Why does it matter what people you went to school are doing, if you like what you chose to do with your own life?

Periods of self doubt have popped up all through my PhD, so you're not alone! Luckily they also disappear too!! If your supervisor is the department-head-to-be and really busy, maybe it's worth bringing up the subject of having an additional supervisor? If he's already got a heavy official workload which sounds likely to increase, getting an extra person on the team would be justified. It might be good for you to have someone else to oversee your work as people have different supervision styles and you might find it does your research and confidence good too. Is there anyone else in that dept whose academic interests fit with your project and who you work well with? Could you ask someone responsible for overseeing postgrad admin about this possibility?

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 13:05:38 =======
Hello there! I'm not doing computing, but some things related to doing a PhD and research are fairly generic. I'd suggest a few things you could do before speaking to your supervisors.

You should find out exactly what doing a PhD entails - maybe read Philips and Pugh 'how to get a PhD'. Think about what you would want to research, as if you were putting together a proposal outline - think about why it's worth researching, has anyone done it before, how might you approach it, why does it interest you? I think there was a post recently about putting a proposal together on here - you could browse for it. When you've got an idea about all that, you could speak to your sup and say - this is what you're really interested in pursuing after graduation and were wondering whether it is the sort of topic you could do at either Masters or possibly Phd level, but you would like their advice as they know the area better than you. Failing the outcome you want, you could always do the work placement you've been offered and think it over for the following year. Good luck!

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 12:42:04 =======
Have you actually done enough research for it to be of PhD standard? Some theses don't actually have enough substance for a PhD, whether or not they got corrections after a viva, hence they'll always be MPhils. You really should check with your sup and take his advice.

But you haven't slaved away for 5+ years - you're only 5 months into your 3rd year!! Don't you want to do as well as you can??

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 12:23:14 =======
Personally, I'd go with the supervisor's opinion, as they should know what they're talking about. I'd imagine lots of us have some debt problems (I do), but it would be a shame to fall at the last hurdle, so to speak, and end up with an MPhil instead of a PhD if the thesis just needed a bit more time and effort. If you've done all this work so far, wouldn't it be worth getting substantial and detailed feedback from your sup about what exactly you need to do to turn it into a decent PhD, then hanging on and finishing it properly?

I know of of one student who got an MPhil after her viva though she was registered for a PhD, but her work was problematic. She didn't mind as she didn't need the PhD for an academic career. Another student (quite arrogant) took no notice of her sup, submitted and had to do substantial rewrites over a year. If you submitted now and got major corrections to do, it still prolongs the whole process so it won't exactly change your current financial situation anyway.

I agree with Missspacey too, you're not even in the required time frame for having to submit, so not surprising your sup doesn't think your thesis is up to PhD standard.

My grandmother did slap my grandfather with a wet fish once, in her youth. It was a haddock. Then she divorced him.

I keep my ideas to myself when I'm around really competitive students if they're in my subject area. Or competitive staff too, for that matter. You can't really avoid working with them, but as long as you pursue your own career path and don't let your work get ripped off, they might even become a mild source of amusement. I quite like watching them in action at networking events, especially when their work isn't generally regarded as outstanding in that field.

Yes, he gets a gold star from me for persistence and an imaginative approach to spamming. I wonder if it's a job for some people? Like poking endless quantities of leaflets for takeaway food through people's letterboxes.

======= Date Modified 21 Feb 2009 07:33:02 =======
Aw thanks Lara, wise words!!!:-) You are right, of course. I've been thinking about when it's finished, it's the best thing to keep in my mind at this stage. This time next week it'll be in. I will grit my teeth and get things properly finished in a printable state from now until Wed. Anyway, as you say, what else is there to do but just do it. Of course it'll be imperfect, but better to submit an imperfect thesis than an unfinished one (or none at all.... ooh, that doesn't bear thinking about).

I felt like I'd seriously had enough yesterday. I'd slept badly the night before and was so sick of it that I wanted to ignore the whole thing. I had some library and domestic stuff to do elsewhere, so I did that. I needed the book to get some pics for my thesis so it was all stuff that had to be done now anyway, but it gave me a break and I felt better afterwards. I started doing some image stuff last night but something weird happened and it started repaginating furiously then crashed, which gave me a shock, so I called it a day after that, in case I ended up messing up what I'd already done through tiredness.

I've been up for ages already (I was up with the blackbird, it's so nice to listen to.). Hehehe I'm the only user online! What a lonely trail I'm plodding at the moment but this time next week will be different! :-) Yes indeed....

Today: I must finish that chapter 4 I've been ignoring. The loathesome one.
After that, I want to get 2 more chapters into a final submittable state. Should be doable if I get on with it now....

Lara, I've been told about that 45 minute limit for concentration span. I find my mind wanders anyway around that point without me even checking the clock. It's the time limit I try to keep to for my BA teaching as well, before they start shuffling about and the glazed expressions and yawns set in. Part of this PhD thing for me has been finding out how I work, and you're right there's no point in fighting against your own learning style, you get nowhere and frustrated with yourself. Good luck with today's reading if that's today's plan!(up)

ooh no actually Eska, I tried to cheat on one of these polls once to test that theory and vote a second time, but it wouldn't let me! They might be crap polls, but they're fraud-free!!:-)

I quite like the way they pretend to write a proper post, trying to infiltrate us and lure us into unwittingly buying whatever (they hope)!!! That one sounds a bit half hearted though - the MBA man was the most entertaining one so far!:-)

Probably just a bit of old spam, Bug. It disappeared so quickly, before it could even be mildly entertaining...

These polls are a bit meaningless as a gauge of opinions anyway, as the percentages mean nothing without knowing the number of people who actually voted. 31% of what number??? Of 5? Of 500 votes? The percentages don't relate to the number of thread views or the post counts either. An intrinsically bad poll design!

Thanks Smoobles :-)