Category: Dissertation Help

A lot of scholars have anxiety about the discussion chapter, so you aren’t alone if you do so.

A discussion chapter is largely the space where the researcher tries to examine the findings after having covered up the previous chapters and try to make judgement about the learning from the entire research.

When a researcher sits to do the discussion, there are two main concerns where the scholars largely struggle and face challenges. The first one is about being able to express the ideas more creatively and the second concern is about making knowledge claims. In the entire thesis, apart from the discussion chapter everything involves analytical thinking. Here at the discussion stage, the author needs to go into the imagination mode which of course means all together switching gears and that becomes a challenge. The other challenge is all about having the confidence to claim a finding to be true on the basis of your research. It does appear risky but a more thorough research brings down the level of doubt.

With these two challenges taken care of, the major problem of the discussion chapter is taken care of. Some stylistic conventions and knowledge issues do complicate the task. A conventional/routine thesis which is often recommended by universities, follows the IMRAD pattern. It goes in the sequence of Introduction, Methods, results, discussion and conclusion. However, I feel that it does inhibit the creativity and the liberty in the hands of the researcher to follow this step by step process so inhibiting yourself to this structure may not be the best of idea always. Depending upon the area of research and the topic of the thesis, the format of the discussion chapter should be so moulded.

To overcome the basic issues related to the discussion chapter, do not behind by following a structure. Rather, first just write and then later maybe rewrite and remould for better results. In the next blog we will further discuss some more specific tricks to deal with it better. Meanwhile, if you have some ideas to make the creative juices flowing, do come up, cheers!!

I have been thinking about “money” for quite some time now. This is quite unlike my usual temperament but I have seen a lot of PhD students struggling for money related issues and the unsympathetic approach of the other member of the academic section of the university. Having understood the plight of many of the scholars and incorporating their suggestions and experiences, I would like to bring forward some ideas for better “mullah” management for PhD scholars:

• Spare out on luxuries: if your PhD is one of those times when you are off inflow of money because of the rigorous demands of your doctoral work, it would be ok to sacrifice over some of the luxuries for that temporary phase, particularly the ones that eat up money on maintenance like a luxury car. Anticipating the cost associated with living in luxury, balance out your inflow and outflow of cash.

• Work on the “pocket money” concept: All people who are financially savvy would advise you to work on a “pocket money “concept to ensure that your expenses are limited. Not keeping track of where and how much you spent won’t lead you anywhere.

• Get buy heaps of books, only because you are doing your PhD: the academic books are expensive and once you are into your PhD you are so into it that buying books is perhaps as addictive as cocaine. Refrain from buying those books that you won’t read or you can manage doing with them from the library. If you are not conscious with your books expenditure, I can assure you they will eat up all your money while you are doing PhD because the more you will buy the more you will need. Plan up and prioritize your book purchases in a way that it doesn’t pinch your pocket in a way that it starts to hurt.

You got some saving secrets or budget plans for PhD students, well it is important and we are all ears for it, bring it up please!

Researchers look for, rather crave grants for their research. A lot of advice is available from people for ways of writing research proposals so as to get the grant approved. Here is a list of certain suggestions that may help to add that weight in your proposal that it becomes worthy of getting considered for a scholarship or grant:

1. Pick up interesting topics: make sure your topic of research is interesting and clearly states the gap is existing research that it intends to fill up. It is not really necessary that your research has to be on a very unique topic. You must have some existing literature to hold on to and at the same time an interesting gap for which you can convince that your research is worthy to fill it up.
2. Have a clear definition of objectives of the research: At the proposal stage, the concreteness and clarity of aims and objectives is convincing to the examiner and the evaluating committee that the effort is not going to get diluted and lost somewhere.
3. Add worthy literature: Like I said before do add some worthy literature to show that your proposal lays on a strong base and has its fundamentals in place.
4. Ensure feasibility of the project: The project shouldn’t be so ambitious that it is not feasible only to implement. It is going to put off the committee to a great extent that you have set up a proposal that cannot be surely put through and if it is granted some funding, it may just waste it away without any conclusive results coming out.
5. Link yourself up well with the proposal: Only an effective and impressive proposal does not suffice. It is equally important to show and convince that the researcher, which means “you” is the best person to take it up and you r efforts would be concentrated to do full justice to the topic and achieve what is best meant to be achieved.
6. Have a framework for methodology in place: even if not a detailed research methodology, at the proposal stage, the evaluation committee does want to know whether the researcher is aware of what he is jumping into or no. have a broad framework ready to give yourself an edge over the other applicants
7. Have a planned budget: Remember, you are seeking financial aid from the committee and if you are granted some funds, you would be trusted upon its judicious use. You must be very clear about how much expense your research is intended to incur and how do you plan to spend judiciously and in a way that none of the money gets wasted and you can justify its wise use. A well planned budget is the first step in that direction.

