Hey guys,

Been a while since I was last here. After beginning a PhD in 2004 (full time) and having to suspend my studies and take numerous extensions throughout due to health reasons, I finally got my PhD and graduated in November. Never thought I would succeed but somehow I managed (and even the dreaded Viva went well and I only had minor corrections to make to my thesis)

After graduation, for the first month or two I was just happy to be rid of all that pressure. But now I just feel kind of empty. I have been meeting deadlines and working nonstop for so long, that it feels really weird not to have that anymore. It's like my secure world of study, where you can hide away from the world, is no longer there. And it is unsettling- and depressing,

I guess what makes things worse is my (lack of) future plans. Despite all the trauma and stress of my phd experience, I love my research and in an ideal world would like an academic career. But the big problem is that I have published absolutely nothing- and academia is competitive. My supervisor has advised that I publish my thesis. The thing is, that can involve months of rewriting- and is it worth spending all that time and effort when I might not be able to pursue an academic career in the end? Plus, whilst I was doing the PhD my supervisor was very keen on me publishing my thesis, suggesting changes in structure etc, he was very hands on about it. But I met up with the supervisor again a few weeks ago, and he was a bit hands off about it, slightly distant. Still thinks I should publish, and was encouraging me to do so, but it was very much a case of 'rewrite it, once it's done, get in touch with me'. Whereas I was hoping for more assistance in terms of academic networking (which I am terrible at because I am so shy!)

Has anybody gone through a similar 'limbo' stage after having completed their PhDs?. And is there any point in publishing?

Cheers

Publishing a thesis as a big book format can be a very hit and miss affair, taking an awful lot of work, and you may be lucky to find a publisher to take you on. Whatever you do, do not even consider the near-vanity publishers out there, many German, who will publish anything, with no editing, and have zero credibility in the academic world for publication purposes.

An easier option which you could pursue as an independent post-doc is to turn your thesis into a number of journal papers. These can be produced relatively quickly, and are highly regarded for employment purposes in future. They could also help if you look for employment outside academia.

I am unable to work in academia due to long-term progressive severely disabling neurological illness. It's a minor miracle I completed my part-time PhD, managing on no more than 5 hours total a week at the end. But I've invented myself as an independent academic historian, and am having fun turning my PhD thesis into journal papers, with 5 accepted so far, and more with editors. I am also looking at new research I can do from home - being a humanities student who can drag source material to me to study helps.

Basically you need to work out a plan for yourself. Have you consulted the careers service at your (former) university? They should be able to give you tips on what to do next, most effectively. Once you have a plan in place it's likely you'll feel more positive, and more productive.

Very many thanks for your helpful advice, BilboBaggins. And I think it's great that you completed your PhD despite your circumstances- very inspiring. Was also a miracle that I completed my PhD- due to my problems with anxiety I could not network with other academics, present papers, attend conferences etc. I worked in complete isolation really, losing myself in archival material. Getting awarded the PhD is a bit of a poisoned chalice though I find. The fact that I've got it demonstrates that I can research and that my work is good enough- it's just my anxiety that gets in the way of me having a fully productive career.


I had an appointment with a careers adviser a couple of weeks ago. Quite helpful, said that I should just spend time thinking about what I would like to do and also speak to my phd supervisor to see if an academic career is possible---but, as you now know, he says that the first thing I must do now is publish if I am to stand a chance. He says the thesis is good enough for publication, I just need to rewrite, add stuff etc. But before I spend a year doing that, I need to make sure if it's going to be worthwhile doing so!

I like this idea of an independent academic historian. With regards to journal papers, how did you manage to get them published? by that I mean, how did you get in touch with journal publishers etc?

It's easy to submit papers as an independent researcher, at least in humanities. You submit them in the usual way, following carefully the advice for contributors given for each journal. And they go out to peer review in the usual way. Being non-affiliated (though I now have an honorary research fellowship as well) is no impediment. And because it's history and I'm the sole author it's all down to me to do the writing, the submitting, the revising etc.

The important thing is to target each paper really carefully, figuring out which journal is most likely to take it, and also considering whether you want to be really ambitious and aim for something difficult (I did, in the most eminent general journal in my field, and got published after revising my third paper), or go for something slightly lower down the pecking order where acceptance might be a bit easier to get.

And absolutely follow the contributor guidelines to the letter. Make the editor like you, and thus be keen to publish your piece :)

I can relate exactly to the above and recently posted in response to someone else asking the same question.

I felt relieved for about a week to ten days after my final submission knowing I was rid of it - after a brief period of elation and stunned shock after viva, I'd pushed straight on (the next morning) to rid myself of the minor corrections literally within a week. Then I felt lost for a while too. The whole PhD process really takes alot out of you - for me, it had been a hard write-up but followed by the relief of a straight forward viva. It can take months (the phrase I heard was a quiet couple of years for a man, twelve moths for a woman - women seem to recover more quickly) to pull round and put together a clear post-PhD plan. The PhD dominates your life for seemingly ages then suddenly it's not there.

I decided to pump the thesis and data for publications and it you want a research or academic career, that will help. However, an academic career (as in teaching) may require you to acquire a Post-Graduate Certificate of Higher Education now, which may be studied for alongside your early lecturing duties. You will need to look into this.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

'Your PhD seemingly dominates your life for ages and suddenly it's not there.'

Spot on, Ian. So relieved that I am not the only one who feels like this. What I miss the most is the routine of the PhD. Yes, I woke up everyday super stressed, tired, tearful but I had a goal, something to DO. Now I'm just drifting. What makes things even more daunting is the search for jobs and identifying the skills that I lack and must gain somehow in the world of work.

I know I will think of something. Whilst I am not ruling out thesis publication altogether, I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket. I will try and work on it but also look at other careers and build skills etc. if academia does not work, I know that I want a job that has some sort of research aspect to it- so I guess that's a (small) start. But thanks for your point about the teaching qualification- will definitely look into.

Bilbobaggins, I have a silly question. When you say publish in the 'usual way', can you give more details? Because I have worked in total isolation, and focusing only on my thesis, I have no clue about publication procedures etc!

Cheers

Each journal has instructions for contributors, normally on any website, and certainly in any printed issues. This tells you how to submit a paper. Sometimes it is submitted by post (yes really - humanities can be that old fashioned!), sometimes by email to the editor, sometimes through an online whizzy form submission thingy (rare in humanities). The guidelines for contributors tell you where to send it to, and how long submissions should be. They also tell you how to format references and footnotes, and pagination. Follow this advice to the letter.

Basically you send your paper to the editor(s), they consider it, send it out for peer review by people who read it and give feedback, and recommend whether to accept it, suggest revisions, or reject. And you cross your fingers.

Cheers!