1 How do I know, my Ph.D. process is getting into trouble? by Attila Ondi April 16, 2002.
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Transcript of 1 How do I know, my Ph.D. process is getting into trouble? by Attila Ondi April 16, 2002.
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How do I know, my Ph.D. process is
getting into trouble?by Attila Ondi
April 16, 2002
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Typical Ph.D. process (1/2)
Deciding to get a Ph.D. Getting into school Choosing courses Making your “Plan” Finding your Advisor Choosing a Topic
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Typical Ph.D. process (2/2)
Picking a Committee Taking the Breadth Exam Taking the Depth Exam Writing your Proposal Working on your Dissertation Topic Defending your Dissertation
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Useful Tips (1/2)
Stress Management Time Management Avoid Perfectionism Avoid Procrastination Study Techniques
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Useful Tips (2/2)
Research Organization aids, tools Bonus: Publishing Bonus: Network of helpful people
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Typical Ph.D. processDeciding to get a Ph.D.Getting into school
We have already passed these
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Typical Ph.D. processChoosing courses
Two directions: The more related to your dissertation topic, the
better As broad as possible
Pay attention to the breadth exam as well Talk to students/faculty to find the “best” ones Seek out good professors Find courses that interest you
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around courses
What can go wrong? Choosing a course which is not what you wanted Selecting all demanding courses in one semester “Spread yourself too thin”
Too many commitments in addition to courses Course vs. work
Getting bad marks
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Typical Ph.D. processMaking your “Plan”
Plan your progress well before You can prepare yourself But don’t stick yourself very rigidly to it
Courses can “disappear” New, interesting courses Your point of view can change
An example
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Typical Ph.D. processFinding your Advisor (1/3)
Look for an Advisor with whom you have a common interest of
dissertation topic with whom you can agree about your “Plan” you like you would like to work with who has time to help you
[S]he will help with your research
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Typical Ph.D. processFinding your Advisor (2/3)
You can change your Advisor as many times as you want
but you have to persuade your new Advisor and remember: you have at most 7 years to
finish your Ph.D. studies
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Typical Ph.D. processFinding your Advisor (3/3)
Most Ph.D. students switch Advisors at least once
possible causes: somebody else is doing the same topic they find the topic too broad/narrow a problem that cannot be solved Advisor doesn’t want (or incapable) to continue
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around your
AdvisorWhat can go wrong? You can’t get along with your Advisor Your Advisor
doesn’t have enough time for you changes his/her research interests requests too much work form you
You rely too much on your Advisor to do the work that is your responsibility
Your Advisor is not available for some period of time – regularly
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Typical Ph.D. processChoosing a Topic
Find a topic that interests you
Talk with others to pick up ideas Explore topics – ideas can came to others
is not yet developedmay require some research
nobody is working on it at the University broad enough for a Ph.D. Dissertation but not too broad
ask others and your Advisor
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around your Topic
(1/2) What can go wrong? You don’t know the research area to identify the
research problems Choosing a Topic that is beyond your ability to
resolveMay be the result of improper knowledge in that area
Your Topic is too narrow/broad Discuss it with your Advisor Read specific journals, magazines – they are narrow
enough
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around your Topic
(2/2) What can go wrong? (cont.) Your Advisor doesn’t give enough/good guidance
for the directions You talk to the same people all the time – always
similar kind of ideas Depending on you and your Advisor – you may
need some pressure for results …
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Typical Ph.D. processPick a Committee (1/2)
What is the committee for? Helps you in your research Examiners of your Depth exam Decide if you pass or fail in the main points
proposal breadth/depth exam defending your Dissertation
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Typical Ph.D. processPick a Committee (2/2)
How is the committee composed of? Your Advisor (most likely, or someone from the
department who is familiar with your topic) 2 other professors from the department, who are
somewhat related to your topic One independent (outsider to the CS department)
– again: related to your topic
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around the
CommitteeWhat can go wrong? A committee member
leaves the University goes for sabbatical
Personality conflicts A committee member is too concerned about
insignificant details
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Typical Ph.D. processTaking the Breadth Exam
Same as Master’s, but: 8 topic (4 subject area, pick 2 from each) each at least 85%
