ABSTRACT
A doctoral student captured some of the liminal or intermediate feelings that appear to be characteristic of the research student's experience of graduate research. He or she is 'suspended' between the social position of the student, and that of the fully-fledged, independent university academic. This chapter discusses that there are three sources for this sense of 'suspension': problems of gathering data for the thesis, of writing up those data into an acceptable text, and the adoption of a new identity as a scholar in one's chosen discipline. It examines accounts of academic identity from research students and academic staff. The Training Board of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded a range of projects on the Social Science PhD in 1988. Academic socialization for research students involves the emergence of a sense of identity, which may include identification with the chosen discipline.
