Hi

I had planned to start writing 2 weeks ago but I haven't started yet and don't see myself starting soon. I'm not sure where to start as I just have a sleazy short literature review from my first year and some scattered experiments with different results after two years. The paper I was supposed to submit for a journal isn't ready yet due to lack of novelty and the biggest problem is that I've stopped reading and doing experiments for some time and now it looks too difficult to figure out where to start with. I know that I want to finish my PhD in September 2011 as my funding will finish by then, I just need a good plan and guidance to know what to do or where to start. My supervisors are useless in this as they don't have the technical knowledge for my project :(.

Any suggestion is more than welcome.

Sheryl

Hi

I always knew that there's a lot of politics going on in the department between lecturers and profs. What I had never noticed was how PhDs can be affected by these politics. How come someone with 0 level of English proficiency and little knowledge can publish good journal papers and someone hard working has to go through a difficult viva. Now I understand how important it is to know about these politics and to never criticise any prof or lecturer in front of other staff or students. Being vigilant about the hidden relationships in the department can also increase your chances of developing a better relationship with your supervisor, doing a good PhD and having a smooth viva with little corrections. I'm not underestimating your role as a student to work and study hard in your PhD but just to emphasize the effect of politics in making it a better or worse experience for you.

Good luck
Sheryl

Hi friends

I don't know how to thank you for your support and advice. I haven't seen any of you but last week I felt I've got many friends who truly know what I'm going through and that made me feel a lot better. I have read your replies many times to grab the best ones I could do last week.

I decided not to be harsh on myself although it's not that easy. The thoughts of not having done anything still bother me, but I've been trying to put them off at least for a week. I've been working couple of hours in morning and taking afternoons off although I stayed in office and just checked my emails and read some articles. I've been also doing exercise more often and I hope I can increase it this week. This helped more than anything.  I'll wait 2 more months to see how my progress will be and then will decide about taking couple of months off.

Again, thanks you friends for your replies. I'm sure this is not the last time I feel hopeless and I'm not the last PhD student to feel like this. So I'll keep posting and I hope these posts can help others to get out of hopelessness.

Hug
Sheryl

Hi friends

I don't know how to thank you for your support and advice. I haven't seen any of you but last week I felt I've got many friends who truly know what I'm going through and that made me feel a lot better. I have read your replies many times to grab the best ones I could do last week.

I decided not to be harsh on myself although it's not that easy. The thoughts of not having done anything still bother me, but I've been trying to put them off at least for a week. I've been working couple of hours in morning and taking afternoons off although I stayed in office and just checked my emails and read some articles. I've been also doing exercise more often and I hope I can increase it this week. This helped more than anything.  I'll wait 2 more months to see how my progress will be and then will decide about taking couple of months off.

Again, thanks you friends for your replies. I'm sure this is not the last time I feel hopeless and I'm not the last PhD student to feel like this. So I'll keep posting and I hope these posts can help others to get out of hopelessness.

Hug
Sheryl

Hi Joyce

Thanks a lot for your reply. I cannot believe that I could get some advice this fast. Your words are so encouraging and deep inside, I believe in every word you're saying. In reality, it seems too far away and out of reach. I've been seeking help from some colleagues and previous classmates. I'm working on data classification and they all say that the data set is too small for the work. The problem is that I cannot get any more data as the data is very specialized and needs couple of years experiments in lab.

I have already got some feedback for my paper from a journal although it was rejected at the end. The feedback was very constructive but the problem is that the main feedback was that the paper isn't a novel contribution to the subject. I'm not sure how other PhD students come up with novelty in their work but I haven't been successful yet. I think I haven't done enough reading and proper research to find something novel but I'm tired of trying. It's been couple of months that I haven't done anything about my project and I don't know where to start now.

Sheryl

Hey

I'm a 3rd year PhD in Electrical Engineering. I've been struggling with depression for almost 2 years and I believe that it all originates from my inability to be satisfied with my progression in my PhD. I feel that I haven't learnt as much as I expected from PhD. My supervisors have asked me to finish a journal paper to be able to do my viva but I haven't been able to do it after 2 years.

I've been on anti-depressants for 3 months but it has just alleviated my thoughts of suicide. I think everything is perfect around me but still, I cannot stop my hopelessness. I have very nice and supportive friends and family around. PhD is something I've always yearned to do. My supervisors are also very supportive although they are technically useless to help me with my paper.

Now I'm thinking about quitting PhD but I don't know what to do after that. I'm not sure if I can find a job easily. On the other hand, I don't know how to continue with PhD like this, hopeless, long sleeping hours, crying and isolating myself in my room for couple of days each month.

Please give me your advice, what would you do if you were me?