Postgraduate studies Archives

How to get a PhD

July 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

research, writing, and information management skills

Nothing can quite prepare you for a PhD. It’s likely to be the longest piece of research and writing you ever undertake in your life. How to get a PhD is a guide to the process, and a survival kit for doctoral candidates. The authors are particularly good on the meaning and structure of a PhD, how to develop time management skills, and the difficulties of communicating with supervisors and how to overcome them. Much of this would apply to online PhD students too.

If you are intending to embark on a research degree it will introduce you to the system and help you to improve your choice of university, college, department, and even supervisor. The first part of the book deals with the process of becoming a postgraduate student, how to get into the academic system at this level, and the special demands and exact nature of the PhD qualification. There is then advice on how to do research and a discussion of the structure required in this form of writing.

Phillips and Pugh then pass on to the substance of the task so far as the candidate is concerned – the long slog through three years of reading, writing, note-taking, and data collection.

They cover the special problems of groups such as women, part-time, and adult students, plus the tricky issues of dealing with supervisors and an environment which is based on the deeply entrenched privileges of old, white, Anglo-Saxon males (some of them already dead).

New for this fourth edition is a diagnostic questionnaire for students to monitor their own progress, plus a new section on the increasingly popular professional doctorates such as EdD, DBA, and DEng.

And then suddenly, and rather strangely (though true to its subtitle) the subject of its address changes from student to tutor. They discuss how supervisors can improve the support they give to students – largely by making the effort to see the process from the student’s point of view.

As a supervisor myself, I found this section instructively chastening. They offer a number of useful suggestions for making feedback more effective, and then end with notes on the responsibilities which institutions have to provide an adequate overall service for research students.

This is a book which is standing the test of time. First published in the 1980s, new material has been added for the latest (fourth) edition, which now includes information technology, publishing your work, and teaching and working towards a PhD in a practice-based discipline. There are very few guides to help people at this level of academic work. Anyone about to embark on the three year odyssey would do well to read this first – then pass it on to your supervisor.

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Estelle M. Phillips and Derek S.Pugh, How to get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors, Buckinghamshire: Open University Press, 5th edn, 2010, pp.220, ISBN: 0335242022

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How to Survive your Viva

July 11, 2009 by Roy Johnson

defending a thesis in an oral examination

This is the first book of its type (in the UK) to focus entirely on this one short but vital part of the PhD process. It’s a vital stage in gaining your degree, yet most people make surprisingly little preparation for it. Rowena Murray starts off with a look over research on the viva in an attempt to learn what we know about what goes on ‘behind closed doors’. The answer is that we don’t know a lot, which is her justification for writing the book. How to Survive your Viva gets straight down to defining the viva and its purpose – which is not as easy as it might seem, because practice varies from one institution to another, and the process is often shrouded in secrecy.

She makes this even more scary by pointing to the reason: there isn’t even a set of universally agreed criteria for what constitutes a successful PhD. Her advice is grounded in experience, and is perfectly sound. For instance, on the common occurrence of ‘pass subject to revisions’ which often seems so disappointing when candidates hear the words spoken, she offers this reassurance:

The viva is built up to be ‘the end’ of the doctoral process, but in reality the doctorate does not end with the viva. There is almost always some more work to do… Since the most common outcome is a pass with revisions and/or corrections, then you are not quite finished. Nor is it the end of the world if you have to do some more work; most people do. Do not, therefore, let the stakes get too high, so that it will seem like the end of the world if you have more work to do. Do not do that to yourself.

When it comes to preparing for the viva, she offers an amazingly thorough checklist of questions to ask your institution. These range from ‘Can I have a copy of the university’s code of practice on the conduct of the doctoral examination?’ to ‘Can I have a copy of the examiner’s form to be used in my viva?’

Students have far more extensive ‘consumer powers’ these days, and you have every right to ask for such information. You will certainly be much better prepared with it in your possession.

Her next chapter offers a timetable of what to do in the last few weeks leading up to the event, followed by how to handle the different types of questions likely to be raised in the interview, including what to do if you get stuck or flummoxed.

There is even a whole chapter on answering questions, striking the right attitude, responding to challenges, and even doing presentations. She also recommends mock vivas, shows you how to cope with the revisions, and how to recover from the whole experience afterwards.

My own PhD viva had some bad moments because I invited an extra examiner who didn’t really need to be there – and he decided to make waves (because he had no personal investment in the process). If I had read this book first, I wouldn’t have made that mistake. It’s a crucial moment in your academic career. The price of a book like this will repay itself a hundredfold in your first year of subsequent employment.