Do you have any suggestions in here? We would love to hear!!

PhD is a synonym to thinking. Regardless to whatever your specialisation of PhD be you are expected to do a lot of thinking. It isn’t just about your subject or your topic, to be begin with you got to also think about time allocation, thinking about what you are reading so as to give it a critical perspective, pondering over your overall progress and so many other things. Continuous monitoring over your progress and introspection would help you to know about your pattern of working and also so much about yourself. I actually feel that self-confrontation is an integral part of any PhD.

Some of the few things you would get to know about yourself while doing your PhD are:

1. Working style: With the way you work and by observing and thinking about it you would discover so many hidden traits related to your behavioural strategies. If you want to understand your traits better, ponder over how do you decide to do your work? With consistency or only upon the deadline approaching? Observe in your behavioural pattern, if you pick up difficult tasks first or easy ones? Do you delegate your work to others or do it yourself with meticulous observation to eliminate errors? PhD expects a lot of hard work, regularity and precision in your performance. How you respond to that requirement, I believe is a reflection of your personality and if you understand that you are on the path of self-discovery.

2. The discreet factors: If you identify your pattern of working you could further try and understand the reasons behind the specific behaviour. Most of the strategies that determine your behaviour are a product of some or the other emotion. The different emotions could be:

• Fear of facing others or proving your worth in front of others
• Laziness
• Vulnerability towards the immediate environment
• Wanting to seek perfection at work
• Procrastination

3. Your ability of social interaction: communicating at different levels becomes imperative in a PhD. Your PhD would make you grow as a person in various ways as you would learn to improve your skills to communicate with others and adjust and accommodate with others during your journey.

4. Conferences and workshops: The different conferences and workshops would not leave the kind of impact on you as much as the learning on field would do in terms of developing your personality, retaining the skills picked up as this is practical earning which no amount of preaching can substitute in life.

Are you thinking of taking up travel assignments during your doctoral research? It could be of the likes of visiting a research group abroad for a few days, weeks or maybe even months. I think it is a superb idea!! It would not only make your PhD worthy but also open newer avenues for your career in the future.

There are some very significant advantages of travelling during your doctoral research. They may not occur to you otherwise but do probe over them:

1. It is a source of great inspiration
2. It is the best means to learn many new things
3. A great way to expand your network and know people in your arena worldwide

If you so get convinced about the idea of travelling for research exposure, which I believe you should. There are three strategic decisions you need to make:

1. Defining the objective and duration of the visit: The foremost and obvious step is to first define your objective from the visit to another lab in another country. The objectives, you know, can be varying from only networking to perhaps even picking up another new method of analysis through practical exposure. Research scholars usually travel through collaborations and primarily the purpose of the visit decides duration of stay. Keeping in mind the different options that are available to you, make a pragmatic decision.

2. Deciding the destination of the visit: Here you research supervisor could come to great help. Most of the scholars consider options that are based on the networks build by their supervisors. This makes the task relatively easier and not only that, it also helps to identify a researcher in foreign land with experience and knowledge that would be relevant to your study and would help you to develop newer ideas that are in context to your doctoral study.

1. Arranging Funds: You wouldn’t be aware, but surely there would be more means to arrange funds for this purpose than you know of. Here again your supervisor who has far more experience with the system would come to your rescue. With the help of your peer, networks and supervisor, you must explore funding organisations, Universities and Societies that have “Travel Abroad” schemes for students and scholars. Sometimes universities in different countries have partnership programme or student exchange programmes that could be availed by you. With exceptionally good grades, you can even apply for National Grants.

So, what are you waiting for? Gear up and expand your horizons to have one of its kind PhD experience!!