Hi everyone, as a newly started student I am feeling stressed at the minute:-(. Is it usual to feel out of your depth during the early months. I am in the process of trying to formulate what my initial research will be about. I have an idea of the direction I think I want to progress but am finding that as I put one idea down it throws up 20 different concepts/ theories etc that I don't understand. I assume that this is the way research normally works( or at least I hope it is), you throw up a new concept , look into that to get some more understanding and during this process probably encounter another set of concepts to look into.
I suppose I am just looking for a bit of reassurance that I am not on my own in feeling like this.
Max
:-)

Hi Max,

I think what you are feeling is very normal! I have also started recently (last Oct) and I've often felt a bit like that. It's all a bit overwhelming at times! I have done a lot of reading around my subject, but it's only now that I've started to look more closely at theoretical aspect that I feel it's all coming together and I'm getting closer to formulating some sort of research question.

You'll be fine!

:-)

Hi Moonblue, thanks for the reply. A bit of reassurance is always good to get. I think because its been so long since I did my first degree (graduated in 1996) I am feeling a bit rusty at studying. I am hoping that as my knowledge increases I will feel less overwhelmed by it all, fingers crossed.
Good luck
Max

Ha, I finished my first degree in 1993, my Masters in 1994. Both in a completely different subject. :-) I have done some studying since though, and worked in the area I'm doing my PhD in. But yes, it does take a while to get into it. I wonder if it's very different if you've just finished and undergrad or Masters? Or is a PhD so different that it takes a lot of adjusting anyway?

Don't worry Maxipat, as moonblue says, it's a normal response to the first few months. A PhD is pretty much a long run of realising how little you know, and it's never worse than at the start. As you get into it your topic will narrow, your knowledge will widen, and before long you'll feel quite at home in your little academic hovel! Just keep plugging away, but also keep an eye on your aims so you don't stray too widely from your topic (literature can lead you down ridiculous rabbit holes).

I think that is where some of the snowed under feeling is coming from, I have changed subjects slightly, my degree was in electronics but I am now studying a branch away from pure electronics. Although I work in the area I am studying my work is very much practical, I know how things are done but don't necessarily fully understand the theory behind why they are done. This is where I think I will find myself doing lots of reading. I think to a certain extent the fact that a PHd is a lot more specialised than a first degree will lead to it feeling very different. I am assuming that most people probably come into their first few terms with a massive learning curve to expand on the basic fundamental knowledge of the subject they may have (or is this just wishful thinking on my behalf)
I am sure I will get to grips with it, just have to put up with the "exploding head" feelings for now.
Max:-s

That sounds very much how I've been feeling too. I've decided not to worry about it because it does seem that everyone else goes through the same thing. When I discussed this with one of my supervisors he just smiled and said that's what a PhD is like, you just have to accept that you'll go off down blind alleys and have to come back out to something more general again, but it's all a process of edging closer to a clear idea of what you're going to look at. I hope he's right!

This thread is well timed - I've got a PhD offer for May but I'm actually scared to take it up because the project intimidates me a bit. It's in an area I've touched on (quantum mechanics) but only in a fairly basic way, obviously, since it was only UG - and even then it was in 2007. I feel like the leap is going to be too much, and everyone will think I've completely fabricated my degree or something because I'll look really stupid and struggle with it (hello neuroses, my old friend). I'm really happy to hear that it's pretty standard to feel lost to start with and then work it out from there.
Still scary though. Where's the "oh sh-" smiley?? :-(