Hi everyone, just found this forum and thought I would introduce myself.
I started my PhD in October in Sociology...it is now January and I feel like I have acheived very little. I've become really quite depressed with it...although I love my topic and I want to do it, I just dont know how to start. I have to narrow down my focus, and I dont know how to do that...I seem to spend days sitting at my computer, sending emails and browsing the internet, and doing very little work.
I have spoken to others in my department, and to my supervisors, who have all told me that doing a PhD is about ups and downs, and even my supervisor has joked that she thinks i'm crazy for putting myself through it. On the one hand it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels like this, but at the same time I would like to know that it will get better, and I wont feel so miserable for the next three years.
Anyone got any positive experiences to share or advice on motivating myself??
Sorry to start off with such a depressing post!
Kezza xx

Hi Kezza, you sound totally normal. Welcome to the forum!

Hello.
I am laos new here - started my PhD in September. And I am not quite sure if this was the right decision. Sometimes I feel like I am doing nonsense. But as my friend says "If it was easy, everybody could have done it". So, it is cool to be a doctor and it brings some advantages but we have to deserve it.

Lets be strong!

I am actually searching for people doing research in business and management: customer satisfaction, product quality and the stuff. Anybody here?

Wow Kezza, kindred spirit. Have a look at a post I put on before Christmas, and you'll see that I've been feeling exactly the same way. Confused, depressed, incredibly isolated (I'm doing English Lit), tired, apathetic, crazy...and these are just a sample of the feelings I've had. I decided yesterday to quit, but my partner keeps telling me to give it another term. What do you all reckon?

Thanks for all the replies...looks like pretty much everyone feels the same way at some point then??!!
Paulmanic, I just had a read of your previous posts. I have thought about quitting a few times, even had a look the other day for alternative jobs i could apply for....thing is, i have a day when I feel like that, and then another day when I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to do this...and so excited about my topic...It took two years of applying before i was finally given a studentship and i know I definately won't quit. The other day when i posted my first message I felt so low, did no work that day and pretty much spent the whole day eating my body weight in chocolate. But today I had a supervision this morning and it went well (despite my supervisor being an hour late grrr) and I feel like I have got a bit more of a focus now which is good. So feeling quite positive today (although could all change tomorrow).
Kezza xx

Hello! Im a new PhD student too!

It is a comfort to know that first year PhD students do actually exist! Im the only PhD student where my office is located, and I too feel very lonely and isolated, and am wondering whether I have made the right decision! Im determined to keep going as its only been a few months now-how Im going to cope for the next three years I dont know!

I have days when I can get work done and days when Im really not that productive. I have been writing since day one and have over 30k words of notes to condense into a literature review (ahhhh!).

Does everyone keep to their office during term time? I tend to move around alot, work in the library, study at the research libraries in London, work from my room in halls. My supervisor picked up on it and would like me to stay in my office. Im starting to think that my supervisors have made the wrong decision in offering me the studentship or maybe im being paranoid!

Oh well

Hey Pineapple, and anyone else this may apply to.

I'm a northerner (from Lancashire), but a lot of PhDs in the areas I'm interested in seem to be in London. What are your experiences of London? I have friends there doing PhDs, and they like the city, but it seems very expensive, unfriendly, a hassle because it's so big, and obviously it's not near home. Any comments?

I am a northerner too and I did my undergrad in London. I hated the place at first, its flat with poor air quality and the people aren't as friendly as yorkshire folk. But after a little while once you get over that its a great city to live in and its not really as big as you first thought. There is always something going on and there is always someone to go out with plus there are good transport links back up North and to other places in the country if you need to get out of the big smoke. It is expensive but not that much more than other cities to be honest. I would quite happily live therea gain if the need arises

Where's home Tricky? I did my undergrad in Sheffield and really like it - South and Noth Yorks are nice, but not too keen on West Yorks. The main issue (sad to admit it) is getting back home for football - it's the only thing I'm not really willing to give up. Not too readily, at least!

In answer to pineapple's question, there is office space in my department but I dont use it - I live a 45 min drive from campus so it's a bit too far to make it in each day! My supervisors dont seem to have a problem with me studying from home at all, but I guess it depends what area your PhD is in..eg if you use labs or something, and how much contact with your supervisor you have...I see mine once a month and just use email to communicate other than that..
Kind of wish that I was able to work in the office though, although it is nice just to be able to stay in my PJs all day if I want to, it does get very lonely!
Kezza x

Hello Kezza,

I'm thinking of doing a phd in sociology too, and I'm interested in your experiences of both applying for it and what it's like when you started doing the phd.

I'd like to know everything basically how you narrowed your field down to produce a research proposal, what was it like trying to apply for places and funding, how long it took, and what it's like actually starting the phd. Is it really very lonely? Do you literally talk to no one but your supervisor? And if you did a detailed and very good research proposal (presumably to get funding) how come you don't know where you're going when you start?

Also do you worry with a subject like sociology about what you would do afterwards?

Thanks for any advice!