I am but a rudderless ship alone on the sea that is a PhD.

I have just started a PhD in Psychology and am looking for a book or two to help give me structure etc.
I have the unwritten rules of PhD research by Petre and Rugg which has been very good. But I am looking for one or two more.
What did you read that you found good, or bad.
Cheers

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To be honest I'd say don't waste your time reading these books just get on with it and not bother reading these non-PhD books when you could be doing research.

Go to the library and take out a few of the successful PhDs from the last few years then you'll see how it should be put together.

But the main thing is just get your data in and keep your literature up to date and trust me once you're at that stage you'll have a fair idea what you want to write.

I found 'How To Get a PhD' by Phillips and Pugh pretty useful - good for the overall structure of a PhD. But yes, look at other people's PhDs - I have one from someone who used very similar methods and theories to me but looking at a different area, and that's been really helpful. Otherwise, I agree, just dive in! This forum has given me plenty of insight into the process and answered most questions that come up. The main thing I'd say early on is to get familiar with the literature in your area. Everything stems from that!

Generally I'd agree with the just-dive-in advice. But I did find two books particularly useful.

Firstly "Authoring a PhD" by Dunleavy. This helped me shape the overall structure of my PhD thesis, and made writing up much more tackleable than it would have been otherwise.

And, in the very final stages, "The Doctoral Examination Process" by Tinkler & Jackson. This demystified the viva, removing the terror, and helped me prepare for it in the best possible way.