Yes H, I guess what I meant was they did not do one right at the beginning. I have not yet written a lit review as my fieldwork season had to start as soon as I did and I had a quick read of everything I could find that was relavent and took it from there. It does mean working backwards but it seems ok so far. As for jojo, 2 months in may seem loads but as lunch man says a solid foundation sounds like a good idea. You are also at the beginning of your training so lots of things will go wrong and supervisors will be critical but advice on the right path is helpful, try to see through the negative stuff.