Tips For Successfully Completing your PhD – Part 1
Completing your Ph.D. thesis is no walk in the park. I can still
remember walking into the lab one afternoon to find my senior huddled under a
table, ‘Hiding from the stress’ as he put it. Despite these
difficulties, plenty of eager students start their PhD every year, enthusiastic
but woefully unprepared for the hardships that they will face. To help
prospective (or current) PhD students, we’ve compiled a list of ten things that
you should keep in mind while carrying out your research.
1. Choose your topic wisely – Unlike your master’s dissertation or
the book report you left until the last minute, Ph.D. projects take a
minimum of three years. That’s a lot of time to spend on a topic that you either don’t like or aren’t interested in.2. Focus – This seems an obvious reminder, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to get distracted when you have an important task at hand with a deadline that’s far away. And trust me, there will always be distractions, whether it’s the latest episode of Game of Thrones or that new restaurant that’s opened down the road. Make sure you stick to deadlines. And speaking of deadlines…
3. Set goals – Completing an entire PhD is no mean feat. Faced with such a daunting prospect, it can be easy to let things go till the last minute and suddenly realise that you have an entire chapter due in a week. Set viable goals for yourself, whether it’s using that fancy new planner your a friend bought you for your birthday or an app on your phone.
4. Socialize – This might sound counter-productive, but you’d be surprised how many PhD students get so engrossed in the work that they’re doing, they completely forget the world around them. Friends, family, and social life all take second place to their research. Don’t let that happen to you, after all, everyone needs a breather sometimes.
5. Enjoy your work – While it seems like a lot of work, a
PhD is actually a great chance to become an expert in your field. You get
to meet new people, have access to incredible laboratories and focus on
next to nothing but what you chose to study, all while adding to the world
of knowledge. It should be like a dream come true, but it can quickly
become your worst nightmare if you don’t remain optimistic.
We have only covered five posts in this section. In the next two
posts, we will concentrate on the remaining five tips, covering everything from
supervisors to criticism.
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