Hi all, I need some advice on what to do. So, I am working in a topic on the political campaign financing, and I feel like I need some extra help on it. My supervisors are not super familiar with the topic but they try to be supportive because they know I am interested in it. I am not sure where or whom can I ask for help to talk a little bit more about my topic. Is it considered rude to email a professor from another university and seek them for help? I don't want to offend my supervisors, but I feel as if I really need to talk to someone who knows a little bit more in that area.

Hi PhD2020, I had an almost similar case but it was with my MSc supervisor, who was really horrible towards me and I brought it up to the department, but they did not make much effort to take actions towards the supervisor. I went to the Student Union and they were able to take my case better and support me. Do you have similar organization at your University that may help you? Maybe.

Hi Tudor_Queen,

Thank you so much for you really uplifting and kind response. Reading this has really helped me actually to feel better, and that paper you mentioned about: "It's a PhD not a Nobel prize" is really good and I am also recommending it to my other colleagues.

I want to say that I find this forum full of positivity and uplifting messages :)

Thank you!

Simm

Hi everyone,

I am working on a paper-based thesis. So, my thesis is supposed to contain three "ready-to-publish" essays. I am currently in my first year and working on the first paper. The more I work on it, I sometimes feel that maybe the gap I am studying is not significant enough to be entitled a PhD thesis work. I am not sure, but I feel as if the PhD thesis should be this very new knowledge and something grand, and mine feels like a very minor change to what has been done before. How can I tell if the gap is significant? I feel that my supervisors are being polite and they don't answer it directly when I ask if the gap is significant. I am not sure whom do I even ask? :(

My new contribution is supposed to be 1.Analysis on a larger set of observations than was done before
2.I am including more dimensions into measuring this independent variable and I am arguing the importance of adding this dimension is important to study the relation with dependent variable. I am very sorry if I am not making sense, but does that feel like new contribution? I am so confused about the this gap and new knowledge thing. I would be really grateful if you could give me some advice.

Thank you!

Best,
Simm

Hi Tudor_Queen, Thank you so much for helping me with this! This is super helpful. You have given me hope and really good ideas on how I can write. Thank you again!

Regards,
Simm

Hi everyone,

I am applying for this scholarship which is due very soon. I have to answer the following prompt within 500 words maximum. Here's the prompt:

- details of the aims and objectives of the PhD
- details of why the research is appropriate
-a timetable for the programme of work.
-You should summarise the hypotheses or questions to be used and the research methods you intend to use.

I just got a good feeling for my topic, so I am actually nervous about how to get all of this done in 500 words. And what do they mean by the aims and objectives of the PhD? I am sure if they are asking the aims and objective of the PhD programme overall or just my research objective. I would really be grateful for any help you can help me with! Also, I am a first-year student who has started their PhD already, and this scholarship is very important for me. I knew about this scholarship recently, so I am very sorry for the last minute to ask for help.

Simm

Hi Tudor_Queen, Thank you so much for your warm welcome. I am going to take your advice of collecting new data and bring this to my supervisors. I feel this is the only way I can contribute something new and also be able to explore interesting topics.

I am actually a finance student, although I have only done my masters in finance and my bachelor degree was in mathematics. I had thought finance PhD will be very interesting with my mathematics background, but I feel as if I am lacking the proper depth on theoretical finance. Thank you! :)

Simm

Hi maemae93,

I am very sorry to hear about your current situation. First, i wanted to tell you that as Tudor_Queen pointed it out is that you fixed the error, instead of submitting a paper with error to journal or presenting it at conference, you were fortunate to be able trace the error and at least you pursued an interesting question for sometime, and you grew as a researcher. I know it must feel like end of the world because you had been working on this for so long and all of that seems like it was for nothing. BUT hear me out, my supervisor often tells me that if I have an idea and I try it out and get no result, you can still include it as a PhD chapter. It does not make you any less of a researcher. I bet there are so many researchers who have had similar if not the same experience, and remember PhD is your place to learn and be able to fix this mistakes! I am 100% sure you will succeed as a great researcher because it sounds like you were very devoted to this research. That is the quality that matters! You have already come this far! Don't be disappointed in yourself, take some time for yourself and cheer yourself! I don't know where you are, but I am sending good vibes along your way :)

I am telling all of this because I am also a very anxious person who gets upset and very stressed by small things, so I can imagine the anxiety that you are feeling. We are a PhD community, and we stand together!

Hi everyone, I am a first year student, and I am currently working on finding a research question. It has been almost 6 months and I feel as if I am the only student who has not figured out a research question yet. I joined this forum in the hope that maybe my senior friends could advise me something. I have brought many questions to my supervisor but because of the data availability issue, we end up going back to square one always. My annual committee meeting is coming very soon, and I am a little scared about how am I gonna get through it. I have been reading papers but for some reason, I cannot come up with a gap. Does anyone have any advice? I really enjoy research, but this couple of week has been very disheartening.

Hi Rewt,

Thank you! I will post my message as a new thread. I have been reading paper, but then I feel that I don't see anything away from the obvious. I am now starting to question if I even know how to read a paper.

Hi everyone, I am a first year student, and I am currently working on finding a research question. It has been almost 6 months and I feel as if I am the only student who has not figured out a research question yet. I joined this forum in the hope that maybe my senior friends could advise me something. I have brought many questions to my supervisor but because of the data availability issue, we end up going back to square one always. My annual committee meeting is coming very soon, and I am a little scared about how am I gonna get through it. I have been reading papers but for some reason, I cannot come up with a gap. Does anyone have any advice? I really enjoy research, but this couple of week has been very disheartening.