Just to say I love my Phd, the topic yes, but the many ways in which the overal experience is helping me grow, identify what works with me, what does not, what I am good at, what I am not. It tests you, especially if you are jugggling multiple roles/things and somewhere along the road it makes you grow unbelievably.

The theory-to-'real' world link is up to you to find and sort. The kick that you can potentially get out of forging these sometimes difficult links, is awesome!

In one word, YES, I love my phd and I have to work to support myself over and above scholarships, and still there is nothing ekse I'd rather do now than this! :-)

Hi,

I feel it very necessary to now throw some positive notes in. Supervisory situations are usually average/neutral, and there are horror stories and delight stories around as well. Please consider if you would have quit your PhD had supervisory problems not emerged, i.e. were you or are you sick of the research itself?

Now is not a good time to answer this questions for now you shall, in all likelihood say Yes! I suggest, sitting down and listing down what you can indeed do, in taking your work forward, meeting the deadlines and emerging succesful in this, with or without overt supervisory support. (yes, many have done it, and I know many who meet their sups twice a year and go ahead to stick to it and do well).

Since he IS a difficult person, do not worry about what has happened with others, and could or could not happen with you. Set yourself targets, manage your own work, expect a bare minimum from him, and yes, pl realise that one person cannot determine your love for what you do , this way or that.

Meet with others in the programme, see what they are doing, see how they separate the thesis itself from the one supervising it (or obstructing it). Ask yourself how many of the problems you list above are things that have already happened with you, and how many are trends that you anticipate from what others have experienced.

Manage your research, it is your thing, it is your work. It will pay off. As you can see, there are many who have decided to leave and are happy with it, and you have heard their views.

Here are the views of a person who thinks a PhD is a very very trying and testing period and is essentially brilliant. The supervisory relationship is crucial but not all important eveb if it may seem so at times. And no, this is not an 'unreal' world and the 'real world' of 'work' out there more real than research.

i work in a department where research, industry and policy liaise at the highest of levels, and cannot for a moment accept this un/real distinction. having heard both sides, make your decision, and good luck!

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Perhaps in the sciences. a phd is meant to be one novel discovery of something, but in the social science, hardly! So, I do not quite share the view that a phd is 'some sort of ground breaking research leading to novel discoveries', it is in my mind, my very first piece of (guided) research, where I learn how to do a task that I will now do for the rest of my life, in the process spreading word about what I am doing, entering a network, learning the rules of academia and how to work within/without them.

technically, anyone can publish anything. However it is polite to kep your supervisors informed of what you are doing/about to do. I do not know about issues of intellectual property in a science phd, and questions of peoples names on papers, all I know is, if you think you have publishable work, it is best to inform im that you want to go ahead and give it a try.

Honestly, a science person will help you better than me, with this.... best wishes!

Mods,

creating a thread to get your attn immediately, althoughfor sure you will get to it soon anyway. A poster by the name of huanic has posted urls of all kinds of nasty things on many threads here. Completely repulsive!

Do pl feel free to delete this thread when done :-)

What? I think I am getting you wrong, for this seems so simple! Everyone quotes people, in journals and in books.... if it's a direct quote you put in page numbers...one would die if everyone was to seek permission from every person they directly quoted... imagine the sheer hassles it would involves, I cant even begin to think!!

But obviously i guess that is not what you mean,...if you intend using other people's data, reproduce their images etc, then of you are publishing a book you would need permission I think...

======= Date Modified 14 Sep 2009 20:27:14 =======
i am exactly where you are right now, and can tick all of what you've listed above, as it applies for my field of work. Plus am working on a 29 country pan European project and starting work on another one for I am regrettably having to earn money to pay living costs, on top of international tuition which is taken care of for this yr by a scholarshio which also needs deliverables... overwhelming yes, clearly...

right now I am tempted to attempt a list of the stuff that I need to do, but I am moving house tomorrow morning and am perched on a pile of garbage right now and feeling blueish.

So you are not alone. things will work out. dont worry, keep chin up and know you are not alone.

If this PhD was 5 mins away from your girlfriend's place back home, would you then have done it?

If yes, then do know that what you're feeling has nothing to do with not wanting a phD.... it's the other stuff...

if you had a lovely job, not in academia, and it was 500 miles away from your girlfriend, would you have happily taken it?

If no, again, it's not the academia/non academia issue that is the real problem here...

I thought these two are instrumental questions in this context and may help you sort out the tangled problems....

good luck!

Some stuff:

1. If you do not use punctuation marks in 6 lines of writing, it is near impossible to make sense of what you say. Please use fullstops?

2. A year off between masters and PhD is what many students take. They project assist somewhere, do something completely unrelated to their academic life, to build the bank balance, or simply take a year to contact potential supervisors and prepare an application. I take it you have done the first one of these above...which is fine. You are not by any means expected to have publications before applying for a phd, so that's not a concern.

3. What are you on the brink of quitting? Have you joined a PhD yet? A gap yr (which was spent on PA work?) is in no way going to prevent you from getting further work.

4. Finally, your message remains unclear on whether you are looking for a PhD for you say this on the one hand:

Eska, the protocol is this: even if a phd student present a nervously delivered, shaky paper, academics of any worth will always try to find something encouraging to say, if they intend saying anything at all. I have seen my supervisor and many others identify things to encourage/praise in the weakest of students.

And you gave a great paper, did an innovative thing, clearly drew praise from the academic public there... and this man has shown himself to be nothing but a problem. Just a problem.

And while I dont know what you did, a scholarly piece is always free to interpret other pieces, as long as that interpretation is justified. I wish I could tell this man, in response to his 'authors put things they don't mean'... that 'meaning' lies at the intersect of the reader and the text, it has long been proven that there is no singular meaning laded text waiting out there for us to take that one meaning and walk off.

If you interpreted and compared two texts as a scholarly reader and put forth that interpretation in an academically coherent fashion, many may dis/agree, that however does not invalidate the legitimacy of either the purpose or the usefulness of your endeavor.

Best, bug.

You are sad. But why did you come and spoil this lovely thread? WOuldnt your stupid ad have attracted more attention, albeit swear words with it, if you made a separate thread out of it???

Urrgh. You are so sad.

Hi

i dont think age is an issue. I will properly teach from next month, but did some last yr, and many were much older than me, most were a yr younger or near my age, and a few 2 yrs younger that's all..

it works fine, I have a rather strange mix of a personality: i am a very forward going, talkative, chirpy kind with a very serious, bespectacled, sometimes even unsmiling (!) academic self in parallel.... I am told I switch too fast...I dont quite know what the mix looks like... weird perhaps, but will know soon :-)

Hi

I get the feeling you've not quite answere Pample's question.... tell people your 'area' of interest, the historical periods of study, and so on.

The other concern you raise with job opportunities is another matter altogether....

Its 5 in the mornin.... and i am winnin..

Oh you are SO sad! So very sad!!