I'm interested in finding out how things are going for other newbies like me now we're 2 weeks in. I'm especially keen to hear from Humanities peeps, as the whole science thing seems to be a completely different ball game as far as I can tell.

To be honest, I feel I've achieved nothing PhD-wise so far. First week was lots of induction, admin, and sorting out training courses (to meet this 70 hours req).....

... then the second week was taken up with teaching (I'm on a graduate teaching scholarship thing). I also still do a little bit of teaching in another part of the uni for a bit of extra cash.

I'm meeting my supervisor for the second time on Wed, so I'm determined to spend Mon and Tue getting my head down.

I know it's only 2 weeks into a busy 3 years, but I kind of feel like I'm slipping behind already.

Still loving the idea of it though - the teaching is ace, and I'm fascinated by my topic

hiya,

I'm one week in and don't feel i've achieved much. This week has been induction, meeting people, generally finding my way around as new to the uni and dealing with the fact my instituation is attached to two parent universities, and noone knows how to deal with us as there are currently only half a dozen PhDers here! I've got three supervisors and only managed to meet two, and it's the lead supervisor I've not seen. But feeling positive at the moment, though the whole thing seems a ediculously huge task right now!

Hi, glad to know there are others feeling the same - I thought it was just me!! I'm thought I'd start by getting some background reading done but supervisor is asking me about methodology, so I feel that perhaps I'm not going about things the right way. I'm also concerned as to how many hours a day I should be doing as a full-time student. Is there a set number or is it just a case of putting in as many as you need to get the job done?

This all seems good to me. This is about my 2nd week in now, in the A&H. Definitely agree with what's been said. I have two supervisors on 50% roles, and was a little daunted of what's expected as part of the PhD. I don't feel as I've achieved much, but saying that I've got loads of faculty research training, and I'm auditing some taught modules. Although they will not progress my PhD in themselves, it all contributes I think. I'm enjoying it all!

nice to see others with similar feelings!
In terms of hours, for humanities, it's just whatever you need to get it done I guess. There is absolutely no-one keeping an eye on what I'm doing (I like it like that). They are keen to have regular supervisor meetings though, and they want us to keep accurate records of these. Then there's the review panel at the end of semester 1.

Better get some reading done I suppose!

Yep - exactly the same here. I am two weeks in and I am wondering what on earth I have let myself in for! Even though it's only been two weeks, I have had a few occasions where I have just felt like throwing it all in.
My superviser has suggested some readings which I am currently trying to do (it's hard to know exactly what they expect of you in these early weeks). I took a year out inbetween MA and PhD and although I used to be OK with theoretical stuff I am now finding it a struggle, I am hoping this is just because I am having to get used to it after a year of doing other stuff! Anyone else feel the same on that?
How many hours is everyone doing of reading and so on? I am also teaching (although not many hours) but I feel that has taken up a lot of time. I just have no idea the amount of reading you are expected to get done over a week. It feels like I am going at the pace of a snail...

Hi Mokey. Boy - have you made me feel better! My head has ached every night for the past three weeks trying to get back into understanding the theoretical side of things again. I'm finding the independent side of things quite difficult to get used to as well as I really want some sort of benchmark to measure myself against. As for the reading! I've found that if I can manage 2-3 journal articles in a day I'm doing well, but I'm really concerned that I should be able to manage more. Would welcome advice from those who've been there

I would advise the following: read an abstract of an article, decide if it's remotely related to what you are doing. Continue until you have about 50, relatively recent articles from a variety of top journals. Then print them out, put the in your Endnote library.
Then start writing literature review straight away, mainly by skim-reading. For the beginning it should be enough to read abstract, first few literature pages and conclusions and to skip all the methods, data bits etc.

By following this approach you will quickly have a few thousands words of literature survery written down. I would recommend to aim for 20,000 words until Christmas. Send draft versions frequently (every 3 weeks) to your supervisor and insist on feedback. The benefit is that you don't have to read every single bit of every article and actually have a tangible result (i.e. the literature chapter written down as a first draft). The downside is that you may drift away gradually from your actual research questions. But that's not too bad as you'll probably change them after a year or so anyway, due to an adjusted focus of your study.

Hi ericonrhicam - to be honest with you there isn't anything that I haven't stressed over since I started! What subject are you doing?
I have found myself going back to basic textbooks just to re-assert my brain into what I'm doing. I can't believe a year ago I could read this stuff with little problem and now I'm struggling so badly!!
One thing my superviser said to me (something echoed here by o.stoll) was to start writing straight away - it doesn't matter what it is, even if you never show it to anyone but yourself - just write! I guess it helps to get your head in order and shows the areas you're lacking knowledge in etc. Another problem I have is being led off on tangents (good and bad) with almost everything I read... it's going to be an interesting 3 or more years !

I'm in social sciences, looking at identity. I started to do some background reading, but supervisor has suggested I sort out my methodology first. I'm busy trying to learn methods I've never heard of before and I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two back when it comes to understanding anything I'm reading! I'm trying to keep positive by telling myself its early days and thinking back to the way I felt when I began my undergraduate degree. I guess its a case of stick with it and time will tell! I'm finding it a great help to read the postings on this forum though - it helps to know I'm not alone

Looks like we're all in similar situations!
I'm feeling quite positive at the moment actually. 2nd meeting with supervisor, good discussion, lots to read, lots to do.

It's alright this PhD lark!

I'm a couple of months in as a part-timer and feel just the same. What I've been doing for the last month is writing a summary of every relevant paper I read. I find it helps, and I don't feel quite as much of a slacker as I did a few weeks ago

I'm 2 weeks in to my PhD & have pretty much hated every minute so far! I'm working on a collaborative project with another university however my part of the research is not in the area I had hoped. I feel like I have made a huge mistake, I'm completely unmotivated & disinterested at the moment. I feel like the best thing to do would be to quit now before I use up some of the funding that another student could have if they take my place. I'm dreading telling my supervisor, does any else have similar thoughts??