Being in the early stages of a PhD (3 months) I wonder if anyone has any advice as to how to gauge your progress? As in, what should I have to show for the time?
My problem is that I have nothing to show and have my 2nd meeting with my supervisor coming soon. I haven't been a bum!! If that's what you suspect. I have been reading alot around my subject but have not started writing? I am just now contemplating a layout for C1.
Will my supervisor be expecting me to have some work produced by now? Or how do I let her know that I have been working?
Any thought welcome...

Do you have a list of what you've been reading? Have you actively been taking notes on things? (that's not essential btw but helps). Any ideas about the rough shape that your literature review might take, even a mind-map breaking down the subject?

I wouldn't worry unduly. The early months - and indeed often the first year - are about finding your place in the subject. You'll need to agree with your supervisor what to produce when, but you should certainly be able to come up with a summary of what you've been doing. It would also be good if you could discuss your views of what you've read.

Good luck!

Thanks BilboBaggins. I probably could get together a list of what I've been reading pretty quickly. My problem, I think, is that I have 4-5 aims for the project which require me to read papers from very divergent subject areas. As a result, it has been difficult for me so far to get a clear idea of where to even begin with the literarure review. But just to put pen to paper, I think I will try to have a broad outline of what teh lit review might consist of for the next meeting.

Hi EV

I wouldnt worry too much about not having much to show for your 3 months, and I'm sure your supervisor wouldnt be expecting too much either.  Take your 5 or so (sorry cant remember how many you said now) aims in to discuss with her, that will help to see if any of these are worth pursuing. I'm 9 months in now and have very little to show for my time, although I do feel like I have made progress - its seems to be lots of small steps.  All supervisors are different, mine lets me set the pace and the tone of the meetings/phd, others seem to be much more involved; perhaps you could use this meeting to set some targets or see what she expects of you etc. What is C1 by the way? 

I would think that they will just want to know you are engaging with the subject(s). I use a reference database called jabref, others use endnote etc. I don't know where I would be without it :)

I use EndNote, and entered everything that I read as I read. Some of the things I had copies of (photocopies, or PDFs, or the original books), others I just entered them because I read them and wanted a record of that. I don't generate my bibliography automatically, but found the EndNote database incredibly handy last night for going through and adding dozens more references to my bibliography in addition to those already in there due to being in footnotes etc. I'd forgotten quite a lot of the stuff I'd read, but thankfully EndNote had remembered it for me, together with summaries. You can even make notes in the EndNote entries, summarising your thoughts on a paper/book, noting why it is relevant etc.

Thanks for the advice guys. The meeting has been cancelled twice so far and she seems to be showing very little interest in my progress so maybe I don't have too much to worry about. As regards managing the papers I've read, I have registered for a endnote course in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully that will simplify things a bit.
Still feeling very overwhelmed by the whole idea of a PhD and find myself already procrastinating. I had intended to start writing my lit review last week as well as some of the tasks I have been asked to complete but somehow it's Sunday and I have made absolutely no progress. So still can't put my finger on anything I have actually done.:-(

Could you try mind-mapping where you are in the literature? You said earlier that you're looking at a number of inter-linked areas. What about a separate mind-map for each one and an overall one showing how they link together? That might help formulate your ideas a bit.

But I wouldn't stress about progress/meetings at this stage. You're at the finding-your-feet stage.

EndNote course sounds good too, though I just bought the package (at student rates), and figured it out myself.

My research also has material from very different places. What you probably need to do is get some clear idea of where you are going, that is a rough list of your chapter headings - if you have your proposal you should have an idea of what areas you need to include, you could, as a first attempt give each area you are looking at its own chapter, doesn't matter if you change it later. You also need to find out how your supervisor likes to work (a bit of this depends upon your subject area, mine, being education, hasn't really got a prescribed layout, yours may have one :$) we use quite a bit of e-mail contact, it suits us both, then we have meetings every so often, yours may want a more formal arrangement. We had a discussion about where to start, and I decided which chapters to start with, yours may want you to look at certain areas first. The first few months were spent on general reading too, and I think that is quite normal, but what I am doing at the moment is concentrating on two chapters, with excursions into others as stuff appears. I have created a file or two for each chapter and when I come across something I bung it in the appropriate file, sometimes I read it and make notes, sometimes I just put it in - that's mostly newspaper cuttings and the like. This means I'm collecting material for all chapters, but just writing the two in earnest. The others are not entirely neglected though I'm formulating their structure in my head and collecting material - I've filed it away like this so that I don't forget what I've done with some very interesting bit of info, it saves me losing or forgetting about it!

with references, I don't put any reference in my list until I use it, but as soon as I put it in I add it to my reference list straight away. This is an essential thing to do, not only does it prevent you having to have a massive reference entering session, it also means you don't forget to put it in. I have the list stored on several memory sticks and my main computer, and I also have it in endnote, but I'm not really a fan of this. However it does mean if you ever have to change the structure for a different system/publisher, its quite easy.

EV - if ya really are looking where ya should be at, there should be two turntables and a micorphone ha ha ... sorry - Bad Beck reference!
If I knew then what I know now, I would be signing myself up for EVERY possible course possible in your college to help you get the stuff no-one bothers explaining (EndNote, How to present etc.,). You are not expected to have anything really at this stage, except a brief summary of what you have read (in fairness, it'll be 9 months before you get any inkling of an idea of where you are going). But fair dues to ya - your proactivity is admirable. Start taking exact notes of what you have read and do so in either Endnote or even a brief summary report (don't fall into the trap of "Oh that is too important to forget so I won't need to record it").
At this stage, you are just getting to know the area, unless you are continuing from a Masters/work from your degree. So don't rush into the notion of this looks like a good research trail at this stage. Get a better idea and then zone in.
If you really, REALLY want to be proactive, I would reckon on maybe suggesting the submission of a paper to a conference based on your lit review on the 9 mth/year mark and identify possible conferences (the website eludes me now but I will forward it on). It'll be a tangible target to aim for

EV - here is that website for possible conferences. As due dates for submission varies from 3-6months, it might be a good idea to get something local in your area in the timescale (leave the Las Vegas conferences until 2 year mark & your work justifies ya losing the whole stipend at Ceasar's Palace 8-)

http://www.conferencealerts.com/

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