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Rowena Murray, How to Survive your Viva, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2009, pp.208, ISBN: 0335233821

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The Doctoral Examination Process

July 20, 2009 by Roy Johnson

This is an ambitious book with three separate audiences. It’s main strength is that it is based on research at twenty British universities – eleven ‘old’ and nine ‘new’. Tinkler and Jackson’s approach assumes that the research has been done and the work has been submitted. So it begins withe the Viva – which the Burnham committee described as ‘one of the best kept secrets in British higher education’. They seek to de-mystify the process by looking at what the viva is for, what the expectations of students and examiners are, and what rules (if any) surround the process.

These are more varied (or non-existent) than you might imagine. It turns out rather surprisingly that at the University of Glamorgan for instance, you can pass the viva even if you are dead. Next comes what examiners might be looking for in the thesis which will be discussed during the viva – followed by advice on how to prepare for the experience, short and long term.

Their suggestions are that you should be presenting papers in the department or conferences, attending training courses, and even publishing your own work.

Next come observations on the selection of examiners. Who chooses them? What are their qualifications? And should your supervisor attend the viva as well?

Despite the mystique which still surrounds this part of PhD examination, there are a lot more open regulations these days. Both students and newly appointed supervisors and examiners would do well to read these chapters.

There are also some fascinating case studies illustrating practices in foreign universities, as well as some cautionary tales from the UK where the ‘flexibility’ in the system sometimes means things go wrong.

They then offer something I have never come across before – guidance to examiners on how to assess a doctoral thesis. They even cover a number of different disciplines in doing so. Then it’s a return to support and preparation for the student – using mock vivas and last minute revision.

Finally, they deal with what happens behind the closed doors of the viva itself. (More case studies of horror stories and triumphs.) How to deal with the questions; how to create a confident impression; how to overcome nervousness.

They are right to stress the range of possible outcomes for which candidates should be prepared. If the result is not what you had hoped for, they even cover the appeals process – as well as how to celebrate afterwards if it’s a success.

I think students will find the quotations and real life case studies really interesting. New supervisors and examiners will get an informative overview with some useful comparative studies from a variety of institutions.

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Penny Tinkler and Carolyn Jackson, The Doctoral Examination Process, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2004, pp.228, ISBN: 0335213057

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The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research

July 17, 2009 by Roy Johnson

complete guide to undertaking a PhD – and beyond

This is a guide to the whole process of postgraduate research – from the point of selecting a topic and a supervisor, through to surviving your viva and starting to apply for jobs. The claim of authors Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre is that their advice includes all the things nobody ever tells you – either because they think you already know, or they have passed through the system and forgotten that they themselves once didn’t know. For instance, they start off with topics such as the need for tact, patience, and restraint: after all, you’re not the first person to undertake research.

This is followed by what they call knowing how to have ‘the right cup of coffee’ – that is, getting the best sources of advice. They even include things as obvious but often disastrously forgotten as the need to back up your work at every stage. Their urgings are all very sound. Get to know all stages of The System and its procedures; learn how to fill in forms (first in pencil, on a photocopy); understand the role of a supervisor, and create the groundwork for establishing a good working relationship.

They take a realistic attitude to the current tenor of academic life in the UK. Yes, everything has been driven by the Research Assessment Exercise, but the PhD research project is still worth doing as an intellectual exercise in its own right.

They cover all the reading and writing skills you will need – and the general advice is that you must learn to be professionally rigorous. There’s also a section by section critique of a typical thesis, showing why it’s important that you get the smallest details right.

For the ambitious who can’t wait to further their careers by getting into print, there is a section on how to write a journal article, plus how to increase your chances of getting it accepted.

For a piece of work as long as a thesis, most of which will be produced by people who have never written such a long piece of work before (and probably never will again) I was glad to see that they tackled the issues of creating structure and generating the appropriate style.

They go into style and writing skills in relentless detail, quoting plenty of good and bad examples so that you are left in no doubt about what’s required. Then for good measure they offer guidance on delivering presentations and speaking at conferences.

There’s very good chapter on dealing with the nerve-racking finale to all this – the viva. For anyone who has not yet reached this point, it’s worth buying the book for this chapter alone.

And they don’t end there. It’s assumed that your research and your PhD are leading towards some form of employment – either to do more research or to take up a teaching appointment. They provide excellent guidance on taking both these routes.

If you are contemplating a PhD, buy the book and read it straight through to get the larger picture; then re-read each section in greater detail as you tackle each stage of your work.

I did the basic research for my PhD in about twelve months, then spent two years writing up the results – and producing possibly too much. It succeeded, but I think I might have made a better job of it if I had read a book like this first. But they didn’t exist in those days.

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Gordon Rugg and Marian Petre, The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research, Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2nd edition 2010, pp.320, ISBN: 0335237029

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research, writing, and information management skills

defending a thesis in an oral examination

complete guide to undertaking a PhD – and beyond

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