Maybe it's the dismal weather we've been having lately but I'm really feeling completely and utterly fed up with my PhD. I'm in my 3rd year and will be going into 4th year in October and I still have so much of the actual research to do let alone writing about any of it. I've had a few set backs along the way, illnesses, transferring to a new uni (and moving 200 miles) a year ago to follow sup when he got a new job, technical issues and a bereavement. But I'm getting to the point where I feel like I'm running out of steam and just want this all to be over so I can move on with my life. I know I just need to get on with it but at the moment it's all just a bit overwhelming and I find that one or two days can go by with not much progress. I've agreed a target submission date with my sup of Feb and I need to have all of my experiments etc finished by Sept, I just don't seem to have to motivation to get it done and I don't know why.

Sorry for a bit of a miserable post, I just felt the need to vent.

Hi have just checked my PMs but no message showing...

I can get it, where shall I send it?

I am first on name terms with my supervisor. If they are happy for you to use their first name instead of calling them Dr then that is fine. However if for cultural reasons you would feel more comfortable addressing her as Dr then that is also fine, just politely explain this to her so that neither of you will feel awkward.

You probably won't be eligible for funding for a second PhD if you received funding for your first one. Is there a chance that you would be able to contact the PI to see if there is a post doc opportunity in the same department?

The content of the paper evolved from initial experiments that I did at the very beginning but much of the content was my ideas with advice and it was sup's idea to write it up as a paper after seeing the results.

I still think that if you have done the experiments, analysis and written the paper then you should be first author, after all it is your work. The supervisor helped that work to happen so should probably get named as second author in order to credit their contribution

This is similar to what I have recently done. The first paper, due to be submitted soon, has me as first author and my supervisor as second author. There is also a 3rd author on mine who is the person who created the computer model I used. he had no real input but as he is one of the 'big names' in my field my supervisor said it would help my paper to get noticed. I wrote the entire paper, ran all the experiments and did all the analysis with guidance from my supervisor, he suggested some ideas and a few changes to the wording of the paper.

With regards to the second paper you should be first author with sup as 2nd author if appropriate. I don't know what field you are in but I am in science and this is how it would work for me as it is rare to be sole author on a scientific paper.

I've had to provide proof of income to letting agencies and have used the letter that I got from the university accepting me onto the PhD and detailing the studentship finances. If you don't have a similar letter ask the postgrad administrator in your department to write a letter on headed paper detailing your studentship amount and how often it is paid. You may have to provide bank statements as well depending on how much proof the company need.

I hate reading my own work. When I'm reasonably happy I've covered all the relevant content I usually just skim it for spelling and grammar errors before getting my supervisor to read it. Whenever I do read my work I get hyper critical of it even though I've been told several times by my sup that my writing is of a high standard.

Don't look at it for a couple of days and clear your head or work on something else then go back to it with fresh eyes, might make it less painful.

I don't really have much to offer in the way of advice but just wanted to let you know you're not alone. I'm in my 3rd year and have been ill on and off for the past couple of months. I have underlying health problems which sometimes affect my ability to work but more recently I've been feeling very run down and seem to have been catching every bug going. This has meant that during December I did pretty much no work and I'm struggling to get back into it now. Fortunately my supervisor has been supportive and understanding so far but I'm becoming increasingly aware that my funding runs out in 9 months and I still have a hell of a lot of work left to do. Stress exacerbates my main underlying health problem and I really struggled with it during the summer. I need to make sure I find a good way of coping for the rest of the year.

Far too often at the moment as I seem to keep getting struck down with horrible colds and having no energy! Also hit a bit of mental brick wall which is not good but slowly breaking it down.

My OH works shifts and often at weekends so I tend to try and work around him so we can spend his days off together. I generally try and take 2 days off a week because otherwise I think I'd go mad.

At the end of the day the PhD is similar to a job, if you wouldn't work 7 days straight in a job then why do it for a PhD? Time off is important to recharge and to have a chance to do the things you enjoy, whether that's just reading a novel, watching trashy telly or something more active. Occaisonally you might need to work longer to meet deadlines etc but that should be the exception rather than the norm. Some people seem to thrive on working non-stop but I'm not one of them, I like having time to myself to indulge in my hobbies.

I'm a month into my 3rd year and funding runs out at the end of September 2013 so I'm going to try my hardest to get finished on time. Still got some experiments to run but already have one chapter almost complete so I suppose that's a good start.

We can do it! :-)

My university refers to us as postgrad researchers/doctoral researchers. Personally I still tend to find myself referring to my position as a student. I think this is probably because I've gone straight through undergrad to masters then PhD without having a 'proper' job yet.

I'm just coming to the end of my second year and it still seems like there is a lot of reading to do as there seems to have been a spike in publications in my field recently!

With Mendeley it gives you the option to synchronise all your PDFs online so you can access them anywhere although it doesn't synchronise annotations. Alternatively you can use it offline and it still works fine. There is a very useful FAQ which should help you get started with it. I've been using it since the beginning of my PhD and I don't know what I would do without it now.

I applied for a credit card last year and used my studentship in the salary section and it was approved so don't see why it would be a problem.