How to Get a PhD

Course Work and Contemplation Research Proposal Literature Review Research Paraphernalia Publications Dissertation

HOW TO GET A PHD

Muhammad Adil Raja

Roaming Researchers, Inc.March 29, 2015

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OUTLINE

1 COURSE WORK AND CONTEMPLATION

2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION

8 DISSERTATION DEFENSE

9 MANAGING YOUR PHD BLUES

10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


OUTLINE


2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

4 RESEARCH

5 PARAPHERNALIA

6 PUBLICATIONS

7 DISSERTATION



10 CONCLUSIONS


COURSE WORK AND CONTEMPLATION

Under normal circumstances you enroll in a graduateschool before formally embarking on a PhD journey.

Choosing a discipline that you like is natural.In certain universities you have to do considerablecoursework before landing on your research work.

American Universities.

Other Universities allow you to start research work outrightas a postgraduate master’s student.

British and European universities and research institutions.

Contemplate during this period what you really want to doas a researcher.

Learn to figure out what you really love to do.

Ask yourself this question again and again: Do I reallywant to do a PhD?


RESEARCH PROPOSAL I

Many institutions can assign you a problem as you enrollfor a PhD.

Benefits: You don’t have to do any labor in figuring outwhat you would love to do.

Drawback: You would be forced to fall in love with thefantasies of your supervisor.

The best thing is to have an idea about what you want todo.

Review the literature thoroughly.

Normally this has already been done due to years ofstudies in the graduate school.

Choose a problem (or a problem domain) that fascinatesyou.


RESEARCH PROPOSAL II

Write a research proposal about that.

Develop good writing skills, reading comprehension, andperform a thorough literature review.

A research proposal is all about what you would really liketo do as a researcher during your PhD studies.Components of a Research Proposal:

Abstract.Introduction.Literature Review.Methodlogy.

Include a Gantt chart here.

Objectives.Conclusions (if they make sense).A nice bibliography.

Read On: How to Write a Research Proposal.

Once you have done that, appear for a synopsis defense.

http://www.slideshare.net/madilraja/how-to-write-a-research-proposal-37361123


LITERATURE REVIEW I

Once your research proposal is approved.

Perform a thorough literature review of the problem thatyou have been assigned to work on.

Dedicate a duration of time for this.

It can be for as long as one year.

It can be as short as six months in some cases.

Although normally it would last for as long as the entireduration of your PhD studies.

You are going to have to dedicate a period of your studiessolely to this purpose – 6 months.

Literature collection.Reading and archiving.

Archive each paper properly as you read it.


LITERATURE REVIEW II

Keep a soft copy (on a cloud based storage systempossibly) and a hard copy (in your drawer).

Read the papers thoroughly (chew them well).

Mark them wherever appropriate.

Read up for the central ideas, data collection approaches,the questions addressed, the problems exposed, themethodologies that are adopted.

This can be a daunting task in the beginning, but canbecome fun as you become more seasoned.

Write summaries of works that inspire you forself-reference.


YOUR RESEARCH I

Really depends on the nature of the problem at hand.

Design your experiments in the light of literature review –for applied engineering disciplines.

Design your simulations – communications engineering.

Design surveys and build control groups– social scientistsand psychologists.

Get a pen and a paper and get into a garden with plenty oftime to think – number theorists and graph theorists.

You will have almost two years to get through this phase (inEurope).

You will have slightly more time in Germany and the U.S.Think outside the box:

You can only do that in light of your literature review.Try to be original.


YOUR RESEARCH II

Doing a PhD is all about delivering proof of concept.

Divide your life’s cycles into reading + writing +experiments + thought experiments.


YOUR PARAPHERNALIA I

The things that you would require to conduct yourresearch.

It really depends on the nature of your work.

A person developing the next robotic car may require hugeclusters of computers.

A number theorist may require only a pencil and a paperwith an ample time to think and some solitude.

An Internet connection.

Access to the massive academic literature that is availableonline or in libraries.

Make sure your university is subscribed to relevantjournals.

Inter-library loans.


YOUR PUBLICATIONS I

A normal expectation.

Publications normally start in the second year.

The expectation about number of publications may varyfrom supervisor to supervisor.

Normally it is expected to publish a couple of articles injournals and a few in conferences.

The expectations about the quality of publications may alsovary.

Normally it is expected to publish work in top rankingjournals and conferences.

Your publications speak for you on the day of yourdissertation defense.


YOUR PUBLICATIONS II

Develop the art of writing research papers during yourliterature review.

Learn to rank the literature you review.

Develop a self-standard accordingly.

It is nice to have a higher standard.


YOUR DISSERTATION I

Spare the last six months of your tenure for this.

Structure your dissertation in your mind’s eye initially.

Start writing small sections slowly and gradually in thebeginning.

Write more as you become more comfortable.

Writing 4,000 words per day should not be a big deal (Orshould it?)

Plug in data from your research articles.

If you have planned everything well, and if you have beenexecuting your plan well, it shouldn’t take more than sixmonths to patch up a nice dissertation.

In some cases it may only take a couple of months to writethe dissertation.


DISSERTATION DEFENSE

The last bit about your PhD journey.

A couple of hours long practice.

Begin with a presentation of your work.

Followed by a question and answer session.

The examiners go through your dissertation page by pageand then ask questions to you about it.

A dissertation is only defendable if you have been workinghard for all those years.

Spotting a jerk is always a trivial problem.

Audience: Your supervisor, and internal examiner or anexternal examiner.Be ready for an open air defense if you claim that you havediscovered Higgs Boson.

Be ready to be crucified if you have actually not.


MANAGING YOUR PHD BLUES I

PhD Blues are melancholic periods of your PhD life.

When you contemplate, “What’s the point of doing all ofthis?”

These can be rational ideas.

But they can snatch the best of your moods.

Try to avoid them as much as possible.Possible remedies are:

Spend time with friends and family.Talk about your work to people.Take up some sports activities.Eat and sleep well etc etc.Learn to relax and possibly meditate.


CONCLUSIONS

Doing a PhD can be a great adventure.

It can be extremely stifling at the same time.

It really depends on whether you want to get a PhD or not.

And whether you really like your work or not.

It is only nice if you like it.

Consumes the best years of your life – 3 to 5.

Be prepared to adopt a hermitic lifestyle.

Read on How to Get a PhD.

Its a valuable book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-get-PhD-handbook-supervisors/dp/0335242022

How to Get a PhD

Education

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