PhD Thesis - PhD Thesis Bangalore

PhD Rising Standards

The approach for getting a PhD has always remained the same. With the passage of time, we see more and more PhDs on the domain and it is unarguable true that it is difficult to get a degree than it was ever before. Research is getting more and more review centric. To add to it, the kind of competition that is there in the academic world. Often these days, editors are seen accepting and rejecting the manuscript on the grounds of the contributions that have been offered in the paper. The greatest of academic careers are built on the basis of the published papers which serve as the ladder for climbing up on higher designations. The number of authors that compete for the same publishing space are higher than ever before and consequently finding space in a top tier journal is a challenge that not many are able to accomplish. It is important to be very clear about two things in the nascent stage of you academic career. Rather, I would say, do not start your academic career till the time you are not sure of these two things. They are:

Have a clear vision about the contribution your PhD is going to make. The more focussed and narrower your vision be, the better it is.

Develop the approach to learn to think like a reviewer or editor. You can do that by staying abreast with notes that the editors of the top tier journals keep updating. Do not leave any opportunity to meet the editor of journals in conferences and seminars. In fact, it should be on your list of priority when you go to attend any academic event. To add to it, grab opportunities to review others work. It is the best way to sharpen your own skills.

Writing a Conference Paper! Here You Go…..

It took me a long time to write my first conference paper. I was meaning to write it for a long time and couldn’t somehow just do it. Now that I have done it, I thought might as well reflect on it. Like I said, it was my first attempt and I drew a lesson … Continue reading “Writing a Conference Paper! Here You Go…..”

It took me a long time to write my first conference paper. I was meaning to write it for a long time and couldn’t somehow just do it. Now that I have done it, I thought might as well reflect on it.

Like I said, it was my first attempt and I drew a lesson from each attempt I made and every mistake I committed. In my writing process, the first tip I have for myself and all others is to not focus on writing right but rather focus on writing in itself. Never also underestimate the amount of time you would need to complete a certain task at hand. I ended up spending a lot of time on data transcription and so found hardly any time to do the other component of the document.

Planning is very important for writing a paper and I would say, all the more better is to write your plan so that you no longer have to stare at a blank page and get jitters before starting to write. A big help that the plan would do is to make you feel that all that is needed to be done is to fill the gaps in between the plan. Not that the task becomes simpler but when you think it is simpler, there is a psychological push to go ahead with it and the hurdles are overcome with a greater zest. The boost and confidence keeps your spirits high. A very useful advice is , don’t be critical in the beginning only, first just get written. Leave the correction work for later. Some for yourself and the rest for your supervisor and peer. They should also have some constructive contribution in your document.

Sometimes most of our energy gets consumed in writing and we have no interest and inclination left in reading the paper again. Then it so happens that we give the document to the reviewer with some very silly mistakes because of which there is a lot of embarrassment to face at a later stage. So do read what you have written.

Make sure that in this entire process, you do not forget your deadline and then in the end, do not forget the most important rule of the game. Yeah, this is IMPERATIVE. After submission, go and enjoy life and do not moan over the quality or standard of the submitted document. After all it is the fruit of your hard work and dedication so it is your baby and you got to be proud of it.

Are You in the Procrastination Club?

Are you a member of the procrastination club? If you are reading this blog, I believe you are. I find people in that time of the year, all in the same boat, running around frantically for grants, fellowship, publications , event organising, essays. A great amount of stress is found floating around in the research community. I find almost all research scholars admitting it, cracking jokes about it and what not. By and large, no qualms about admitting that we all procrastinate in our doctoral journey. I wanted to research within my research that why does this word associate itself so prudently with research scholars.

I found that as scholars, most of them found themselves doing things that were not related to my research but refused to embrace the fact that we did so only because we wanted to do it. There is nobody who forces us to do this, like how nobody has forced us to do this PhD. Does procrastination have an effect on research? Well, that is another grave question of concern. To answer this , again I would say that there are largely two kinds pf people doing research. The one kind of people have a very methodical approach to research and create great and inspiring pieces of work with gradual and consistent approach towards work. The other categories of people need to have some pressure upon them in order to work. Their energy levels shoot up just before the deadline. I am the procrastinating type and I work like this. Performance under pressure. Does that actually mean that if I procrastinate, I only think of my PhD when under pressure and otherwise I lack focus. When I talk of myself, it may not be true. Yes, my way is to procrastinate working but my brain does not stop thinking of my PhD while I am involved into work beyond my desk.

