Hi Guys,
I really need some advice. I've been writing up since September and frequently chucking chapters at my 2 supervisors.
One supervisor, A, hates me, my work, isn't an expert in my subject area (she's a biologist and I'm a materials engineer) is my main supervisor, I'm not a patch on golden girl in her group and hasn't read a thing I've written. She has only just got round to looking at stuff this week I sent her back in November!
Supervisor B, I've seen on a semi regular basis, has provided good feedback, criticism and is more in line with my subject, and basically said if A hated my lit review chapter I could tell her to go spin on it. Alas B is not my main supervisor, can't sign my intention to submit and is no longer at my Uni.
I finally got to a full draft of the thesis just before xmas. Saw Supervisor B, who went through it requested corrections not major things but enough, told me to re-send ch 5-7 to him, but was generally happy with the idea of intention to submit going in and sorted out examiners. I've worked hard over xmas and this week to get all the corrections done and e-mailed to both of them.
This was fine until A has finally read stuff that B thinks is fine, wants loads of stuff cutting that's just going to wreck the flow of the work and even put in first person stuff!!! In my experience you never use I in a scientific report. All of her issues are due to her not understanding my subject, bar a few grammar bits. Worse still B is snowed under with work for the next 5 weeks and can't know when he's going to read stuff. I wanted to submit by February!!
I am basically waiting for them to come back with corrections but I get the feeling they won't agree with each other. Do I listen to A cos she's the one who could block my intention to submit form going in at the expense of my thesis making sense. I just feel shafted cos she hasn't been bothered with me for months. I also don't want this game of thesis chapter ping pong to go on much longer.
Also A and B don't get on with each other, I haven't had a meeting with both of them in the same room since my 2nd year upgrade. so the likelihood of trying that is slim. I was supposed to see A today, but got snowed in under 6" of snow.
I'm getting depressed, I want this to be over, I've spent 3 months with no pay, and my supervisors think they can just take all the time in the world. I've had a rough ride up to now - which some of you will know from previous posts. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this please let me know.

Hi Yellow,

Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time. I haven't got a lot of advice as I've not been in this situation myself, but is there any way you could organize a meeting with both of them there? It's not fair to expect you to know what to do when they can't get their heads together to help you out. If you get their sets of corrections back and they disagree substantially then (with my limited knowledge) the best thing to do seems to be to mark out exactly where they disagree and ask them to discuss this with eachother and you.

Hope this helps...

wow, this sounds really bad, i'm really sorry to hear your having difficulties :-(
Have your supervisors been like this since you started your PhD or has this only started recently? If only recently can you think of any particular reason? I think they're both acting very unproffesional, and personally I'd take it above their heads to the head of research for your dept, he should be able to tell them to stop being so immature and actually help you. They did agree to do that originally when you started and it seems unfair to be putting you in this position now. I also agree with Keep_Calm, you should also get them to sit down and discuss your issues, and tell them what a horrible position they are putting you in.

Ratchit

This sounds tough. I dont think actually having a meeting with both sups will work/help at this stage. You obviously want to submit asap, and really, as stupid as the situation is, this might mean that you just end up taking only one person's advice. I am nearing towards the end myself, and I know that not everything I have done has pleased ALL my supervisors, but hey, this is near impossible in some situations. I think you have to go with your instinct, all the suggestions for corrections are just that - suggestions, you do not have to implement them, and it is up to you to know what makes sense, and also what you still have time for. It is clearly annoying/disheartening when you dont get back feedback from a sup (for whatever reason), but again, you have a timeline to stick to, so if you do not get comments in a timely manner, you cannot take them into account. Apart from the tug of war situation with your sups, are you generally happy with your work? If that is the case, maybe you do not need all their detailed input?! I think it is perfectly alright to submit when you are ready to submit (but obviously if you have serious doubts about the work, waiting for sup input might be better!!) and yes, sometimes, sups wont like it. I have seen people submit their theses without the sups having read all of it and they all passed. That's just my two cents worth..

Good luck(sprout)

Do you have a director of studies who is above these two? if so go to them, if not, go to whoever is in charge of post grad students and ask them for advice. You should not have to be in the middle of their petty games. They are grown-ups, not babies and should not get their personal and professional roles mixed up. You may need to ask them why they have such different ideas about your thesis. The 'I' thing is a difficult one though, the use of 'I' is becoming more accepted, although not by all, this was mentioned at one of our post grad meetings here quite recently. As for not having time to read your work, remember one way or another you are paying for their services, so you are entitled to some of their time!! :-)

Thanks for all your replies. I am just going to take the bits of advice that make sense from each of them and try to incorporate it into my thesis as best I can. I know I'm not going to use all that they want correcting that's for sure.

I've always had issues with my supervisors since day 1. In fact my current supervisors only took my on at the start of my second year. My original supervisor felt I was too much of a handful and my project was too far away from her research interests. I've survived Supervisor A going on maternity leave for all of my 3rd year and Supervisor B moving universities to take up a chair position, again about the same time as A left for maternity leave. So I've pretty much run my own project throughout the 3 years with input from B as and when he could give advice.

I'll try and have a calm productive meeting with A sometime next week when the snow has melted and I can get to University. Though I have a feeling I may be spitting with rage afterwards for 24 hrs.

If all else fails I'm thinking of escalating it to the head of school as my supervisors have hardly supervised in the last 3 years so its about time they stopped being petty and gave me a hand so I can finish.