I mean just after you hand in parts of literature review or even a short report or anything you have written. Are they critical, do they ever tell you it's not that good, or are they sort of polite like "Ummm it's good" etc

I have two supervisors - one always take the "hmmm it's fine..." approach. The other one is more direct about it and will just say things like "you must have been tired when you wrote this part because it makes no sense" Just as well I'm not too sensitive I actually prefer the direct approach to be honest why bother beating about the bush!

Hope it all works out...

Usually the same for me. I hate it when they try to be nice, by starting with: 'this is a really good piece of work' and then they start ripping it to pieces!

But, we usually go through the piece of work submitted, discuss the weak points and don't touch on the stronger bits! It usually follows this structurw, though.

None, my supervisor doesn't seem to read the work I give to him.

I think my supervisor believes I'm the cleaner...

I have a problem that mine is too nice. I sometimes wish she would tell me "THIS IS CRAP" when we both know it is. I usually get "This is good" or "This is very good" when I submit something barely average. When I submit something that is kind of good, I get "This is outstanding" or exeptional or excellent or great.

This might not be such a problem but I fear that external examiners will tear me apart and I know that I am a lot worse than my sup. leads me to beleive.

I've deduced that my supervisor doesn't believe in giving praise or credit where due, and simply points out all the weak points.

Lostinoz... is there any chance that your supervisor is actually telling the truth and maybe you're just being a bit hard on yourself?

Feedback? What a novel idea - just what is that exactly......?

feedback? well sometimes she acknowledges that she did, indeed, receive what i sent her. when it is unavoidable that we meet, then everything always seems to be "fine", or "excellent work", etc.

although i admit that i stopped sending her stuff very often.

I like the weekly scheduled meeting (ah, the bliss of a new PhD stufdent/toy) that doesn't actually accomplish anything!

My academic supervisor more or less accepts what i give to him with no qualms, except there's something importnat missing and he tells me to go add that. My industrial supervisor is more direct and almost never accepts anything on the first submission but sends me back to get it corrected. I think i prefer a more direct approach as it pushes me to work harder.

I never get anything positive back. If I send in anything, even if it is a comment on something or a question, I can be sure to get something negative or nothing back. The other day, I got
'It's coming on nicely, so keep it going' after sending in 4000 words of my Lit. Review, this was after 5 bullet points on what was wrong. I was actually over the moon, the nearest to a positive so far. I actually sit poised over my send button, psyching myself up for the response I know I will get. I dread meetings, had one last week and another on Thursday, am so nervous that I feel physically sick and wonder why on earth am I doing this But, I love my PhD really and that is what keeps me going.

Reading all these comments makes me feel really lucky on the supervisors I have!

My main supervisor is great at reading things I give and always tells me what needs more explanation, how I could say things better (has vast experience in publishing), overall thoughts etc.

The other two are pretty good too, always giving positive feedback.

typically feedback i get from my sup is 'thats crap' with corections on every line, even though the rest of my panel are usually postive. i dont think he has ever said anything positive