Hi, dotdottung! Yes, I think you should keep chasing him, but do not depend on only one supervisor. Try to find others with interests in your research area.

Thanks Dr satchi! It is a good suggestion to refer youtube videos. Let me try that..thanks! By the way, many congratulations on your successful pass, Dr satchi :)

Thanks a ton, incognito! Your words are much motivating. I know I sound quite overwhelmed right now. The reason being, my external supervisor keeps pushing me to finish my PhD in two years since I am a self-funded student. I agree that he is talking for my benefit, but I don't think I can do it in two years. It is too much pressure. I want to enjoy this journey and not just run for the sake for finishing it. I feel too much depressed because of his constant feedback, his words are not motivating to me and I am quite hesitant to confront him.

I am considering your suggestion of going to university library. There are two other university libraries nearby, hopefully I will start going to one soon. Feeling a bit relaxed to know that I am not in this alone, you were once in the same situation and you have managed to come out well. I hope I can mange it well to. You have rightly mentioned that 'urgency of the situation will prompt you to work as hard as you can without going overboard'. I work my best in such situations, although I really want to give my best otherwise too..

Many thanks for the econometrics book information. I am advised to read Damodar Gujarati 'Basic Econometrics' by my supervisor. I will refer to Christopher Dougherty's 'Introduction to Econometrics' as well.

Thanks a lot for the encouragement and good luck to you!

Hello friends! I need some advice..

I have begun my PhD in July 2013 in Australia. Its been only three months and I am already demotivated and depressed. I came to AUS as a self-funded student. My supervisors suggested that publishing 1-2 journal articles will increase my chances of getting a scholarship. Scholarship application was due in Oct 2013. So instead of working on my thesis, my full attention was diverted towards writing a journal article. I managed to write one out of my MSc dissertation and luckily, it has been accepted by a journal. Second paper is mid-way....But during the whole process of writing a journal article, I was was not too happy. I come from a different education background, with hardly any statistics and research background. Every meeting with my supervisor and his other students was demotivating. Every meeting made me realize that I am way behind others and I will have to fly not run if I want to be in the game...

Now my confirmation seminar is nearing..in March/April 2014... I hardly have any time. I am just a beginner in statistics (I will be doing advanced time-series analysis in my thesis) and since I have not worked much on my thesis, I lack knowledge of existing literature's in my area of study. I am trying hard to push myself, but I am a slow learner. So even putting in 6-7 hours a day seems very less.

Above all this, I am doing my research sitting at home as I am primarily working with an external supervisor, who is based far from my university. Since my interactions are more with him, I stay close to his university. So I travel once a month to my university for prints or any other assistance. This makes me feel left out, I don't get opportunity to interact with other PhD students, and no updates on whats happening in my department..

I have heard that the first few months in PhD is the honeymoon phase, but my flight has not yet taken off. I do not feel any enjoyment, enthusiasm or motivation now, but I don't want to quit. I want to pull myself together, enjoy my research, feel the joy of new knowledge and get engrossed in it. Somehow, I can't seem to come out of this, I am trying since more than a month now..please advice what can I do?