I now have a new supervisor at last and was looking forward to actually getting someone who would actually do something. I sent them all the work I have done so far as they requested, including the two chapters that were regarded as more or less finished at a suitably high standard by my other supervisors 18 months ago, and the new one has said they are not as they should be, and suggesting one of the so-called finished ones is only suitable as a very rough first draft, other stuff that the old ones said was OK in the appendix should be moved to the main text, and that is just the start. The very temporary substitute supervisor(lasted a few weeks before saying they didn't want to do it) never said this, neither has anyone else. Looks like it is going to be a long year as everything I have done so far needs rewriting! I can't understand why the first supervisor could be so far off the mark with this, and why no-body else came to the same conclusion as this new supervisor. Yet another reason for a refund of the fees for last year I think :-(

Hi Joyce, sorry to hear about the supervisor situation and the dispiriting news of more rewrites.

You mentioned this one would actually 'do something'. Do you think that they might be a better supervisor-I mean, do you value their judgement more than the last supervisor/s?

Maybe all of this is part of the final difficult rewrite process that makes the whole thesis more cohesive and polished (a process that seems to blight the life of everyone at the final stages before the big submission)? Can't say much else...only because I can imagine how devo you feel at present-so will just wish you luck and best wishes(gift).

Sorry to hear that everything has been turned on you again. I am not familiar with what happened with your first supervisor - it seems clear from your post that they were not very helpful - so do you think they could have told you two of your chapters were fine in a selfish act, in order to seem like they were doing a good enough job? (and to save them from having to give you more feedback). I know that might not be the case, and that it might not be a nice thing to consider, since obviously you must be upset to hear you now have more work to do than you thought.

I agree with Pjlu though, if you value this new supervisor's judgment, than I would try to accept the advice they have given, even if it is difficult to hear. Maybe this new person will help get you right onto the track you need to be on.

I hope things begin to look up for you. All the best.

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My first supervisor is probably the world expert in his field and I can only think that he wanted it written to match his own ideas, and probably knew who he was going to get to do the viva and the views thay would want to hear. The trouble was he changed universities and spent a lot of time doing other things and therefore basically didn't have the time to do his supervising as well. I guess it is one of the problems of researching an area that no-one has done before that there isn't anyone who really knows what you are on about - I could actually quote this new person as showing exactly the thinking of the 'lay' person to the subject:$. Funnily enough - as long as they agree to my changes to the chapter headings and the order of the chapters that is - I think it has finally allowed me to sort out exactly what direction I should be taking as far as structure order and content goes. The problem is that it will involve a complete rewrite of the whole thing so far.

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