Your dissertation is an important pathway in your career. The fact that you have successfully defended your doctoral thesis is a sign that you are no longer a student but an independent researcher with a doctoral degree. degree, is able to plan and carry out a research project. I’m sure you cannot wait to see this day, and congratulate you in advance for that.
- But the road to this milestone can turn bumpy, full of both anticipated and unexpected obstacles, or quote the famous words of the former U.S. Secretary of Defense: “known unknowns and unknowns.” Having gone through the writing of dissertations twice in my speech – for the first time my dissertation in bachelor of microbiology and my second dissertation in scientific history – here are some field notes on how to get one written and defended on time.
- The first rule: it’s never too early to start writing: In my experience as both a student and a teacher, graduate students think a dissertation is the last thing they need to attend, or what can be quickly “written up” after research when the “real work” has been done.
- Immersed in the day-to-day work of the laboratory — for example, to get the experiment done properly, to validate the evidence, to get that last piece of knowledge — science students are particularly vulnerable to delays in writing dissertations.
- While it is true that chronologically speaking, writing, and defending are your last actions before completing your doctorate, it is vital to understand that writing is a process. Like all processes, it is a collective process that begins long before you work on the real product.
- Just as you don’t run a marathon without performing various preparatory steps – e.g., short run, long hike, gym workouts – you can’t dive into writing dissertations without practicing it.
- Start preparing, to write your thesis right from the first day you start graduate school. Every article you write, every presentation you give, and even every argument you hone is another concrete step toward the ultimate goal, i.e., it helps you tone and master your writing skills.
- So write often and as much as you can right from the start as it will save you a lot of time later. Save copies of everything you submit because you never know when or how it might be useful
- Allocate some time specifically for writing dissertations: Make writing a part of your routine. It doesn’t have to be a daily activity (although it doesn’t hurt), but like training, it’s important to practice regularity for better efficiency and time management in the long run.
- Keep your advisor up to date throughout the process: Communication is key to all aspects of your PhD, but probably nowhere but to get your dissertation at the right time. Most people – and I recognize that I am sometimes a member of this party – are sensitive to showing their written works to others until they believe it is “done,” but this can be a big mistake.
- Regularly consult with a counsellor about your job, its progress, or lack thereof. Don’t worry about wasting your advisor time on such requests. He – and other professors and mentors – will help you with various aspects of writing (and sometimes proofreading) as well as science itself.
- More importantly, such meetings make the counsellor know what you are doing and thinking about, which is an important aspect because you are probably not their only graduate student. Check
- I remember one case where the lack of communication between the student and the advisor until the eve of the defence almost resulted in the dissertation being rejected because the content was so unexpected. So it was back to square one or ground to zero for the student. Such a scenario hardly needs to be repeated in a scientific laboratory because scientific postgraduate research is often part of a larger project, but you still want your professors to know your progress.
- Maintain a commented bibliography: I think this relatively simple practice is perhaps the most valuable time management tool for a researcher not only as a graduate student but throughout his or her career.
- Much more than a simple list of references or a bibliography of different chapters, a labelled bibliography includes your personal comment – call them reading notes – on every paper you read. In the following article, I will discuss different styles and strategies for compiling tagged bibliographies, but here is an example of their considerable usefulness as a time management tool:
- Whenever I sit down to write an official paper, I open the relevant explained bibliographies. I maintain several different topics and projects in the background and use them interactively with my unfinished work. By working on the main features of my idea, I correct several useful passages from my bibliographies – e.g., quotes, arguments, opinions – which I then supplement with additional writings such as comments, updates, and references.
- Work on “stepping stone” assignments: In addition to the bibliography explained, there are other types of articles that you should practice writing to prepare for a future longer assignment. In some universities, a science dissertation is often a collection of published articles that are attached to an introduction and discussion. Even when it is not, the published paper is a great core for building a dissertation.
- So write evaluation reports, regularly for your experiments or experimental groups, whether they succeeded or not. Indeed, writing about failures is important because they can provide feed for evaluation and discussion.
- Other useful genres for experimenting with writing include literature reviews or bibliographic essays descriptions and evaluations of new methods and techniques, and even the occasional review of books.
- Present your work in workshops, conferences, and meetings: Take every opportunity to present your work in formal conferences, less formal laboratory group meetings, and / or graduate student conferences, as each presentation involves a certain amount of writing that adds to your thesis or dissertation.