I can keep going on and on defending the procrastinating approach but that would make this post lengthy and beyond the designated word limit. But I would surely want to trigger the thoughts through this blog that do you procrastinate? Are you guilty of doing so? Do you work around trying to combat the approach? Well friends, this is life and allow yourself some fun, allow yourself a life.

Practice to Proofread Your Own Thesis

Self-proofreading is a very important thing that should be done by any PhD scholar. It is imperative that each paragraph in the dissertation should be complete and correct grammatically. It should have crystal clarity. It is necessary that a dissertation should satisfy the correct rules of formal grammar and that makes it very necessary to … Continue reading “Practice to Proofread Your Own Thesis”

Self-proofreading is a very important thing that should be done by any PhD scholar. It is imperative that each paragraph in the dissertation should be complete and correct grammatically. It should have crystal clarity. It is necessary that a dissertation should satisfy the correct rules of formal grammar and that makes it very necessary to go through the thesis before submitting it for publication.

The next step after finishing thesis

After having finished the PhD: After finishing the PhD, the first thing to do is organise the write up. Your work should reflect the strong side of the work and that is why going through your work several times is very important.

Way to proofread the thesis: Proofreading the thesis is one thing that has to be done after compiling all the material. The following essentials are to be kept in mind while proofreading the thesis

Read and make yourself familiar with all the information that you have compiled in your thesis

Get rid of all the unnecessary words, details, paragraphs
Include important information if it has been missed out
Sequence out and restructure the paragraphs, sentences and words so that there is connectivity in the flow of the content
Check with an eye to observe for coherence and diction
Ensure that you have observed all the information correctly

Need and relevance of proofreading

Proofreading enhances the quality of your thesis and adds value to it in a great way. It has a lot of importance as this is the process through which we remove the irrelevant details and incorporate the left out information. It helps in removing missed out spelling errors, punctuations and grammatical flaws. It brings in clarity in the document and self-proofreading instils in the writer the confidence about the content of the thesis. In brief, proofreading should bring into the thesis relevance, precision, simplicity, connectivity and a means to eliminate all those mistakes that may have been made in the process if thesis writing , accidentally.

Varieties in PhD Supervisors: Do we get to choose them?

Type 1: Aggressive and Negative: This is the most commonly known and most commonly found type of supervisor. They are extreme types of antagonists and mostly impolite and insensitive. They often do not think about putting mud over all your ideas and make you feel like a fool. Type 2: The Cribber: It is another … Continue reading “Varieties in PhD Supervisors: Do we get to choose them?”

Type 1: Aggressive and Negative: This is the most commonly known and most commonly found type of supervisor. They are extreme types of antagonists and mostly impolite and insensitive. They often do not think about putting mud over all your ideas and make you feel like a fool.

Type 2: The Cribber: It is another category of supervisors and their primary focus is on their troubles and they emphasise more upon moaning about their problems than anything else. Listening to their complaints with patience repeatedly is the only choice that we have.

Type 3: Non Responsive: a whole lot of PhD supervisors fall in this category of being non responsive. They would not respond to phone calls and emails and would become just inaccessible. It is always a good idea to give these types of supervisors a chance to respond and then eventually take control of your own thesis.

Type 4: Over friendly: this category is a very risky category of supervisors ad they make a whole lot of promises to you. However, unfortunately a lot of their promises are empty promises. Relying upon these types of supervisors may not reap very profitable results. Self-dependence is the key here one again.

Type 5: I know it all: These people have a narcissist approach and have a string belief that their way is the only way and the right way. They do not seem to approve or appreciate ideas and directions that do not align with their thought process. Nor do they give the liberty to the scholars to explore and take the decisions with their own experiences. Dealing with these kinds of supervisors can be actually a task.

Type 6: The indecisive: The frustration level of the students multiplies with supervisors that are indecisive; they bring in changes in the topic, methodology, interpretations every time they see the work. They hesitate and lack confidence in their decisions. Assertiveness from the end of the students would help in bringing out the advantages of a particular decision.

Type 7: The Nagging: Rarely but there are supervisors who are micro managers with their students. They would want to know every little detail about their students’ projects and so many times would initiate calls and communication after work hours. Setting the scope of your project rightly is required at this stage.