How
to do PhD, Step by Step Advice from Start to End
(This is the article I wrote for http://blog.soton.ac.uk/studentblogs/author/mag208r/
in 2010. Hopefully, It will help new PhD students in UK system)
Permanent Head Damage (PHD) is shining at full boom I have become
short sighted, lost my memory, lost some hair with white blob at root (so I
have to change my hair style), grown fatter my inchoate SIX packs have been
replaced by one big integrated pack, I have less time for my friends and family
(I apologise, but one day you will be proud of me..;p)
Well
this is the abstract of what I am doing nowadays. This is my final year, and
now I am worried a bit about the work and the final viva. I asked my supervisor
about the work and he said it is fine, you will not have any problem; however,
the anxiety is natural. I have made a couple of contributions (though none of
them qualify for the Nobel Prize), published a couple of conference papers, and
have learnt a lot. I worked on 2-3 loosely connected areas and now I am
thinking which part of the work will contribute to, as they say the killer
results section. So I have vast experience gained after spending a lot of time,
and I can safely give the following guidelines to the new PhD students
1- The
first 9 months are really for your basic work, get an area (or at most two) in
which you will make some contribution. You may not find any gap in research
over that area; however, it will help you if you have some map for it. It will
be helpful if you choose an area which is appropriate to the skills you already
have.
2- The
9 month viva (conducted between 9-12 months) is planned to check that you have
understood the problem (literature review) and know where to go (possible
area), you are enthusiastic about research and know how to do it, and you have
adequate skills (e.g. writing, presentation etc). Usually it is not very tough
and lasts for 1 hour.
3- The
9-18 months are set up for methodology (how you solve the problem, if there is
any gap? Can you solve the problem from different angles? Can you find some
weaknesses of the existing work? ), development, and building the road map with
your supervisor. You must have access to the dataset(s) and proficiency with
the tool(s) and language(s) you are using. You must plan a conference paper
before going to your transfer report.
4- You
have your transfer viva (conducted between 18-24 months, but it may vary from
group to group, supervisor to supervisor, and of course student to student)
aiming to check that, the problem you are working on is worth researching, you
have a vivid methodology to solve the problem (which is unique or at least
different from the literature), you have some initial encouraging results, you
know where you are going, and finally you have enough work to do in the rest of
the PhD. Usually, it is tough you should expect a hard time from both assessors
- the examiner and your supervisor, and it lasts for two hours. An important
point is that both assessors want a coherent well=structured report, without
any inconsistencies.
5- From
18 months to 24 months you should concentrate on the short-terms plans made in
your transfer report, and work hard.
6- In
your third year, concentrate on the long-term plans made in your transfer
report, and work smart.
Finally,
I must say that research means you give something interesting to the rest of
the world. A simple example is, if a pedestrian asks you the way to the city
centre and there are three roads A, B, and C. Let’s assume you do not know the
way, but you know that A will not go to the high street, you can still tell the
pedestrian I do not know the exact way, but road A will not guide you towards
the high street.
Apart
from that I have made a New Year resolution---PhD, Learning, and Gym. Furthermore,
I have added an important point to the dictionary Just do it, do not plan too
much!
Happy
new year everyone,
Warm
wishes from Musi...;)
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