Some Characteristics of A Poor Quality Thesis

Whatever you have learnt throughout your education, you use it or produce it in your thesis in some or the other way. However, the sad part is that a lot of dissertations show the author in not a very good light. You can get here a reasons that can make your dissertation fall short of … Continue reading “Some Characteristics of A Poor Quality Thesis”

Whatever you have learnt throughout your education, you use it or produce it in your thesis in some or the other way. However, the sad part is that a lot of dissertations show the author in not a very good light. You can get here a reasons that can make your dissertation fall short of good quality

Bad writing:  Not all of us are great writers. More so when prior to writing your dissertation you have not had much experience of writing. You may find yourself struggling a lot in that case. Remember that whatever field your dissertation belongs to writing is an integral part of it and if you feel that writing isn’t one of your strengths, you have no choice but to do something about it.  Better than sitting over your problem, it is better to do something about it. There are a lot of places you could go for help. A lot of universities have writing centres or you may find a helpful colleague who would help you to improvise on your mistakes.

Weak foundation of thesis:  remember that if the foundation of your thesis is not good the entire thesis is going to turn out bad. You need to have a strong foundation over which you can rest your paper. If you actually feel that   you are struggling with the concept of your thesis and it lacks strength and originality, it is better to drop it rather than trying to build an entire thesis over a weak foundation. A smart move is to examine the quality of your thesis right in the beginning itself.  The best way to know it is that while maintaining your originality, read through other theses in detail and identify the concept that has not really been thought before.

Defending a claim that is unsubstantiated: Never write on a topic that does not have significant research to support it. Often writers get pepped with the idea of writing about something exciting that is completely out of box and has never been discussed before.  However, that logic appears more applicable when you are writing a brief concept paper and not an entire thesis. If you are so intrigued by a new concept that you cannot stop yourself from writing about it, you can mention it briefly in a section specified as “Areas of further Research”

 

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

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

Can you be healthy and joyous while you write your thesis?

You may not believe me or agree with me, but getting stressed or worked up is the easiest thing to do. So when you decide to get into a cave, binge onto food or feel depressed, you have undoubtedly chosen the easy way out. PhD is a job of high pressure and pressure that you … Continue reading “Can you be healthy and joyous while you write your thesis?”

You may not believe me or agree with me, but getting stressed or worked up is the easiest thing to do. So when you decide to get into a cave, binge onto food or feel depressed, you have undoubtedly chosen the easy way out. PhD is a job of high pressure and pressure that you got to endure for a long time. PhD candidates got to take good care of themselves under this time. If you are careful about your physical as well as mental wellbeing during this journey you would certainly improve the productivity you get from your work. A PhD is a marathon and not a 100 metres sprint. Don’t forget that. Here are some simple but useful tips that may help you maintain your sanity in this time.

Posture: Most of the students who are soon working on laptops these days have a hunched posture and hence your PhD could gift you a lasting memory in the form of a bad back. Invest in a keyboard and laptop stand and never slouch into the bed while working. Remember that your back has to be erect and you should be not sitting in a strenuous posture for a long time, else you would be giving yourself some ailments that would stay with you for the rest of your life.

Fitness: Fitness isn’t a goal but it is a way of life. PhD scholars often get so busy with their work that they feel that devoting an hour to fitness each day is injustice to their PhD. They may feel guilty for doing the same. But what if I say that the other is true? If you really feel an hour a day is too much for you, try to get into some intensity fitness workout so that your body remains strong enough for the brunt you are giving it.

Food: another area we scholars neglect the most is our food intake.  If you are on you own and not one of those fortunate one who has a family or friend to take care of your food intake then you need to find ways to ensure that what you are putting in your body as source of energy is actually the healthy alternative. Drink plenty of healthy fluids and stay off from the processed and instant food options

 

 

When You Prepare for Your PhD Presentation, Have You Thought about Your Audience?

In the course of your PhD, various number of times you have be behind the podium giving presentations. You supervisor may expect from you to participate in seminars, workshops and conferences and give paper presentations. But it isn’t really certain that all these opportunities would expose you to an audience that is academic. Sometimes your … Continue reading “When You Prepare for Your PhD Presentation, Have You Thought about Your Audience?”

In the course of your PhD, various number of times you have be behind the podium giving presentations. You supervisor may expect from you to participate in seminars, workshops and conferences and give paper presentations. But it isn’t really certain that all these opportunities would expose you to an audience that is academic. Sometimes your audience may be purely non-academic and here you are prepared with a technically academic presentation in front of them, how do you deal with it?

I am going to give you certain suggestions here to deal with an audience that wouldn’t be able to relate with you r academic content. How do you keep them engrossed? Here you go:

Keep your beginning simple: It is always better to get some idea about the kind of audience you are going to deal with before you go for an event. If you are ti deal with a non-academic audience, it is necessary that your beginning is very simple and easy to understand. Jargons, difficult terminology and scientific connotations used in the beginning can sometimes put off the interest of the audience and you may not be able to bring them back into your talk throughout.

Structure out your content: you need to structure out your content in such a way that it keeps the audience involved and makes it interactive to the extent possible. Incorporating activity based small inputs can help break the monotony and generate interest of the audience in a topic that may be completely novice to them otherwise. Keep the conversations as natural as possible with minimal incorporations of technicalities is a way to not let them feel left out and neglected.

Do good ice breaking: it is important to break the ice with a set of audience who is new to you and vice versa. In the beginning if you successfully break the ice with them and put them in a comfort zone by striking a wavelength with them, they want to listen to you more. In addition to that, you also get to know what they want to hear and you can focus your talk accordingly.

Even after doing all this and more, you may not find it very easy. There would be challenges here of varied kinds and may be subjective to the nature of the audience. Primarily I can say is stay natural move around a lot, connect and win over the audience by becoming familiar and friendly.