WhereIsMyBacon

Thanks a million for the suggestions and feedback - reading this provided a huge 'pick-me-up'! For me, the biggest take home from your comments was the submission of 'rough' drafts/work to my supervisor. I am going to start getting multiple proofreads before sending anything off for review. Up to this point, I have only gone through two to three reviews before submission. I finalized my proposal and have sent it off to my committee. As I defend later on this week, I am looking forward to hearing what the other members of my committee think. I'll report back Thanks again for the support

I am currently in the process of finalizing my MSc thesis proposal. I will be defending next week. Over the past six months, my draft reviews have been returned to me plastered in red. Whilst I am very thankful that my supervisor has taken the time to thoroughly review my work and provide (very) informative and helpful feedback, the comments that I am receiving are increasingly aggressive in nature. Regardless of how much time and effort I invest towards improving my proposal, it never seems to be of sufficient quality in my supervisor's eyes. Sections that were one approved, return with major corrections (I understand that the relevance with other ideas might result in this happening, but this is not the case here). My writing is simply not 'textured' enough. It is not 'tight' enough. It is not 'systematic'. I have now reached the point where the comments are actually affecting my physical and mental health. I am doubting every single word that I write. I spend hours reading the same sentence over and over again. I no longer take part in discussions with friends or family as I question whether I am actually saying anything meaningful. I have attended writing clinics, which have turned into lectures on how to deal with supervisors. When I discuss this with fellow graduate students, I get laughed at for being too hard on myself, and that I should take more pride in my work and stop worrying about comments. I am now contemplating having a discussion with my supervisor and graduate program coordinator in order to determine whether or not I am actually 'worthy' of graduate school. I personally feel that I simply make my supervisor 'look bad'. I still have to conduct my field work and write/defend my dissertation. Whilst I am prepared to work hard and improve myself, I feel it will just result in a lot more hardship or expectations that I can never hope to meet. I don't even remember why I started writing this, I think it was to get some feedback or simply share it with someone. If anyone can provide some suggestions or anything else, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks