Pink_numbers i am the same. If i work on one thing for too long I loose the plot. Even things you find interesting can become dull if it's all you do. I try to have more than one thing on the go too or try to switch between reading and making notes and editing work etc.

Emmaki I am also working on methodology chapter today so we are in the same boat. my goal for the afternoon is to reread and edit what i wrote yesterday and continue adding literature to section 1.

Have a good afternoon all!

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Good for you pink numbers, sometimes it is just the best thing to do!

I have completed my coding and read a very long report. Now on to planning the structure of methodology chapter...

Morning all!

I had an awful end to the week last week getting no work done due to family and non PhD commitments at uni. So I am determined to get back into it this week! I love tomatoes but do find it makes me realize how unproductive i have been sometimes! My goals today are...

- Code 4 short reports in Nvivo
- Catch up on emails
- make corrections to abstract and send
- Read 2 methodology articles and make notes for methodology

Hope you all have a good day!

Sorry pink numbers I am useless at stats!

Today I am looking after my friends baby from about 1pm (good deed for the week!) so going to try and be productive for at least the morning! Aim is to read 2 journal articles and include in methodology and to make corrections to abstract.

Morning all!

After an accidental late get up my goals are...

- email supervisor meeting minutes
- code 3 interviews in Nvivo
- Read paper about methodological approach

Have a good day! :-)

Batfink I know the feeling. My supervisors are also very helpful (at times) but sometimes look at me like they have no idea what I am talking about.

I managed to achieve my goals for the day but I don't think I was that ambitious to start with to be honest. Just reading an article then giving up for the day I think.

Have a good evening all:-)

Hi everyone,

I hope nobody minds but I thought I would join in today! I am lacking in motivation at the moment and this thread seems like a great idea!

So my goals for today were
- Catch up on some emails (done)
- Code 2 of interviews in Nvivo
- Read methodology chapter from a similar thesis for inspiration for my own
- Walk the dog who is already begging to go out!

Hope everyone has a good day! :)

Thanks for your reply :)

I am starting the week with a big to do list to try and increase productivity! Although I am sure I will discover lots of ways to procrastinate along the way!

Hi everyone,

I am about 4 months into my second year in humanities based PhD and i feel like I am all out of motivation already. I have conducted my first round of interviews but feel very behind in things like my literature review and my methodology write up is non existent. I had an attempt at writing a paper as I was worried I was the only person not publishing anything and my supervisors pretty much tore it apart. After a few weeks transcribing I have now lost the plot with it all a bit. I am struggling to work for more than a couple of hours a day. Did anyone else go threw a period like this in year 2? Any advice for getting things moving again?

Thanks all :)

Sarah

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering whether anybody had any recent(ish) success stories in obtaining a mortgage based on their studentship. I have 2 years left on my funding and my partner has a full time job but if only his income is taken into account we will be living in a shed! Any advice on lenders that are sympathetic to us PhDer's?

Thanks! :)

Hi Everyone,

I am 3 months into my second year of my humanities based PhD. My research is based on 40(ish) interviews which I have begun. I just wondered how others have organized their second years and how long they allowed for the actual interview phase? Did the interviews take up the whole of the second year or do people generally do much analysis during this year.

Thanks! :)

Hi Everyone,

Just wondering how many publications people tend to get during their PhD sudies? I have just finished my first year and feel like I am the only one who has nothing in the pipeline in the way of publications. Other people in my office have either worked on other projects before with publications or are being encouraged to publish something already and I was wondering whether this is normal? Whenever i mention this to my supervisors they say just to get the PhD out the way then worry about publications. But is this true or do i need to be worrying? How many journal articles do others publish before they complete their PhD?

Thanks :)

Sarah

Hi Everyone!

I am coming to the end of my first year and will be presenting at 2 postgraduate conferences in the next few months and writing a paper for one of them also. I was just wondering in other peoples experiences are these types of conferences good for your CV if you want to stay in academia or more generally? Or are they more a way of networking and getting practice presenting? Any opinions would be great!

Thanks! :)

Thanks for the replies everyone, It's nice to know it's not just me with the constant guilt of not working!

I have got a meeting next week with both my supervisors so as long as they are happy with my progress I am going to try not to continue stressing like this for the next 3 years! I think it's just so difficult because you know you could be working at any time so theres not really any proper time off if that makes sense.

Hi everyone,

I started my full time humanities PhD about 8 months ago. So far I am finding it all OK, struggled at first but once my topic was defined it's been fine. I have just submitted a first draft of my literature review chapter (around 20,000 words) and beginning to work on an introduction chapter and have interviews lined up starting in september to start data collection. My supervisors seem happy with my work however I am really struggling with the constant guilt of feeling like i'm not doing enough! I don't work 9-5 by any stretch of the imagination, in fact it's probably much less, but when I do work I seem to be quite productive. I submitted my literature review a few days ago and thought I would take a few days off work but just feel too guilty! I hear stories of PhD students working 10 hours a day but sometimes I think I havent got enough work to fill that space of time! This has made me panic that my topic is just too easy and i'm not doing it properly! I feel like all I think about is my PhD sometimes but spend more time worrying about the amount of work I do rather than just doing it!

Anyone else feel like this in their first year? Do people aim for hours of work a day or just meeting the targets they have been set?

Thanks everyone!