I cannot thank you enough everyone. It really means a lot. I sure will share the situation with my supervisor. The problem with seeking uni counseling help is that I am presently working off-campus in a different country. I have been using the counseling services for a couple of months now. They were very helpful.

And about the 15 minutes reading suggestion is brilliant. I do have the book, but have felt so down lately that I haven't opened it recently.

Thanks again everyone. Please keep me in your prayers!

(sprout) I am not feeling well at all. I cannot start reading or writing anything. I feel like being trapped somewhere and being suffocated. Time is running out and so is opportunity. How can I even start from a scratch?

I have to write up a comparative piece on how other studies answered my research question . I gave it a lot of time few months back. Now I seem to remember nothing. I feel suicidal!!!!:-(

I liked the survey design and completed!

My goal today is to summarize and read a paper!

Dear all,

I have been withdrawn from myself for several months. I had a huge break up, for which I had a long break from my studies. I just had a nice little chat with my superhumanly-patient supervisor. I need to start all over again.

He means all these in a good sense, I have my questionnaire ready, though it needs revision. I was detached for too long and now I am afraid to start studying all along. I have roughly one year left to finish data collection and writing.

I feel blank inside my head. Though I was in a good shape earlier, I find it very difficult to concentrate. Do you think it is possible for me to finish successfully? I need some serious motivational help.

Regards!

I can't write even 15 minutes a day...what should I do? It seems I have forgotten everything I ever read on my topic. :-(

Dear Mr_Smith,

I understand what you feel right now. First of all, get it straight that the motivation issue in the PhD affects each and every student at some point. It does not matter whether you have academia in your mind for a career or the industry itself. If you do love research, you will enjoy your research anyway and it is certainly worth a shot, especially as you are already in the pipeline.

Secondly, it is very natural for you to feel sorry for your wife for what she is going through as a cost of your PhD. But if the degree is the thing YOU really want, then probably she also won't let you give it up. May be the pain she is going through will give you the motivation to do great in your work and finish in time. If you can find some time and if you are permitted by the law, then you can look for a part time job to help her out. Talk to your advisor--if s/he can engage you in a project of hers/his, that will complement your work and also give some payment that will be the greatest thing whatsoever. Or you can make the things better for her if you manage the household works for her so that it doesn't worsen for her.

Thirdly, I would suggest you to talk to your wife directly about the long term goals you both want to achieve and how to make an optimum solution at the present situation. I think both of you can pull each other out of the mental state that is apparently unbearable for each other.


Best of luck dear...things will get rolling in no time, you'll see!

I want to do it properly, but it always seems to be getting harder---to concentrate, to write, to collect data and to do the simplest things like making a simple layout. Why does it have to be so hard for me and not for anyone else? What am I doing wrong? Why is everyone seems to be so "not involved" in a positive way? Why should it always happen to me? Broken ties, forgotten good relations and unseen light?

What will the winner get?

Dear Mh,

I understand just how you feel. My advices through some bitter experiences would be:
1. Work with close conjunction with your supervisors and define your research objectives well by this time.
2. Have a comprehensive literature review ready. Buy this I mean that write a literature review with the suggested reading you have done so far and keep it updated.
3. Talk to your School and also senior students about the normal structure, requirements and length of the report, It might change year to year, but the basics remain the same.
4. Normally the report requires an abstract, introduction, background of the study, objectives, methodology (proposed or decided), literature review, results (or expected results) and a conclusion or future direction.
5.Some universities require a lot of 'original' contribution. Be sure to include them in and know them for sure. Take help from your supervisor.
6. Do some trainings, attend conferences if possible. present posters in the mean time to show you have done enough work.
7. Most importantly, submit the report to your supervisors well before the deadline for suggestions and NEVER DELAY THE INTERVIEW--the more you delay the harder it is to justify that you have done enough work in the time passed.

Best of luck and stay focussed. (up)

Thanks Pepps, the thing is when there is so much to do, it is hard to plan the whole thing all at a time. And I am having a bad time doing it. Unless I have the whole plan, I cannot break it down to chunks. I am not being able to be a good planner at the moment. I am having some serious family crisis and may be, about to break up. It is also taking a lot of my time, energy and concentration...:(
Positive things seem not to happen very often and when they do, the impacts only stay for a while.....:(

Thanks everyone. My initial sample size is 500 excluding 50-70 in a pilot study and some focus group discussions. My methodology is quantitative though initially I might do some qualitative analysis. I have nothing written so far except a literature review, questionnaire and methodological issues. This is very negligible. I know, if I put my mind to it and do nothing at all except the PhD then it might be possible. The past three months has been so for me, but it took my strength away from me and I became very sick. Moreover, I have to move to my country from my university for the field study and have to work in a split office without any institutional set up. It has an effect as I have experienced in the last visit to my country. Realistically, things seem hard enough. Yet I am having my fingers crossed....How long do I have to work each day to achive it?

Dear Sunny,

You have quite a good profile for a PhD. To be honest, you have to face a harder competition if you want to apply this year (it is a bit late I guess for the September session, you might be able to apply for the January session) than what you had to if you applied last year. But I think there is really good chance of it. My advice to you will be to apply anywhere and everywhere possible. You might also be interested in approaching some faculties in different universities who have specific interest in macroeconomics. Universities of Nottingham, Manchester and New Castle might be of good interest.

Best of luck!(up)

Hi,

I am a second year PhD student. I have exactly 14 months two finish my PhD including data collection, analysis and write up. My field is social science. I have my questionnaire ready and also have decided on my methodology.

Does it sound plausible to finish on time? Any tips anyone?

Regards

Dear Claire,

I understand how frustrating it could be for a good candidate like you. I guess this is just because PhD opportunities are now becoming harder to avail. If you have some material at hand, I would ask you to publish in an academic journal. In that case, you would be able to add a good feature in your CV. Again, you could try applying to the not-in-top-five-yet-well recognized universities. They can be easier to obtain. And once you are in, you can do really good research with you dedication and passion. At the end of the day, it is the person that matters most, not the university.

Best of luck.