasment at some points. I've stuck with it but I feel that she may jeopardise me being able to submit because what I am doing is not what she wants me to do or expects me to do or is from her perspective on the subject. She does seem to have her own agenda. Should I just put up with it or should I try to get someone with more experience of sitting on panels and working with PhD students. And how difficult or easy would this be - if anyone has had any experience of it.
I am aware that I may come across her in the future and she may have colleagues who I might want to work with so I have to decide how much my future career might be affected by me trying to get rid of her.

I'm pregnant, with a gestation period of three-four years. I've put on loads of weight, have cravings for junk food, and feel tired all the time.
I can't wait till I give birth to my little baby PhD!

Thanks Eska, I have PMd you.

I've just had my second year panel. I submitted a chapter and my supervisor (who is experienced) said it was good. She likes my ideas, she thinks I can produce a good PhD and I was feeling very positive about the whole thing. However the other panel members don't seem to get what I am doing and it appears to me that they want a completely different PhD which reflects their, dare I say it, outdated views on the subject. One even said there was no point in looking at particular artworks as they were all made in the same workshop so couldn't tell us anything new. I pointed out that what I was looking at was the individuality of parts of this evidence (monumental brasses) and trying to get into the minds of the people who commissioned them in the medieval period to find out about their choices on funeral monuments as there is obviously something there of interest.
I'm trying to bring in some theoretical ideas in relation to historical aspects but still bearing in mind the mindset of the medieval people I am looking at.
I don't want to sound big-headed but I think what I am doing is valid and I feel that apart from my supervisor the other panel members although experts in their field are scared of what I am doing. It's a common attitude in the area I am working in, which is why I am trying to advance it.
On the other hand maybe what I'm doing is just rubbish and I should stick to the tried and tested ideas and do what they would like my PhD to be - which I don't actually know!
I'm just fed up and don't know whether I can put myself through another year of working hard only for them to still not get it and recommend that I don't submit.