The Best PhD Advice I Ever Received
Having officially come to the end of my PhD, I received a lot of advice over the years that I’m sure many people could benefit from. Whether you’re starting your degree this autumn or have already begun, this blog has something for you.
#1 Make sure you fully understand what you’re getting into
When I first started enquiring about PhD research, I received a lot of advice from different academics. The most helpful was to understand what I was getting into. One of my Masters seminar leaders sat me down and said “right, I’m going to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn’t do a PhD and if you still want to do one then go ahead”.
We talked about the financial burden, loneliness and frustration often involved. We discussed the chances of ‘making it’ in academia and the amount of uncertainty you have to deal with. Many early career academics also find themselves having to relocate regularly so they can take every opportunity that comes their way.
Knowing the realities of PhD study and the future it could give me helped manage my expectations and make informed decisions about my goals.
#2 Start writing from day one
Once I begun my PhD, I’ll never forget how keen my supervisor was to get me writing straight away. Initially I was confused. I hadn’t done any research to write about yet. Mostly, I was reading for my literature review which wasn’t due until the end of the year, so he had me writing book reviews and summaries of every key piece.
As I found out later down the line, this was extremely helpful when it came to constructing my introduction and literature review in my third year. It also meant that when the time came to start drafting chapters, I was already in the habit of writing almost every day.
#3 Commit to one reference management and note taking system
In all honesty, I never received this advice but I wish I had. If you’re anything like me, you probably enjoy reading about productivity methods more than actually being productive. As a result, I ended up truing a new note taking system and different apps about every six months. I also swapped reference management systems a couple of times. Don’t do this.
Rather than making myself more efficient, I spread my notes out to the point of inconvenience. Finding the page number for a quote should be as quick as ‘Ctrl+F’ but when you have five different places to look, that process suddenly becomes a lot slower.
#4 However long you think it will take, add a month
I’m a planner. When I make a schedule, I tend to stick to it and the PhD was seemingly no different. I’d met all my chapter deadlines throughout the past year and was working towards handing in at the end of March. Then, one of my friends who had completed their degree recently said to me “whenever you think you’ll finish, add a month”. Initially, I shrugged this off as advice from someone who couldn’t plan as well as I could. But, turns out they were right.
When you come towards the end of the PhD, everything takes so long. My supervisor wanted to read my whole thesis through at least twice. He probably would have read it a third time if I wasn’t chopping at the bit to hand in. You should also proofread your 200+ page thesis multiple times. While you may think you can power through, this is an extremely tedious task so save your sanity and take your time.
#5 Whatever you need to do to finish, do it
Coming towards the end of your thesis is probably the most stressful part of the PhD. For many, lifestyle habits have to be thrown out the window in order to finish. While I strongly advocate you look after yourself physically and mentally, those people who go to the gym every day, eat healthily and read a book a week are likely not undergoing the most stressful period of their lives.
If you need to eat a horrendous amount of chocolate, drop the gym and start working night owl hours to get through – just do it. The most important thing right now is finishing, so what’s two months of unhealthy living. Drop the guilt and recognise these lifestyle choices are only temporary and can be fixed later.
#6 Remember to have fun!
The last piece of advice I received during my PhD was, when it comes to the viva, have fun. I’ve yet to have my viva but at least four people have now told me to enjoy it, so I’m choosing to believe this must be good advice.
At the moment, I feel pretty tense about the whole thing. Surprisingly the thought of defending three years of research to seasoned academics is quite anxiety inducing. But, this will also be a chance to talk about my work for multiple hours. So, I can see why people are telling me to enjoy it as I’ll likely never get the opportunity again!
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