The University of Leicester have distance MAs in museum and related studies so it might be worth checking re PhDs.

Can anyone recommend any literature on content analysis that would be suitable for my research. Because I do not have a complete data set I am looking at what methodology would be most objective. My results will be a chronological development of fashion items in art sources.

I'm revising my chapter plans and I was just wondering what people put in the introduction. Do you have a separate methodology chapter and a lit review chapter or do you include these in the introduction?

Joyce, I like the idea of a spreadsheet. I think I'll have a look at doing something like that tomorrow. I have been brainstorming with notes on paper and it worked really well - I have come up with my basic chapters and what I think will go in them (completely different to what I originally had)depending on what the results of data analysis are although I am hoping to find particular things.

I am meeting my supervisor on Monday and she wants a month by month writing plan linking in with my thesis but I'm not sure about timescale for anything so don't really know how to go about this. At the moment I feel like she wants all my chapters written by the end of the year - but I will still have a year to go after that. I have done chapter outlines but the later ones will definitely change but until I have analysed my data I don't know exactly what the content will be but she seems to think I should know this and be able to tell her when I will be writing them.
I've done my lit review and have a draft to work from, so I suppose I can give her an introduction chapter next, then I will be analysing the data so a results chapter, but after that it depends on the results as to which path I follow for the subsequent chapters although I have some idea of what to expect. Does this all make sense? If anyone has any advice on writing timescales half way through a PhD I'd be grateful.

Thanks for the replies. I have just looked at the PhD student handbook and my supervisor is asking for way more than the school requires for the review panel. The school suggests a chapter as a piece of written work and I wanted to do that for this panel but was told to do a case study instead. I can't win, I offered to produce a large piece of written work which would be part of the thesis but am now being criticised for not having written much! That's because I'm spending so long on all the other stuff!

I've just had a long e-mail from my supervisor saying she hasn't seen any real written work from me yet but then she is asking for so much extra stuff for my next review panel that I know I will be spending all my time doing that and not getting on with my research.
She wants a detailed timetable of everything I have done since the last review panel and how many hours I have spent on doing each thing; plus a detailed timetable of what I am going to be doing next right up to when I finish which is in a year and a half (though not as detailed for that bit); a full thesis plan with 800 words for each chapter with a bibliography for each chapter. I am also working on a case study which is not going to form a great part of my thesis. I just want to get on with my research and start writing chapters for the actual thesis, which is what she appears to be wanting me to do.
How much did people have written, and how polished was it half way through their PhD?

Just realised I shouldn't assume there is only one conference in Leeds this week!

Hi Jen, I'm in the same situation, but I am actually presenting at Leeds tomorrow. I may have the same thing as you but it's mainly my ears and I am almost deaf so I've no idea how my paper will go. I was due to go tonight but there is no point in me being there to listen to other talks as I can't hear a thing! It's very frustrating.
I'm part of a project team so I can't let them down.
By the way, I assume you are another Medievalist. What are you researching?

I am looking at medieval costume on funeral monuments. What are you researching?

Is anybody else in the same situation - I have so many peripheral (but important) things to do that I don't actually have time to get on with the actual research I want to do. I am writing a paper for a conference but I am also working on stuff for my next review panel.
I have to do a case study of an aspect of my research to present to the panel, but it's much more detailed than I will actually need for my thesis. I resent having to read up on this and do research which is not directly related to my main research. They also want me to do two pages for each chapter outline, which I think is a bit excessive. I resent having to work on all this extra stuff and feel that I can't get on with the analysis of my data and proper research until I have done all this extra stuff.

Just to say that I have presented my research for the first time at these three conferences I went to and was nervous, thinking everybody else was more confident and knowledgeable. But it went fine - even the one where I spilt tea on my laptop the night before and then got lost on the way to one conference turning up with five minutes to spare when I was first on! No time to be nervous. The main point is though that I met some great people, all in the same situation, had a really good time and now feel much more confident about my research and about presenting again. My next conference is the biggest medieval conference in Europe. This time last year I was terrified but now I am really looking forward to it so confidence does grow over time.

I don't know what discipline you are in but I am in arts/humanities and have been to three conferences very recently where I have had chance to chat with the other presenters. The reality seems to be quite different from the ideal. Most have been working on their papers the night before the conference so no-one really does much practice beforehand. The majority have scripts to read from but ad libbing and not reading directly from the script is common. People usually mention previous papers if relevant so there is an element of adding new material.
Almost all the papers at these conferences were fascinating and those that weren't as good were due to the presenter reading directly from the script and not even looking up. So I would say using a script is fine but make sure you engage with the audience as well.
An amusing anecdote or even jokes here and there are fine if you feel it is appropriate. Unless you are on first you can usually gauge this from other speakers.

You are based in Manchester? Yes? Where are you intending to go to for conferences.
As part of my research involved visiting small country churches down unadopted lanes in the middle of nowhere, even out of the way towns seem easy to get to now!

I was going to start a thread on health but I'll add to this one. For the past couple of months I have felt under the weather and every few weeks I get a sore throat and cough and feel yuk. It never develops into a cold or flu or anything. I find I can't get much work done and just want to sleep. I have been very busy with conferences and deadlines lately so I never seem to have a proper break. If I do have a day off I fill it with visits to friends, shopping etc so don't really rest. I feel that I am gradually building up stress and will make myself more ill if I don't do something. I have a holiday booked for September but until then it's flat out work. Does anybody else feel the same way and doean anybody have any advice.