dissertation tips Archives

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Navigating the Post-Candidacy Abyss: Locating the Elusive Dissertation Topic

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Erika Martin

Congratulations, you have achieved candidacy! Now what? The first couple years of a doctoral studies are arduous but predictable: slogging through tough coursework, learning new theories and methods, juggling academic work with teaching or other responsibilities, attending seminars, and trying to figure out academic culture. After some core milestones (such as coursework, comprehensive exams, candidacy papers, etc.), you gain a

Become a Super-Mentee: 10 Strategies to Improve Your Relationship with Your Adviser

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Erika Martin

The PhD Comics provide endless spoofs on academic advisers, including deciphering their email punctuation marks, managing their cryptic instructions, endless cycles of paper revisions, and their lack of awareness about your research. Students across disciplines offer colorful descriptions of their dissertation supervisors, ranging from dark villains (Darth Vader, Voldemort) and disordered personalities (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), to superheroes who

January’s Hack: Ten Strategies to Solicit Better Writing Feedback

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Erika Martin

In a painfully realistic PhD Comic series, a student receives his edited paper from his adviser whose “few tweaks” were a rewritten paper with his professor explaining, “it’s easier to rewrite it than to point out all the things you do wrong.” In discussing specific feedback, his adviser’s comments include using too many sentences, poor word choices, bad punctuation, and

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Art of Decluttering Your Dissertation

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Erika Martin

In an all-too-relatable PhD Comic series, Celia tackles her anxiety by making a list of everything she needs to accomplish and categorizing them by their level of importance. To her horror, she realizes that they are all important. In a state of panic, she does the dishes, organizes the desktop icons on her computer, and finally crawls underneath her desk