How much did you actually get done in your first year? Written two sentences in four months and wondering how far off the mark I am...

I really wouldn't worry. I wrote a couple of lit reviews and did other work but nothing even close to a chapter. A couple of friends of mine even changed direction completely after their 1st year. It depends what your doing, but if your supervisor aint complaining I wouldn't worry. As long as you're reading (yawn)

Hi

Same for me; have been reading a lot yet do not have a lot on paper. I think the trick is to keep on going. Currrently I keep a log of what I do and what I have done, which I think is helpful.

So do not worry and do not quit!

a fair amount, probably around 15-20k words, but that is the requirement for our Department.

the same here. Spent the firt 7 month mostly reading and then in the last 2 months wrote a first year progress paper (basically literature review& research project description). And changed the direction completely in the middle of the second year.

I have to write monthly progress reports and meet with the sponsors every month to explain what I've been doing. So no chance of reading for 7 months here, although I think if I'd had the chance to do that I wouldn't be repeating so much work

I have two literature reviews to finish, which will probably be about 15k when I finish them. I have written quite a few mini reviews so far, probably about 10, each around 1000 words each, but not all of them will be used in my literature reviews!

I feel like I haven't done much either. I've writen about 3000 words in 4 months (I need to for my uni) but it needs a lot more work on it before I can hand it in and I seem to have been unable to get anything else done with it despite staring at it for a long time yesterday

Guys, please dont worry yourselves. I'm in the second year of a social sciences PhD and for those doing similar I can tell you that a lot of your first year will be spent reading and working out what the hell your thesis will be about(which by the way may change drastically ). Add into that if your teaching undergrads aswell and it may feel at times that you're making not much progress at all!! Your first year, however, is about the ground work,keep a bibliography and regularly update it and you'll realise that your actually doing a helluva lot more than you think you are!

Thanks Deiseal

Thanks deiseal. I'm in social sciences too so good to hear that I'm not a total failure!

you're nowhere near being a failure sixkitten What area is it you're working on? I'm a history geek myself

International Relations - security really

What era are you studying??

Hi there first post for me but really pleased to see I'm not on my own!! 4 months in and apart froma couple of essays and the crit reviews I am currently working on I havnt actually done anything directly connected with the PhD. I have an upgrade in June which needs a 12000 word document so hopefully that will make me focus.
Sometimes cold panic grips me and I wonder what the hell I do do all day!
lol Dazed

I'm in science but my first year report (for upgrade) consisted of 3 chapters, 1 lit and 2 my own work giving a grand total of 28,000 words. I felt sorry for all the people that had to read it (more than once!).