hi. i start my PhD in jan but iv been on amazon and orderd tons of academic books.. 19 in total! getting my study organised. picking up a lovely desk secondhand and looking for filing cabinet when i can find a cheap used one where i live. thinking i want to start doing some research and writing now. is that a good idea? also...what should i be doing? looking at/for? should i start reviewing the literature in the field iv chosen to do my doctorate on? how do i go about it? what do u do at the beginning of ur literature review. feel it would give me a good start if i get a bit done before i start in jan. what do u advise those of u who have just started and also anyone doing their doctorate. mine is in the humanities so lots of qualitative research. thanks. advice, hints, tips etc appreciated x

I can see why you' want to get started already, but I found that I couldn't really get going until I'd really discussed my PhD with my supervisor. And even when you do discuss it and have a plan, the first month or two is still quite aimless reading. And this would be the case even if you came up with the project, or it is well defined.

So maybe get your potential supervisor to suggest some reading material, or topics to start thinking about. In the first few mopnths we agreed to set mini-essays every two weeks, starting out broad but narrowing down after a while. Obviously, you don't want to bug them so much they're fed up with you before you even start! You'll find that PhD supervisors are very busy people!

Oh, and bear in mind that a lot of what you read and write now, or at the start of your PhD you probably won't end up using. But it gets your head in the field I suppose.

Its great to see such enthusiasm Jade, and while I was in the exact same place a month ago, I already feel I am "looking back" hehe! Why did u need to order books though? Libraries usually have the stuff, unless u want to possess them for urself which is great! Also do u have journal access yet? most of your stuff may come out of journals. A lit review is ultimately themed and targetted for your research question, and thats why it shifts and morphs as you move along. But we all start it off by reading in lets say 3 to 5 core areas you feel your research topic (i am not saying research question yet) touches upon. Most topics engage two areas at least, sometimes 2 very small sub niches in a larger field of work. Identify which 'bodies' of work should be relevant to you and start by gathering together a list of primary/secondary readings. A great way to do your searches could be through your own library cross searcher, or google scholar, or the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in the ISI Web of Science database, provided you have remote access from your library already. Identify some themes as you go along, you dont have to start at A and end at Z as you read, read plenty of abstracts. But above all, think of this phase as a pilot. Maybe instead of going very indepth into one field you could read to a moderate depth in all the fields that concern your topic so that you are prepared for an informed intellectual conversation with your supervisor when you meet. Alternatively you could focus on one area. These are choices entirely upto you. But I have found it does help to identify the following issues:

1. Which fields are engaged in the topic I have outlined?
2. Where is the recent scholarship located?
3. Who seem to be the core, current and potential scholarly voices and do i have a sample of their work?
4. What seem to the areas of consensus? How did they emerge?
5. What are the areas where scholars disagree? Can I generate some fruitful questions out of this disagreement.


These are questions which shall probably continue to bother you even when you finising the PhD, from what i feel of it. And thats the purpose. Enjoy, above all. :)

hi coastman. thank you. u end ur post hitting the nail on the head. it would get my head in the field :-) i would start to have a better knowledge of the field, possibly any gaps in knowledge etc no..i dont want to contact supervisors for book advice etc. luckily i have a lot of knowledge on the field im writing on. both dissertations at bachelors and masters level were in the same field. i already have an idea of literature, books, writers etc in the field. also latest writing in books out this year which i have now ordered. so i wont need to ask sups what to get in books etc. il need more help on my methodology. iv got a new book by bryman - social research methods. but will wait till i start my meetings in jan. id feel odd asking them for help now as having not registered till january and not having paid my fees yet, id feel like i'd come across as bugging them. so no i wont contact them asking for any advice etc until i start in jan. i feel if i start covering some literature ground over december, it would help me get myself into the Phd mindframe and arrive at my first meeting well prepared (fingers crossed) x

Hi phdbug. thank u so much for your posting. i posted a massive write up and clicked send and it just wouldnt send. closed page and lost it all :-( ok..start again. why do i need to order books? its becos i plan to stay in the academic world lecturing and researching. so want to own my own books and hopefully keep buying more when i can afford and build up my own library of books. as to journal access, no i dont have any apart from what i can access via google scholar which i dont feel would be much. yes i know all the stuff will mainly come from journals and when i did my masters, thats where they wanted to see research from. the books iv ordered are all good and relevent and will be useful both through my PhD and for teaching later. at mo research question is grey. in fact..there is a research topic and area/field but no focussed fixed research question. i do in the proposal have some what i class hazy questions. would love to have a research question. thank you for ur advice to read 3 to 5 core areas. i have an idea of one aread id love to look into though ive never researched in that particular area before. cant use library as until i register in january and pay my fees, im not a student yet so cant use the library and have no remote access. also uni is far from my home so wont be going in there until i start in jan when i plan to go in 2 or 3 times a week. thanks for ur advice on arts+humanities citation index etc. how do i find that? il try searching via google. you say identify themes?? please could u tell me more? thank you. i will read plenty of abstracts-when i get these books i will do that. i dont plan to read page after page and cover to cover. God no! lol. thanx for the tip on abstracts x yes i agree, this is a pilot study. i cant go indepth in one field as dont know where the hell to go indepth at the mo! thanx for ur advice - i will take it and read moderate depth in all fields that concern my topic. thank you.. so helpful xx thank you for 5 questions. so very helpful, i will write it out on A4 and paste it on the wall and work on that. thank you thank you xx :-)

lol. havnt been on for a while. been busy. have spent time doing a lot of reading...not on lit.. but on methodology. i am now so much more focussed and more aware of what im getting into. have done quite a bit of writing on methodology which i will take with me on my first meeting. now i dont feel so hazy anymore. in fact i dont feel hazy. i have a focussed research question, hypotheses etc. glad im spending december doing all this reading as im much better prepared now for my doctorate i start in 3 wks.