Hi all,

Well, in a month I will officially have started my Phd (eek!). I was wondering if anyone else out there is in the same boat, cos it might be fun to share mutual reassurance. And though i know there are loads of tips threads, if any more seasoned folks want to weigh in with advice, that would be great too.

Anyway I'm Australian, about to start a Phd in an area of cognitive Psychology that I was pretty much absolutely unfamiliar with until a month ago. Ive had a great summer, but also been doing a bit of background reading. My main problem is the absolutely overwhelming amount of literature in the area, I really need to start finding a specific focus, to help narrow things down, but I keep changing my mind! Anyone else have this problem? How are you approaching it?

My plan for the next month is to come up with a few general areas, that might be good to research, so that I can run them past my supervisors when i start. Once I've picked one, I can start teasing out specific research questions. What do people think about this approach? Is there anything else that would be good for me to do in my last month of freedom?