February, 2016 - PhD Thesis Bangalore

Can you write a PhD thesis in three months?

Most of the researchers are often on the verge of quitting after having struggled hard with their PhD. The motivation to get up each morning with the grilling stress to do research can actually take a terrible toll on your health and wellbeing and consequently pressurise you to work no further and just give up. … Continue reading “Can you write a PhD thesis in three months?”

Most of the researchers are often on the verge of quitting after having struggled hard with their PhD. The motivation to get up each morning with the grilling stress to do research can actually take a terrible toll on your health and wellbeing and consequently pressurise you to work no further and just give up. But if you have it in you, you can actually gear up and write your thesis in less than 3 months. Yes, if your research is in place, you can actually do it. Let’s see how.

Being smart at handling stress: When you feel nerve wrecking stress that is the time to not give up, rather pick yourself up and know what is needed to get you in the right frame of mind so that you are able to deal with the problem in a better and more efficient manner. You can actually save your PhD by not letting useless activities kill away your constructive time and aggravate your stress levels.
Set time limits for yourself: Even when you are efficient with dealing with stress things may get chaotic and difficult to handle if you aren’t focussed on finishing. Set yourself a timeline, all the more good if your supervisor does that for you so that whatever work you got to do, you do it without any further procrastinations or delays creeping in.
Being more definite: When you sort yourself some time frame, either by choice or under some pressure, you know you got to make some tough decisions and stay by them. It should be decisive approach as tough as do or die. So either you finish the task or you give up on the degree all together. Make tough decisions about not doing certain things and at the same time, doing certain. Once you are determined, you would see results coming in.
Your research should be finished before you get on to writing: Before you get onto writing your thesis, you must be done with all the preliminary work of research and publications. If not more, at least enough to get you a degree that you are seeking. Always know that it is easier to write when you have all the fundamentals and raw material in place.

So with some determination and consistency, know that it isn’t impossible to have your thesis ready in as less as about 3 months. Get set a

Unconventional means to take notes for researchers

Unconventional means to take notes for researchers Taking notes on paper seems to be the most ideal way of doing so. It indeed is the most convenient way but surely not the best method. The points just get fixed on the paper you write them upon. For more flexibility you can look for some other … Continue reading “Unconventional means to take notes for researchers”

Unconventional means to take notes for researchers

Taking notes on paper seems to be the most ideal way of doing so. It indeed is the most convenient way but surely not the best method. The points just get fixed on the paper you write them upon. For more flexibility you can look for some other options.

Index cards: make for yourself small index cards. When you are researching and need to make notes, you must write down your ideas, facts, quotations or anything else that you find relevant on a separate index card. After completing the cards sequence them out in a way that you create a streamlined outline of your research. You could further make it more organised by using colourful cards where each colour would be indicating something specific thus easier for you to distinguish main points from sub heads.

Computer: if you are good with keeping your planning hi tech then nothing better then using the computer to keep your notes. This is more so good with the sophistication that MS Word offers you by which you are able to arrange and systematise your work in a way that it remains sorted and easy to access. However, being savvy with the computer and taking it around everywhere with you should be in your comfort zone.

Circular pattern: This is again not much away from the conventional pattern of jotting down notes on a piece of paper, however what is different in this method is that all your points become accessible to you on a single page and you need not hunt them on separate pages here and there. This way you are able to see all your ideas on a single page. Whenever you have point that needs to be jotted down, write it and draw a circle around it. And then whenever you have a concept which can be associated with the previous one connect the two circles with a line. This method is very useful for concising a lot of information on a single page thus saving a lot of your time and effort. However, the major disadvantage of this method is the limited amount of information that you can accommodate on a page thus as you move to the next page, you automatically need to start fresh as you lose connectivity with the previous set of circles you have drawn.

Hope you find them useful and worth trying

Writing tips for a good essay

At the time when scholars are writing essays, there is always some unrest and feeling of anxiety whether your work would meet the expectations that have been set by the evaluators. It is not every time that the review committee gives a good and constructive feedback with all details about what was good or not … Continue reading “Writing tips for a good essay”

There are some general things which the review committee seeks when looking at an essay. These are:

Has the question been answered: the first thing that the reviewers look for is whether you have understood the question that was asked or not. Not giving specific answers to the questions given to you in the essay is the biggest blunder that the scholars often make. Often what they do is write down all that they know of in the topic rather than actually pointing out what is asked for. At the onset, you must take out time to evaluate each and every word that is put up in the question. However small the task may seem, it surely is not irrelevant and spending good time in doing so would pay off well, surely.

Your ability to communicate: it is a good idea to take help in this as another opinion does matter. Whether you have used appropriate punctuation, spellings, grammar etc. Can be checked better if another set of eyes also have a look at it. Your ability to communicate also means you have connected your essay well and you have expressed the opinion clearly.

How well read are you: the reviewers want to see whether or not you have read extensively before actually venturing into writing on the topic yourself. In addition whether you have been careful and just about adding references at relevant places. Remember, it is not just important that you read the content carefully, it is also important that you read it critically which means not just accept everything you read as correct but rather apply your own understanding of the topic and develop an opinion about whether or not what you have read is correct. So, do add your own thoughts and conclusion with whatever references content you include.

Presentation skill: this rule applies everywhere, the first impression is created by the presentation skills. Give appropriate spacing with a simple font. Do accurate numbering of pages with your name and the essay title on the header. Follow all guidelines related to presentation of the work that are specified to you and ensure that you have spent good time doing this else this would be injustice to your effort of writing very good content if you failed in presenting it effectively.

How should PhD scholar’s students take notes?

PhD is overwhelming and most of the scholars have similar experience and opinion. Most of the time, there is lots to do such as seminars to attend, research to do, lab work, exams and so on. If there is way out that could simplify life, you would surely be up for it and one way … Continue reading “How should PhD scholar’s students take notes?”

PhD is overwhelming and most of the scholars have similar experience and opinion. Most of the time, there is lots to do such as seminars to attend, research to do, lab work, exams and so on. If there is way out that could simplify life, you would surely be up for it and one way is to understand and adopt a simple and useful technique of note making.

Before we go in the detail of understanding the techniques of note taking that can be adopted, consistency within the class and organised habits are the pre requisites for success. Each note taking technique has its own pros and cons and you have to choose what works best for you.

Digital Note taking technique:

Laptops and tablets have surely simplified the life of many of the scholars. Not only during the lectures but also to identify important areas and components of the books and journals. It is obvious that typing and storing notes is far easier than writing and preserving. These days we have special note taking software’s that help you to organise and store notes at one particular place. Though speed is surely an advantage of digitally taking notes but sometimes it may not be as beneficial. It is so because, usually when typing, scholars end up writing all they hear or read without actually understanding and adding a critical perspective to it from their own intellect. This sometimes restricts constructive thinking and logical ability.

Manual Note taking technique: despite the increasing popularity of the digitized mediums of taking notes, some students still prefer methods that are conventional and getting used for ages, the pen and paper method. This method works very well for seminars, lectures or mathematical and statistical purpose writing. There are surely certain cons associated with this method as well. The most significant being that it is time consuming and involves getting hassled sometimes. Organising notes can also be a task, more so if you are one of those people who take in a lot of details and to find the right notes for the right purpose can also be a task.

The best way can be to use a good and judicious mix of both these techniques in a way that you are able to use the digital method where time deficit is a concern and wherever you need to apply your critical thinking and better understanding of the concept you move towards the age old pen and paper technique