Hi jade,


glad to hear this all. all of this sounds great but one warning my sup gave me: doing a phd is a very very relative and subjective process, You may also wish to note the home disciplines of the authors of these books themselves (even if their respondents and advisors are across disciplines).

Doing a phd in a government dept isnt the same as doing one in politics necessarily. So, while all of the advice is great, pl do also remember that this a process that will eventually weave itself out between u and your sup and be prepared to have to say goodbye to the idea or tip you thought was the most useful, but that turns out to be quite diff on ground

for instance, qualitative researchers often do not find much use for sampling intricacies. And vice versa for quant.

With that cautionary note, good luck with all the reading and am so glad to see you excited :)

Wowwww!! Already "a few!!" and you are just in your second year!!! that means you must have sent them in like what at the start of your 1st yr???? Thats AMAZING!

hey sneaks, thanks, yes it was for you. So you published your Masters work, which I presume was co authored with sup? And when did you submit your first piece, lets say an invited review perhaps? Or an article from pilot fieldwork?

hey sneaks, thanks, yes it was for you. So you published your Masters work, which I presume was co authored with sup? And when did you submit your first piece, lets say an invited review perhaps? Or an article from pilot fieldwork?

Interesting....and when did you work out a strategy? I mean by when? Also what field are you in, soc sci or humanities or science? and how many do you plan to have by the time you're done?

Did that, most are pretty cataloguish...if you get what I mean...:)

Was the email you sent this prof a generic one, or one where you'd researched their interests well and tailored it accordingly. If its the latter, your task is done, just have some points from all of this ready at hand.

If it was a generic email, now use some time to read up on this profs interests and why you would be a good fit for them, and then have some points ready.

The PhD you see is more a question of the 'fit' between two things, the sup and the student. If your topic is of interest to the sup, or dovetails really well with their work, there are some clear advantages. Not saying that other situations are bad, its just that this one is a good situation to be in.

Good luck and sorry for the brief response (down and out with fever!)

Ditto as stressed, every single point. though I have studies my Bsc in another continent LOl, and my first MA in another city and country and my MSc and PhD in the same place!
But yes, as Stressed says, my sup leading expert, great person, great facilitator, dept staff gr8, (fingers crosses) all gr8!

Wow!!! Your research does sound not only great but also shows a huge amount of discipline and commitment. I love ambitious projects!

And PS: I love the way everyone's started calling me Bug here! Its sooo sweeet :)

Hi Guys, especially those in their last/later laps of the Phd,

For those of you in the the social sciences, especially those who need to have a separate chapter for conceptual framework and review of literature (naturally with overlaps), here are a few questions:

1. For a 10,000 word lit review, roughly how many sources did you have? Not that this is a norm, its highly subjective I know, but I was wondering for an idea.

2. When did you first do a ful chapter length version of it? And when you did, did you know how you wanted to thematically organize it?

3. Finally, all of you from your different home disciplines, if you had to show one instance of good practice as it were, for a great literature review, one that is creatively themed, one that draws out the arguments between scholars rather well, one that is exciting, what would that be? Any favourites in books/chapters/journal articles? It would be great if you could put in that one favourite citation here, and those of us interested could look around this interdisciplinary pool and figure out stuff..

too much to ask before the festivities jingle their way in? yes? no?

Best, p'bug:-)

WOW! Dazedandconfused, I have millions of questions for you:

1. First, 108 interviews?!!?!?!?!!? Are they semi structured qualitative ones? Which means it took you how long to get it done?

2. How did you find these participants? How long did they have to commit? Any incentives?

3. How did you manage to get any funding for your fieldwork? part of your grant or something?

4. Finally, with so manyyyyy interviews, is that your whole empirical work, or is there more?

Best

Hi 2nd yr warriors!

Was reading thru your thread to gather motivation and momentum when chanced across Sneaks's comment on gathering participants. Well thats my current bane and I was wondering if Sneaks could tell me a bit about how she recruits? How many, from where, and compensating/incentive giving and getting funds for that etc etc? If you dont want to ruin your thread, PM me :)

Good luck KC

PS: I like the nickname you used BUG!

Hi KC,

My sup has wanted 3000 word structured essays every fortnight and we ended term with 20,911 words of such essays, which I wrote and she read and thoughtfully critiqued. I am submitting a lit review chapter on 12th Jan, and conceptual framework chapter on 15th Feb and my pilot is in end Jan, for which online recruitment adverts and interview schedules and ethics checklists have been finalised and signed off this week.

That said, ALL of this may go down the drain. It is another matter that my sup thinks its all going fantastically well. And that I shouldnt be calling my pilot a 'pilot' anymore.

As I do all of this, even I too have a vague idea of what the final thing might (might) look like. I trust thats what you are looking for. All I was and still am trying to say is that now is not the time to be bothered by not knowing what that plan is like. it is nebulous and that is how it shall be.

Tell your sups that. This is my very nebulous plan, which shall morph and morph along the road.


A prof I know begins the PhD interview for selecting students with a first question that goes "What shall be on the last page of your thesis".


Your sups are checking your focus. Try, try try and hone and tell them your cloudy answer and be confident that thats all that can be rightfully expected at this stage.

Best, your fellow first year.

Uhmmm aren't you a FIRST YEAR? that too in the first half? And you are thinking of 'structuring the beast' and 'chapter wise arguments'?!?!?!?


Sometimes, being planned and being focused can go just a little bit overboard and ultimately not help!

We do continuously strive to find that central argument, and we do not find it in a magic moment. You need to wait. 21 year old Phds (or even 23 yr Phds like me) in their first years do not know things like how to structure the beast. And if we suddenly think one day that we do, we are amusingly wrong.


It is a JOURNEY, and its gr8 to sit on top of it and never let a moment slip away. But now is just not the time to search for chapters and structuring the whole. And even if you like the creative process and the sheer 'orientation; and comfort such searches provide, you must give them a huge leeway for change, or else the 3 yr Phd would not be a process of evolution, only three steps: 1) surefire idea about the entire thing 2) going and getting the data to prove that surefire idea and 3) submitting it.

its not that way keep_calm!