Hi,

I know there are lots of threads about supervisors but I can't find any answers so thought I would start a new one to add to the collection.

I am about half way through the finding of my PhD and feel that I am having issues with my supervisor. My problem is that every bit of written work that I submit is rewritten so much that my input is no longer recognisable. This includes large and small pieces of work from publications to the wording on my progress reviews. The supervisor does this to everyones work so am hoping that this is not a reflection on my inability to string words together. This has become a bit of a problem and instead of being happy that my work is written for me I have become lazy and don't bother to spend much time on things as the same feedback is given no matter how long I spend on a piece of work. I have also heard them brag about having to write previous students theses so that they passed and I don't want to be the next victim as I am sure I can do it if given the right guidance.

One other student has spoken to him about this a couple of years ago but this ended up in the opposite happening with little input given and the student being labelled a "bad student who will never be a researcher" because they couldn't take feedback. I don't really fancy the same fate as that student had a much harder time afterwards.

Is this sort of input expected from supervisors or am I right in thinking this is a bit dominating? I apologise as this is more of a rant but any advice of people in similar situations or any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ali(up)

======= Date Modified 30 Mar 2009 20:24:33 =======
Hi there was a similar thread on this some months ago and someone said their sups write for them...and the forum verdict was either that this is so GREAT! or that this is completely unacceptable as ethical academic practice..

i am sure there is a thread on this...or was it somehwere else!?!

gosh, am losing it.

Hmmm...my supervisor likes to give me lots and lots of feedback and sometimes it drives me mad, but she doesn't actually re-write it for me. But she will change words to other words which mean exactly the same thing because she 'doesn't like' particular words and ask me to change something only to change it back on the next draft with apparently no recollection of having asked me to change it to start with. I guess this is a different situation really because it isn't re-written for me, but sometimes it is hard to take so much 'feedback' without feeling a little down-hearted/offended/frustrated. I deal with it by telling myself that I am a relative novice and that she really does know best (dammit!) and that she knows what she is doing/how to get stuff published etc. But I really don't think your supervisor should actually be re-writing it for you, and I am sure it is not down to any inability to complete the work on your part. Perhaps it is actually easier and quicker for supervisors to re-write stuff and be done with it than exchange draft after draft with their students with suggestions for how to improve it? Sorry- that doesn't really actually answer your question....what do other people think?