Dear AingealNic,

I know someone else in your situation - working on his PhD since 1997. I am sure that you must have acquired a good knowledge of your field by now, may be better than your supervisor.

Try to establish regular contact with your new supervisor as he may think that you are no more interested in submitting your PhD after so many years.

Let him know that you are still working on it and that you want to submit it. I'm sure he'll help you to the best of his ability. Sometimes being the first supervisee is a good thing as the supervisor strives his best to show his abilities in this particular academic work.

I have two supervisors - I am not doing my PhD in the UK - one a Professor and the other one, a new PhD. I must admit that although the Professor gave me good directions for the thesis, the second supervisor gave me practical advise during my research (for my thesis) that were extremely beneficial.

In sum, don't give up. Try to connect with your supervisor to get advice and get it done.

Hi all,

I'm not from the UK and thought that the US PhD programmes involving both 'coursework' and 'research' was common knowledge.

One of my friends knew a Korean PhD student who completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 2 years. There are many ingredients behind this notable achievement : excellent supervisor, good lab, great support from friends, single, lol !

Smilodon: PhD by research only means that there is only a dissertation to write as compared to 'research and coursework' where both are required.

Yeah, I think you are right !

Although for someone doing a PhD by research only, it might be possible to complete the whole thing in 2 years.

Hi all,

I read an article on Chronicle.com and was wondering how many of you agree that a PhD thesis can be completed in 12 to 18 months.

Any comments from those who are now near completion.

"On the time needed to complete a dissertation, Cahn's advice is equally brisk and demanding: "Any time beyond two years is excessive. Indeed, I would expect the task to be completed in 12 to 18 months."

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/02/2009020301c.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

wait

There should be no problem at all if you announce right at the beginning that this is an ongoing research. The audience would not expect you to have any data. I did that before at an international conference and it went well.

You have to stress on why you did the research and what particular gap in knowledge you are trying to 'fill'. Your lit review and methodology would be the main focus of your presentation.

All the best.

Thanks for your replies.

I'm in my 3rd year research only PhD. I am also aiming at asking one of the authors (one of my supervisors) to present the paper at the conference. I can't afford it too.

Aloha, may I have the URL for the Norwich Papers please?

Thank you

Dear all,

I was just wondering which is best:

To spend my whole time writing up my PhD or finding some time to write and present a paper at an international conference in my field? What is the best course of action ?


For those who have managed to publish a paper or two in refereed journals, how did you get your first paper published? Any advice is much appreciated.
(up)

Yes, sorry for the misunderstanding, I'm half-way through my research, not the writing up.

What should I do?

Should I approach another faculty member then and ask him to be my supervisor even if he is not fully in my field?

It does not flow between me and my supervisor anymore. I want to know my options as there is noone in my university who can supervise me on the topic that I have chosen.

I want to know if this has ever happened to other students and what did they do?

It's my last option, I must admit, but I want to know if it is a good option in the first place.

Good day to all,

I was just wondering how feasible is shifting with your half-completed thesis to another university? Has anyone done that?

And also, how do we go about getting accepted? Do we go through the registrar as a normal student and wait to be assigned a supervisor or should we contact the potential supervisor in advance by email?

Are supervisors reluctant in accepting a student who is just left with the writing up?

I still haven't seen him and wonder how long I should wait....

He doesn't even want to speak to me. I have emailed, texted, nothing. This is really upsetting me.

Has anyone encountered anything like that before?

Who could I report such misconduct at my university?

Thank you for your posts. Yes, I am half-way through my doctorate. And to change supervisors would mean, months of waiting and finding somneone who may not even be in my field.

I do not know if there is a disciplinary board. I'll enquire about it.

Should I see him first before making a formal complaint against him to the dept.? I would like to know why he suddenly changed and what caused this.

There is another thing that I'm afraid of - backwash and his effect on a new supervisor that I may have.