If you don’t pass - second time: your last chance on that test
At most 4 “sitting” Each test lasts 1.5 hours You’re not required to take the corresponding
courses, but that’s no excuse
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Typical Ph.D. processTaking the Depth Exam
It’s about to show that you understand the materials in your area what is related to your research know the current ideas to be able to come up with
new (or better) ideasyou need to be able to identify the weaknesses/flaws in the current work of your field
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Typical Ph.D. processWriting your Proposal (1/2)
The Proposal allows others to Evaluate the worth of the study Make suggestions for improvement
It contains (these parts must be consistent) Purpose (and justification) of the study Step-by-step plan for the study Research questions, hypotheses Definitions
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Typical Ph.D. processWriting your Proposal (2/2)
It contains (cont.) Sample Instrumentation Procedural details Internal validity Data analysis (Budget of expected costs)
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around your
ProposalWhat can go wrong? You promise more than you can deliver It’s not detailed enough Your interests shifts to another direction (but still
in the same topic)
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Typical Ph.D. processWork on your Dissertation
Topic Be creative! Work closely with people of similar interests Writing your Dissertation
How to write a PhD Thesis Writing or presenting your Thesis or Dissertation
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Typical Ph.D. processDefending your Dissertation
It’s about to show that you are able to: write detailed technical paper about a certain topic
of your interest defend your ideas against others talk about your chosen topic
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Typical Ph.D. processProblems around the
DefenseWhat can go wrong? The scientific level of your Dissertation is not high
enough Discuss with others
You are not familiar enough with the topic of your paper How can it be? It’s your topic of research…
Your language skills are not on the top Practice talking as much as possible Practice holding presentations whenever you can
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #1
You are pushed down by great stress
Solution: Stress Management
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Useful TipsStress Management (1/8)
Causes of stress excessive workload uncomfortable physical environment not enough sleep ill health prolonged physical activity financial difficulties bad self image (“I’m too fat/dumb/ugly/…”)
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Useful TipsStress Management (2/8)
Causes of stress (cont.) a change in your living/working patterns
new flatmates moving house new job living/working/studying in an environment that is not of
your culture living/working/studying using a second language
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Useful TipsStress Management (3/8)
Causes of stress (cont.) Hostile or uncomfortable emotional environments
(e.g.: restructuring, redundancy) break-up of a relationship death or loss of a relative, friend or relation
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Useful TipsStress Management (4/8)
Signs of stress difficulties with sleep loss of appetite anxiety irritability, hostility feeling of helplessness stomach aches exhaustion
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Useful TipsStress Management (5/8)
Signs of stress (cont.) loss of concentration chest pains poor job/academic performance headaches withdrawal from others sadness/depression
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Useful TipsStress Management (6/8)
What to do about it? Reduce stress in your life
Make sure you get enough exercise, sleep and nutrition Take time out each day for rest and recreation for your
social activities Establish supportive relationships/friends
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Useful TipsStress Management (7/8)
What to do about it? (cont.) If you find yourself starting to get stressed out
Take control by conscious relaxing – through physical exercise, breathing exercises or activities you enjoy
Be creative in your approach to tasks Use some friends and take a team approach to problem
solving Talk with others about your anxieties and concerns Don’t be afraid of asking for help Accept your failures and move on
no mistake, no progress
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Useful TipsStress Management (8/8)
What to do about it? (cont.) If you find yourself starting to get stressed out
Be encouraging and supportive of yourself. Try to keep things in perspective
If a situation is getting on top of you, step back, adjust your goals and take action: “I may not have time to research all I need but I’ll do what I can and get this task finished on time, and without penalty.”
Try looking at your situation as if it were someone else’sThink about the advice you would give them, and follow it yourself.
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #2
You find yourself far behind schedule
Solution: Time Management
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Useful TipsTime Management (1/8)
Why people manage time poorly? Poor time management is often due to underlying
attitudes or beliefs “I like leaving things till the last minute because I work
best under pressure.” “I only work best when I’m inspired.”
