Review: How to Complete a PhD in the Medical and Clinical Sciences

As a PhD student, I often succumb to the thinking that only the books with the longest tables of contents and broadest subject matter can ever answer the burning questions in life. I picked up How to Complete a PhD in the Medical and Clinical Sciences suspecting that a guide designed for such a select audience would be hard to wade through and probably too niche to be helpful. As it turns out, I was wrong.

How to Complete a PhD in the Medical and Clinical Sciencesis the product of a lengthy list of contributors and two editors, Dr Ashton Barnett-Vanes and Dr Rachel Allen. The book’s goal is to offer a genuine and informative manual to help you sidestep the ‘get out, dead or alive’ mentality, make the most of your PhD experience, minimise the stressors (although some will be inevitable) and emerge as the proud owner of a doctorate. In as few as 150 pages, the reader is presented with an itinerary of the PhD journey that stretches from what a doctorate actually is, to looking at potential ‘future plans’ for PhD graduates. While it’s true that the text primarily targets students in the Medical and Clinical Sciences, the book would provide a valuable asset to anyone whose PhD involves experimental work. In fact, it could be of significant use to research students in any discipline.

My first impression of this book came from the design and page layout. The formal, black-and-teal cover and the spooky scarcity of illustrations and cartoons I’m accustomed to seeing in most PhD guides, implied that I’d be embarking on a dark, stern journey through the medical world (perhaps even encountering the beasts of many Latin words and obscure terminology). To my surprise, no intricate jargon emerged from behind the next page and instead I was introduced to a friendly and relatable voice that seemed to know exactly which questions to address.

So, what does the book actually talk about?

The first two chapters present a general overview: why, when and how to apply for a PhD, with relevant observations, checklists and tips. By contrast, in the next section we meet a pair of (vastly entertaining) speakers - a senior lecturer who “still thinks he has something useful to say” and a self-confessed millennial . The chapter details their contrasting but complementing viewpoints on some of the major questions that should concern an aspiring researcher: how is a PhD different from an undergrad? Where does a PhD student fit in the foliage of the academic jungle? What is the student-supervisor relationship like? Here also, we are given a tour of the ‘inhabitants’ of a research lab, in a way that seems almost reminiscent of the traditional ‘clique breakdown’ appearing regularly in high school films (except instead of ‘jocks, nerds, cheerleaders’, you have yourself, technicians, support staff, post-docs and so on).

Chapter 4 is arguably the most specific to the intended target audience: it offers an exhaustive account of the core techniques in the Medical and Clinical Science field, their aim and rationale. From experiments to statistical methods, the chapter provides an understanding of what you may come across during your study.

The central chapters of the book (Chapters 5-9) cover the PhD timeline, each year with its individual ‘highlights’, overall targets, main actors and possible setbacks. Academic, personal and financial problems, alongside other common issues faced by most PhD students, are analysed in perspective and discussed with possible solutions in mind. The approach is goal-oriented, but the tone remains continuously reassuring, giving the microphone to the student’s inner voice of panic to then provide advice and notes on finding support.

Presenting and publishing as a PhD student is examined in Chapter 8. This includes layout recommendations, an exhaustive recount of the main objectives, tools and strategies associated with presenting and, most usefully, the pitfalls and challenges of writing papers in a group. This is a topic that’s rarely mentioned in other guides, but this chapter discusses the possible friction of authorship and how to effectively manage the writing process in a team.

The section on compiling a thesis deals with conventional questions like planning, drafting and editing, in addition to a ‘behind the scenes’ account of an examiner’s expectations and pet-peeves when reading a PhD project. The guide also details the relationship between the text of the thesis and the viva, along with what to anticipate from the examiners, how to practice and follow-up tips. For me, reading this part of the book lifted some of the mystery surrounding my upcoming viva, making me feel much better prepared for both writing and presenting my final work.

Although How to Complete a PhD in the Medical and Clinical Sciences aims (and succeeds) in remaining concise, it examines every aspect of the PhD journey in a comprehensive and precise manner. I would strongly recommend the book to anyone doing or planning to do a PhD in Medical, Clinical, Biomedical or Life Sciences. As well as, frankly, any other subject.

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