Hello all,

I'm six months into my full-time PhD and I'm wondering what stage I should be at? It's a Humanities research project so mainly reading and writing at the moment. I've been trying to make a dent in my Literature Review but it's mainly a background/context.

What stage should I be at? How much should I have written? Should I be being critical at this stage? What stage are you/were you at, at this point?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated - I feel like I'm really not doing enough.

Thanks

Hi Argh, hmmm, it feels strange to call someone by a name that is more of an angst-noise. Firstly, you will never feel that you are 'doing enough' so I think that on a certain level you just have to accept that. I think if you are trying to get a handle on your literature review you are doing pretty well. This is the year to read read read. And of course you can read 'critically' right from the beginning. You'll probably find that your critical faculty will improve as you become comfortable with a broader mass of material. If you can start to draw up a broad overview for your thesis soon this will definitely help for the months and years ahead, and it can always be modified as you go along. Try not to worry, allow youself to get to grips with your material and your project and enjoy your first year

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm plodding away at my own pace but feel like I should have a firm grasp on my thesis, which I don't feel I have at the moment. I suppose that comes with time. Writing an overview of my thesis is a really good idea - I think I'll do that today.

Yes, my name really epitomizes how I'm feeling at the moment!

Thanks for the reply

By 6 months you should:

a) have written 2 papers.

OR

b) know where your office and the coffee machine is.

When are you upgrading? How long is your upgrade piece expected to be? I don't think there's any set place that you should be at, because everyone works at a different pace. However, now would be the time that you would be working towards refining your project title and really narrowing it down finely. I would definitely be approaching all materials with a critical eye, and determining which are most appropriate to support your argument.