Good work need time for preparation and research, and the time at completion to assess and improve it
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Useful TipsTime Management (2/8)
Why people manage time poorly? (cont.) But don’t be a perfectionist
good work requires good ‘down’ time as well, when you can replenish your resources
Trying to do everything for everybody often means you badly short-change yourself
Often it’s simply a case of saying ‘No’. If you hate rigid timetables – make them more
flexible to allow things taking longer and for unexpected interruptions
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Useful TipsTime Management (3/8)
Effective time management It often requires a change in the way you think
about and approach things Writing a bunch of lists and timetables won’t help
if you don’t implement them So
STOP and assess your situation be clear about what you want from it then take definite steps to achieve those goals
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Useful TipsTime Management (4/8)
Effective time management (cont.) The key is planning
plan your whole year (or Term 1) make sure to take all your needs into account break your goals into small and achievable steps create a list from these steps that you can tick off prioritize these steps (e.g.: high, medium, low) concentrate on the high priorities review your priorities regularly only adjust the flexible things, not the fixed (like lectures,
work-time)
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Useful TipsTime Management (5/8)
Possible time wasters Internal
Procrastination Unclear objectives Failure to set up priorities Crisis management Failure to plan Lack of self-discipline Over committing
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Useful TipsTime Management (6/8)
Possible time wasters (cont.) Externals
Telephone interruptions Visitors Socializing Lack of information Communication breakdown
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Useful TipsTime Management (7/8)
Helpful hints Use pockets of time
Ten minutes is great to review some notes or brainstorm ideas
Effective time is more important than quantity of time
Early morning is often a good time to work: you are refreshed and no-one is about to distract you
When planning, be aware of your strengths and weaknesses
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Useful TipsTime Management (8/8)
Helpful hints (cont.) Find ways around the things that distracts you
If you’re distracted by the phone get an answering-machine ask someone to take a message go where there are no phones, such as the library
If people distracts you define non-interruption times close your door and put a sign on it be firm about interruptions
say: ‘No’ or ‘Can we meet in an hour?’ Keep your workspace uncluttered and work-
oriented
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #3
Perfectionism
Solution: Change your behavior
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Useful TipsAvoid Perfectionism (1/4)
The warning signs All-or-nothing attitudes
“I have to be top of the class, otherwise what’s the point” “Anything less than A is embarrassing.”
A sense of powerlessness“I spend far too many hours on a project and even hand it in late… because it just has to be perfect.”
A sense of failure“I have to work so hard that I don’t enjoy what I do and feel constantly guilty if I relax.”
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Useful TipsAvoid Perfectionism (2/4)
The warning signs (cont.) A lack of growth
“If someone takes issue with what I say in a meeting or tutorial, I won’t say anything after that.”
The need for approval Being overcritical
“If (s)he doesn’t turn up on time, (s)he doesn’t respect me enough.”
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Useful TipsAvoid Perfectionism (3/4)
What to do about it? Recognize your perfectionist behavior Acknowledge it Challenge it
Set realistic goals Value the process as much as the result Keep things in perspective
Learn to distinguish which tasks are important and give the greatest return. Put effort into those tasks and be prepared to cut corners with the others
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Useful TipsAvoid Perfectionism (4/4)
What to do about it? (cont.) Acknowledge and learn form your mistakes
Remember: no mistakes, no progress. Value people’s comments and criticism and learn from
them Be a self-supporter
“I’ll do this the best I can in these circumstances.” “I know this isn’t the perfect answer to this exam
question but I can at least say something which will get me marks.”
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #4
Procrastination
Solution: Change your behavior
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Useful TipsAvoid Procrastination (1/5)
What is procrastination? Procrastination is avoiding doing things which
need doing The more we procrastinate, the bigger the task
ahead becomes, and the harder it is to take action Failure to act can produce many undesirable
feelings guilt: “If only I had done such-and-such” inadequacy: “I can’t do it” stress and anxiety: “There’s never enough time…”
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Useful TipsAvoid Procrastination (2/5)
Why we procrastinate? setting up excessively high standards
when you face with unrealistic goals, you put off doing your work
not seeing the relevance of the work sometimes it’s unclear what is required fear of the new and unknown feeling that we don’t have the skills
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Useful TipsAvoid Procrastination (3/5)
What to look out for? Trouble ‘getting past go’
“I start on the bits I like, for example, reading for an essay topic, but never get started on the parts I don’t – like the actual writing.”
Choices“In an exam I can’t decide which questions to answer, and the process of deciding is so paralyzing I don’t have enough time to do a good essay.”
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Useful TipsAvoid Procrastination (4/5)
What to look out for? (cont.) Substituting work
“I mean well, but instead of studying I’ll go off and do other things – anything! – to avoid getting on with it.”
“I’ll just do this a little bit, then I’ll do my stats assignment.”
Dramatics “I take home bunch of work to do at the weekend but
never actually touch them.” “I have a friend who always goes on about how much
(s)he has to do, how little time there is left. (S)he should talking about it and get started!”
