I'm a phd student in my 5th year. I did a lot of research work and have
a lot of publications. But honestly, none of my work has significant
contribution in terms of theory. At the beginning of this year, my
advisor pushed me to work on a new topic (not the same as my previous
work but still in this field) and expected me to have significant
contribution.
Here's the time line:
01/2010-03/2010:
I worked very hard and seemed to come up with some methods. However,
most of my methods are similar to existing ones and my results are no
better than others' work. That means there is still almost nothing new
in my methods. During this time I suffered a lot mentally and I went to
the consultant several times.
04-05/2010:
I wrote a paper about my work anyway and my advisor agreed me to submit
it.
06-08/2010:
I did an internship somewhere else. During this time I also did some
research work remotely (useful work but little theoretical contribution)
09/2010:
I passed my comprehensive exam where I did a very good presentation. I
will be eligible to defend my thesis 7 months after this.
10/2010:
The paper got rejected, as expected. My advisor asked me to continue to
work on that and make something new.
Now, I'm desperate. I know I can't come up with anything new in that
specific topic. I can work as hard as in this spring but won't produce
anything except more suffering (I admit that I can learn a lot of stuff
myself this way, but I just can't create anything new).
If you were my advisor, would you let me graduate eventually?
