PhD Research - PhD Thesis Bangalore

Do You Want Some Tips with Financial Aid for Your PhD?

It is a pressure to pay for higher education if you have a dearth of funds. Often scholars are unsure of what to do and where to seek help. The best thing to do is to ask someone in the Financial Aid office. They would explain from where to start and what are the options. Often all the financial aid options that are available have a certain deadline date. Primarily ensure that you stick by the deadline, rather keep some buffer time in hand in case there is scope for correction in the form that you fill. All the different sources for financial aid for students would have their own eligibility criteria. Most of the time is linked to the amount of financial aid and the academic progress. Keep a very strong understanding of the terms and conditions, hidden clauses and technicalities before you actually get into a contract with any of the financial aid institutions

The second alternative for getting financial support is the using credit cards but I am not s staunch supporter of using credit cards as often they come with a cost that we might not be able to afford. Often getting se to using credit cards because of easy access and operations makes one get into a lot of frivolous spending. Sometimes too much use of credit card may take you on the other end of the continuum, from seeking financial aid for academic purpose to extreme debts for reckless spending. The credit card agencies are usually ruthless when it comes to collecting their money. A credit card is a loan that has to be paid back with interest. Remember it each time you swipe it as once you are in unmanageable debts it can have a variety of negative outcomes and have sleep deprivation, bring down your grades immensely and cause a lot of mental stress.

The third option for getting financial support during doctoral research is student savvy consumerism. Become alert and vigilant about coupons, promotions, offers and schemes. Some valid particularly for students also can be very useful. Sometimes discounts are available for students on air fare, bus fare or departmental stores. Using them judiciously can be very useful.

This time is the perfect time to start good financial management. In a perfect world, credit cards would be used only in emergencies and not for impulse purchases. Balancing your expenses and becoming a smart shopper and a savvy consumer are good ways to ensure that in this phase of your higher education your expenses don’t become a cause of concern.

If You Don’t Have a Perfect PhD Supervisor, Where Do You Find Help?

What is an ideal supervisor like? An ideal supervisor is someone who is a bundle of infinite time and knowledge that is unparalleled. In addition he is patient and offers constant support and understanding. However, am I talking of a utopian figure does that really picture perfect supervisor does exist? I think they do not, as after all supervisors are also human beings who are fallible and subject to similar competing demands from time and competition. Consequently, the scholar feels the missing support that he needs for completion of his or her work. What is the alternative source of support that a research scholar can seek from outside? One option can be the many online communities that offer a forum to discuss problems and find solutions to those problems with sometimes more than one options.

Sometimes to bridge the gap that is created by a non-supportive or uninvolved supervisor can be filled by the various consultancy services that are available. These are like those private mentoring services that can take care of your typical doctoral work concerns for which you may not be able to find solution elsewhere.

Other than seeking help from external sources, develop ways and tactics to handle the difficult traits in your supervisor by empowering yourself in ways that are necessary.

If your PhD supervisor has the trait of being indecisive, you need to be assertive and take charge of your project. Become a leader but also try to seek the reasons for which you feel your supervisor isn’t able to support you in making decisions.

Peer and other professors in the department can be a blessing when the supervisor isn’t. A hands off supervisor can be replaced by seeking help from others in the department, informally and training yourself to become an independent researcher. This strategy is a way to look at the solution rather than draining yourself by brooding over the problem all the time. Stay away from people who all the time make you feel like with a bad supervisor, “You can’t do it!” Take your thesis in your own hands and switch groups as remember end of the day it is your independent research and you got to take the charge and credit of it. However, always give the deserving chance to your supervisor to respond and stay involved. Remember to not shirk your duty as a scholar, in any case.

Some Technology Aids to Make a PhD Scholar’s Life Easier

Technology has simplified the life of PhD scholars in a great great way. I can virtually not imagine how much a struggle it must have been for the researchers of yesteryears to manage without technology in their lives. Some of the tools that can of real help, can be: IPad: With the help of my … Continue reading “Some Technology Aids to Make a PhD Scholar’s Life Easier”

IPad: With the help of my supervisor, I got funds from the university to buy a Laptop/IPad. Since I already had a manageable laptop, I further invested in an IPad and since then, it has made my life easier manifold. It is handy, light weight, quick and helps me to do my research anywhere and anytime.