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Useful TipsAvoid Procrastination (5/5)
What to do about it? Plan your time effectively Do short, effective study periods and balance your
study/work with recreation activities Reward yourself after you have completed a task. Assess your progress
Regularly refer back to your initial planning Move on to a contingency plan if you strike problems
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #5
Having hard time with studying
Solution: Learn how to Study
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (1/10)
Pay attention Do not divide your attention between several
tasks Continuous attention is limited in time Spend some (planned) time to your “distracting”
thoughts once in a while (break)
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (2/10)
Interpretation and Elaboration Interpretation is “deep”
If you don’t understand, you won’t learn or remember If you only ‘kinda’ understand, you’ll only ‘kinda’ learn or
remember If you thoroughly understand, you are able to elaborate
Elaboration is “broad” Relate the parts to each other, to the whole or to other
information Provides variety
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (3/10)
Variation Vary the way you think about the material It leads to elaboration…
Spacing and Repetition It’s better to study something, study something
else and then return to the previous material Spacing your study in this way is an easy way to
increase variability This creates repetition as well
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (4/10)
Organization and Structure A little demo
List the months of year Now list them in alphabetical order
Pay attention to the structure before you begin to study
After reading, think about the structure that works best for you
Review the main pointsPay attention how they fit together
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (5/10)
Visualization and Mental Reinstatement The mnemonic technique
Visualize the study material in a ‘funny’ way During the remembering (e.g.: a test) mentally
place yourself to the context you were in, while studying physical context mental context
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (6/10)
Generate and Retrieve Generate the information
before you begin to learn you’ve already learned
Even if you generate wrong, I’ll be easier to remember next time after you corrected yourself
Throw away your highlighter! Generate the information and correct yourself instead If you feel bad without notes, record them on the
margins
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (7/10)
Generate and Retrieve (cont.) It will take much longer
But you’ll notice, you already know the information you are about to learn
You spend your time much more effectively Try to answer the questions asked during courses
Even if your answer is wrong… Review your notes soon after the course
You have a high chance to remember something you’ve left out
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (8/10)
Generate and Retrieve (cont.) Retrieval practice provides very effective feedback
You’ll know if you know the material, or you need to study some more
Use your coursebook, notes to correct yourself Just reading over the notes is not enough Write your answers down
It takes much more time, but it’s much better to remember after (because you see it
again, while you write), and you are simulating exam circumstances
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (9/10)
Some general tips Prepare yourself to like the material Set apart time for study regularly during the
semester Do extra exercises (it’s generation…) Keep up-to-date with the lectures Try to study with others
They can point out information you would miss But you need to study alone as well
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Useful TipsStudy Techniques (10/10)
Note taking tips Listen for the main points Write down key words and phrases Make sure your figures/diagrams are clear Develop your abbreviation system that you can
understand easily Separate your personal comments from the
‘official’ information
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Useful TipsPossible Trouble #6
Problems with managing your research
Solution: Project ManagementI’ll talk about it next time…
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Useful TipsResearch (1/4)
Research skills Task Definition Information Seeking Strategies Use of Information Synthesis Evaluation
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Useful TipsResearch (2/4)
Life cycle of creative endeavors Routine Desire for change A raw idea is refined into a goal Further refined into a concrete objective Implementation problems identified Plan is made The work is carried out (The result is exploited)
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Useful TipsResearch (3/4)
Creativity: the ability to produce something new/better through imaginative skills Divergent thinking
Develop an interest in a variety of different things Be open to new ideas
Convergent thinking Concentrate on the problem to be solved Motivation
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Useful TipsResearch (4/4)
Obstacles to creativity Stress Routines Beliefs + Ego Tiredness Getting too involved with the problem Having conflicting goals and objectives Demands for quick production of results Strong emotions
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Useful TipsBonus: Publishing
Kwan Choi:
How to publish in top journals
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Useful TipsBonus: Networking
Phil Agre:
Networking on the Network: A Guide to Professional Skills for PhD Students
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Any Questions?
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References (2/3)
A few words about Stress Management A few words about Time Management A few words about Perfectionism A few words about Procrastination
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand The Science of Studying Effectively
Patricia deWinstanley The Life Cycle of Creative Endeavors
Richard K. Moore How to Design & Evaluate Research in Education
Jack R. Fraenkel, Norman E. Wallen Q Manual
Morgan, C.T. and Deese, J.
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References (3/3)
Study Skills Manage your time
Florida Institute of technology How to write a PhD Thesis
Joe Wolfe Writing or presenting your thesis or dissertation
S. Joseph Levine Information Problem Solving
Jonathan Lew Creativity Basics
Charles Cave