Grad Students - How typical is it for your supervisor to re-write your work?

G

I mean edit your proposal so heavily to the point it's re-worded/structured completely differently to what was orginally written (although the ideas are pretty much the same). I feel a bit deflated as I was told that my writing style is good.

Has anyone else experienced this, should I be worried if I go on to do a PhD with the same supervisor?

Avatar for sneaks

haha, I have posted before about this. My sup changes my publication work to the point where - if I make her 'track changes' it is entirely red - no black print left on the page.

But she only seems to do this for publications where she is a named author. And after several months of it, I've realised its just because she has an issue over people with different writing styles, so although I write academically and its fine, its not *her* style so she'll change things until it looks like she wrote it. Very annoying!

G

Uh-oh, now I'm feeling worried. What's the right way to handle this...? At this point it's hard to tell whether my sup is similar to your one in that he hates anything that deviates from his particular style!

Avatar for sneaks

If you think you're writing is good, then its probably the same as my sup. In which case, just take the changes with a pinch of salt i.e. its not 'bad' writing, its just them being overly picky. My supervisor tells me all the time "the thing about you Sneaks is that you're writing is excellent/you're very good at writing/you can write, others can't" etc etc. but doesn't stop her changing it all!

I wouldn't overly worry. And if you are concerned handing your thesis in with their changes, then you might have to address it - my sup only changes publication work. Maybe ask them to confirm you can hand it in with their changes.

G

I did confirm whether this would be fine. He told me that it's the way in early stages and he will give me a lot of support as I have never published before... in order that I gain the tools for doing a PhD. I just felt my work morphed into his work and that is what worries me!

Avatar for sneaks

If its the early stages I wouldn't worry - you're work will change as you gain more confidence and you start to know the real arguments that run through your PhD. The things he's changing now may not even end up in your final thesis. If it continues into your writing up period then I'd start to question it.

One thing I wish I had done - my sup changes things because she thinks I realise why she is changing them. But she never says "I'm changing this because xyz" - I wish she did, instead it just gets changed, no explanation. It may be worth having a meeting and asking him to go through the changes and explain why, at least that way you can decide whether you think the changes are necessary and start to identify areas you can change your style (if necessary)

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