Google Drive/ Dropbox: As a research scholar who is on the move forever, there wouldn’t be another person thanking for the invention of Google Drive/ Dropbox and their likes. These are one place to store all your files and they are on the cloud and accessible anywhere you go without actually having to carry the data in a storage Dropbox. Dropbox is boon for researchers as it also supports a lot of software that I use for research. I am also able to share my data with my supervisor or peer group, anytime needed. This is super easy and super useful.

Google Scholar: Like I did, you would find most of the papers you need for you research on Google Scholars. It just so appears that Google scholar was created keeping in mind the need and the struggle of PhD researcher so we can’t thank them enough. I found more than 90 percent of the papers that I was looking for on Google Scholar rather than the physical brick and mortar library in my university.

Mendeley: Mendeley is the link that helps you to have an academic profile made virtual. It helps me to connect with likeminded researchers from all over the world, thus helping me to get constructive inputs from various places. To add to it, it connects itself with Dropbox and runs an automatic check with Google Scholar for verification. Awesome n surely a need for all research scholars. Just remember that it in an academic version of LinkedIn There you go with these five technological tools to make your PhD life much simpler. You could surely have a list specific to the android system. If you do so, we wait for your inputs here. Come n make researchers’ life simpler.

Should PhD Scholars Work on Industry Funded Projects?

At the onset, working on an industry funded project is a phenomenal idea. It appears to have multiple benefits. Firstly, it is an opportunitt to take up a kind of research that has a lot of practical use. Secondly, industry is relatively more generous in providing funding as compared to the academic fraternity. The research oriemted industries are generous enoughto fund not just the research inititatives but also the overheads borne by the researcher for boarding, travelling and so on. All these and many more benefits are luring enough to get associated with an industry oriented project but there are certain considerations that need not be ignored.

1. Publication Hindrance: An industry is a profit making initiative and would almost always fund onlly those activities from whichit can extract some commercial benefits. To add to it , you may be made aware of some confidential information of the company which you would be expected not to disclose and for that sometimes an agreement between you and the company would also be signed. Because of this sometimes you may not be able to publish the conplete output of your research and you lose onto some very important contribution in your research.

2. No Long Breaks on Personal Concerns: Howmuch strict be your supervisor, he would give you breaks and empathize with your personal concerns and commitments. You could still get a break once in a while but when the industry funds your assignments, there isnt any relaxation on regular committed updates that you have to give to the company. Supervisors some time pressurize or even to say harass their scholars f or updates as they get the pressure from the industry people.

3. The Trend of Job Switching: you may begin to work on a project with some people in the company and build up a rapport with them and get them required supportand encouragement that puts you in a comfort level in the midst of strangers. But the industry is such a place where people do not remain in the same job for a long time, reasons of choice or no, they do move on. It isnt necessary that the replacement would again be at the same wavelength with you. It can sometimes become a potential hindrance in the smooth progress of your work.

In a crisp advice I would like to say that, it is always better to get as much advice as you can about if any agreement is there between the university or the company that can bound you so that there are not any clauses that are hidden from you that may surprise you at a stage where you do not know what to do next. Sometimes companies do offer room for negotiation, do check out scope if any or that.

Does Blogging of Your Doctoral Help?

How good an idea it is to post about research that is work in progress? In my opinion, there are surely some good reasons to do so and that is the reason that I often interrupt my normal flow of writing with research posts of my own research from time to time. I believe it is all the more important when you research involves qualitative work involving people. I would like to specifically discuss few reasons why I think it is very important to not leave an opportunity to blog your research:

(1) It becomes a record keeping source of your work: It is a very precise and if you write “everyday” then a very straightforward day wise account of your activity where your key points are mentioned in a very concise and crisp manner.
(2) Means to self-discipline: Blogging is a means to self-discipline. Often we plan to jot down our notes at the end of the day and eventually then procrastinate it for some other day. Here, when you will be committed to blogging, a necessary self-discipline would systematize things for you.
(3) It is more organised: Blogging your days activity, taking cues from your notes is away to organised the sketchy notes into more details but the extraneous information that may not be of use in the later stage can be deleted.
(4) Get more involved participants: It is a wonderful platform to share information with the other participants in your research so that they are also able to track your work and their role in it.
(5) Initiates conversation: When you put your blog online, you create opportunity to invite opinions and feedback. The relevant and constructive inputs can be used to improvise your work. With notes that are confined only in the notebook, a responsive conversation can never be initiated thus the scope for development of content gets very limited.
(6) Ignites new ideas: Writing about your work and re reading about it may give you more ideas and better way through which you can add value to your work.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have not started to blog your research activities yet, don’t wait any more. May be in my next blog I will give you some tips on creating effective blogs.