Hello,

My supervisor is giving me a headache. I submitted a draft chapter knowing some weaknesses were present in the paper regarding methodology which I have now amended. However, before these amendments I went to meet my supervisor and she told me that my paper needed major revisions and provided feedback. To my surprise she didn't mention any of the weaknesses I thought the paper had and focused solely on the write up. The thing is, the write up isn't even a problem in my opinion. For example, she said you have used overly technical language! I mean, this is a PhD thesis right? She told me that a non-expert should be able to understand what you are talking about!? Furthermore, she would highlight my tables and say that I should explain the methodology used to obtain these statistics at which point I started to feel that she may have health problems. This is because the methodology section HAS a complete description of how I obtained those statistics. She apparently went through all 40 or 45 pages as pretty much all my paragraphs are annotated with notes saying explain?? Like how can I explain the explanation? What am I supposed to do with this? My other supervisor is on leave till next year. Oh and also, she said that all your references should be from 4* journals whereas most of mine are from 3* and lower ranked journals. My research area is quite a niche and naturally those publications won't be in 4* journals. How do I deal with this? For some reason I would feel bad having a go at her because she thinks she has given me really constructive advice...

Any advice is sincerely appreciated.

Hi Kahn,

It seems that you are taking the feedback quite personally, which may be stressing you out. My advice is to take a step back, remember that supervisors do know what they are doing in assessing methodology, for the most part. It may be helpful to schedule face-to-face meeting with her, as the impersonal critiques can seem a bit soul-crushing. In my experience, supervisors are usually quite helpful in meeting to discuss and points in the feedback that need clarification.
About the over-technical language: Sometimes it makes a piece feel overwritten and is difficult to read in one sitting, so think of it from a reader's point of view, remove your self from the writing in order to take a good, critical look. It's difficult to do, but really necessary, I found out. :)