No one is telling me that. Why?

Oh good! : D

Sorry to hear SnowDay. Imposter syndrome is just horrible. Can you take a little break and do something else that is fun and takes your mind off it all? Maybe even go away for the weekend? I find that things like that help me when I feel I can't take much more.

That must be annoying when your supervisor edits everything directly. My new supervisor did that to something I'd written, but she said feel free to change it back. Does your supervisor say anything like this? And are the changes mostly to do with the style/appearance or are they more substantive?

I find pm133's approach a bit extreme (no offense pm133!). You get on well with your supervisor, so if this is something that is really getting to you, chances are that you can raise it with him and it'll be taken well (although it might feel a little awkward at the time). Another thing you could do (if you would rather not confront it in a really direct way) would be to change some of it back and just say you know, thanks for this, it was really helpful. I've made a few further changes and switched a few bit back as I actually preferred them before, I hope you don't mind. That would gently but clearly suggest please don't do this so much in the future! One of those things would probably sort things out on that front, or at least improve them.

I don't know if this is helpful, but keep your chin up - things'll get better. And you're not imposter! No more than any of the rest of us anyway!

Tudor

Great that you made a decision ToL! Stimulating thread this!

It isn't ridiculous pm133. It was completely acceptable in the context. I still interact now with those I was working for/with then, and I will do the same myself when I am in a position to! In my area of research, it does matter how many names are on a paper (especially if the person has not published much - or has only published papers where their name is one among many). I wasn't told this (or lied to about it) - I already knew it mattered. And I didn't expect to be on a paper unless I was contributing to it, rather than just collecting data, as I generally was doing.

Just to add - many papers have an acknowledgement section on, where various people (often students) are acknowledged for their assistance with data collection, coding, reliabilities etc. It really isn't so unusual.

I collected data and did the stats for a project - and wasn't added to the paper! No hard feelings! I was learning and getting paid... I was a part-time RA... I wasn't formally part of the research group at the time... the person I was doing it for was an early stage researcher, and stood more to gain by being a single author (or one of a small number of authors) than adding me on when I was simply a student following instructions (and gaining experience and dosh). Some people might find this extreme judging by comments on this thread. But really - I had no say in the original idea for the project and didn't make any substantive decisions about anything... I was just doing a favour and getting experience for myself. That's how things are done in my department.

If, on the other hand, I'd grown really interested in the work, and had some ideas of my own, and fed them in, and we'd come up with new ideas together of what to pursue next... maybe applying for a PhD under that person's supervision, I think that would have been different... I'd have had some ownership for the project, and would probably have been asked to write up the intro and results or something (and be a named author) - or design a poster (and be a named author on that).

Thanks J_W! Hope all's going well.

Ps. If you did add them, you would have to invite them to be further involved... they'd have to contribute to the poster and the paper as an author (or at least check it over to say they were happy with it - which would seem odd given that it is your work/they're not the supervisor).

This obviously varies from place to place! Doing what is the norm at your place sounds good advice. I do think that it depends on so many factors though - some not considered here yet. For instance, I know that some supervisors would consider adding the person who helped out as an author if they were inviting them to contribute to the writing up part. They might invite them to do that because they want to give them the experience of writing up, and because of other factors, such as perhaps they are a prospective PhD student, and they want to keep the relationship going... On the other hand, if the person helping out was literally just helping out and will be disappearing, cutting ties doesn't seem to be an issue. Just acknowledge them. Also, I think it matters on your own current situation. If you don't have any single author papers, for instance, then this would be something you might want to achieve. Including the person who helped just for the sake of it doesn't make sense.

As I mentioned, I did loads of RA work without being put on any papers. At the time, my priority was gain research experience, and the people I did it for were happy to have someone helping them out. Some was paid, some unpaid. A friend of mine did similar stuff to gain experience during/following her Masters, and she HAS been asked to co-author. I think it is because she intends to continue working with those individuals on the same topic and has been part of making substantive decisions on it (she is applying for a PhD with them).

Maybe ask yourself: what was their contribution (i.e., helping out, assisting in certain tasks vs. substantive contribution), and ii) what is the context (i.e., do you want to help them further by giving them experience with writing and publishing and potentially continue working with them - or was this just someone helping you out and now they're moving on).

I find that it is really impossible to make any kind of generalization about anything when it comes to supervision! It all depends on so many factors!

Thoughts based on experience. I did lots and lots of work on a seemingly similar basis to what you've described - basically as an undergrad and between my undergrad and Masters, I was helping out by coding, analysing, and even collecting data. And a lot of it - as I wanted the experience. I wasn't involved in the conception of the research - I was more or less following orders. My name was not included on any outputs (beyond acknowledgements) and neither did I expect it to be. If I had been asked to help write the paper, or design a poster, that would have been different.

Hope this helps.

Another thing that can happen is that the supervisor can be there too much (weekly meetings are quite frequent in my view...) and kind of holding your hand but not... so that you are not feeling fully able to take control of your research and full responsibility for it... because they're always breathing down your neck. And yet you NEED to, because although they're there and wanting to meet all the time and give advice etc, you are still the one that needs to be in the drivers' seat and powering it all ahead. That can be so hard when at the same time you have this person trying to hold your hand and breathing down your neck (some find it reassuring - for others it can be crippling).

Maybe a bit of that is what is going on here, and Theint would benefit from asking to see the supervisor a little less often, so that he/she can just get into it and take full ownership. This is not a criticism of Theint at all, and I hope that it is not read that way. I had a situation myself where, as an extremely independent person, I ended up with a supervisor who liked to meet way too often for my liking. It sort of felt like although I was expected to do the real work, it was actually her PhD. So I had zero motivation and wasted a lot of the first two years of my PhD. If Theint has issues that can't be worked around in this situation, whatever they may be, then I strongly would advise changing supervisors (maybe easier than trying to go elsewhere at this stage). The right supervision for you is so important. I learnt this the hard way and my only regret is not changing supervisors earlier on. End of the 1st year is a good time to do it. Diplomacy is important!

I am planning to submit elsewhere, but am not quite sure where yet. It will be (hopefully) my 2nd publication. My 1st paper (based on Masters work) was published last year. Thanks - fingers crossed!