How to Get Your PhD

8/13/2019 How to Get Your PhD

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Faculty of HumanitiesResearcher Development

How toget your PhDa guide for students


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1Approaching your PhD 2

What is a PhD? 2Why get a PhD? 2

Topic 2

University 3

Supervisor 3

Funding 3

Reflection 4

2 First steps in research 5

Standards 5

Time Management 5Skills audit 6

Research Ethics & Health and Safety 6

Peers 6

Reflection 7

3 The core of your thesis work 8

Outline 8

Timeline 8

More on supervision 9

Writing 10Motivation 10

Action Points 11

4 Career and life 11

Conferences 11Publications 12

Teaching 12

Jobs 12

Life 13

Reflection 13

5 Final steps 13

Submission 13

Viva 14

Viva preparation 14

6 Case Studies 16

7 Resources 18

PhD community & writing tips 18

Career planning 18

Book 18

Reflections 19

Your Notes 19

Basic Checklist 20

contents


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www.manchester.ac.uk/humanities

1Approachingyour PhD

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This booklet is about

successfully navigatingthe PhD process, fromapproaching and structuringyour work to the thesissubmission and the viva.Tips are also included

on planning life outsideand after your PhD.

What is a PhD?A PhD (doctor of philosophy) thesis makes acontribution to knowledge and demonstrates yourability to conduct scholarly research in a specific areaof interest. Gaining a PhD consists of 99 per centhard work and perseverance and 1 per cent genius.You can pass without being a genius but not withoutworking consistently on your thesis for the equivalentof three years full-time work.

Why get a PhD?It will help you to stay focused, positive and confident

about your PhD to consider why you want to getone. There are many reasons for embarking on PhDs.Some people aspire to an academic career, othersseek the intellectual challenge or want to satisfy theircuriosity about a particular topic. Yet some studentsfall into it as a natural progression from their previouswork or simply want to delay entry into the labourmarket. Knowing your motivations will help youwhen you face challenges on your journey tocompletion, but it may also influence which formatyou choose for your thesis and your involvement inactivities outside your research.

TopicEnthusiasm and passion for your field of study arecrucial ingredients for PhD success. If you are notexcited about your topic, it will be difficult to enthuseothers and to convince them of its fascination andimportance. At the same time, the choice of yourPhD topic might be linked to the availability offunding or the projects available when working at aparticular university or with a particular supervisor.

Whatever your motivations for choosing your topic,you will need to remind yourself of your intrinsicfascination with your research topic or the usefulskills you are gaining in moments of doubt or lack ofmotivation faced by all PhD students at some pointduring the PhD process.

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UniversityIf you are geographically mobile, it is worth thinkingcarefully about the institution where you wish to gainyour doctorate. Considerations include theavailability of prospective supervisors and funding,the size of the department as well as the prestige ofthe institution. Russell Group Universities generallytend to have the strongest focus on research andaward about half of all doctorates in the UK. Thebest place to gain a doctorate in your field might beoverseas with leading US institutions provingparticularly popular.

SupervisorAt least as important as the choice of topic is thechoice of supervisor(s). Ideally, your supervisor will beclose to your research topic, interested in your workand have time and energy to support, stretch andmotivate you while allowing you to develop as anindependent researcher in your own right. In reality,your supervisor may not gain top scores on all thesecriteria but you should not compromise onknowledge of the field and supervision availability. Itis also a good idea to ask a potential supervisor

whether they intend to stay at their current university it is not ideal to have to change institutions or yourmain supervisor half-way through your thesis.

Unless you have worked with your prospectivesupervisor before, it is often not possible to establishwhat kind of person he/she is. Try and get a sense ofpossible supervisors from their academic or personalwebsites. You could also try to obtain some informalinsights into the supervision style of a particularperson from their current students or try and meetthe person before making a final decision on where

to undertake your doctorate. It is already commonpractice at US universities for students to meetprospective supervisors before making such decisions.

FundingDoing a PhD is an expensive activity, and fundingconsiderations are often seminal in deciding not onlywhere to study but whether you will undertake a PhDat all. Funding is usually fiercely competitive. Britishand European students can apply through theiruniversity for funding awarded based on attainmentand potential by the British Research Councilshttp://www.rcuk.ac.uk. Your university or a thirdparty (such as industry or a charity) may also havefunds available prospective universities should havea funding section for postgraduates on theirwebsites.

Reflection

Why do I want to do a PhD? What motivatesme to work on the topic for three or four years?

Am I committed to undertaking research forthe next few years? Which aspects will Ienjoy most?

What excites me about my prospective

thesis topic? What are the pros and cons of different

universities and departments for enrollingas a PhD student?

Who could be my potential supervisor?How can I find out more about her/him?

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2First stepsin research

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At this point you know

your motivation forundertaking a PhD, youhave found a universityand a supervisor, andhopefully some funding.Now it is time to start

the work.

StandardsFamiliarise yourself in your first weeks with theprocedures and standards of gaining a PhD at youruniversity and ensure you are aware of the mainmonitoring hurdles that you need to jump on theroad to completion for example, many universitiesnow have some forms of annual review processes inplace. Look at previously completed theses to see

what standard of work you should aspire to. Yoursupervisor or your peers will be able to recommend aparticularly strong thesis in your discipline andperhaps one that is particularly close to your ownresearch interests. Searching an international thesisdata base such as www.proquest.co.uk illustrates thestandard for PhDs at other institutions and allows youto find theses related to your field of interest.

In terms of format, the majority of British PhD thesescontinue to be a single long piece of scholarly work.But some students or fields of study prefer writing a

series of journal articles or offer taught PhDs theremight be some flexibility in which format you chose.Discuss possible deviations from the standard formatin your discipline with your supervisor early on in theprocess.

Time ManagementMany PhD students find it helpful to treat theirresearch like a full-time job involving five to eighthours of concentrated work five days a week. A

routine can help arrive in your study space or lab atthe same time every day. Get stuck into your

reading, experiments, analysis or writing. Allow timeto read new literature in your field such as new

journal issues. Limit time on procrastination activitiessuch as e-mail and the internet. At the same time,no thesis is completed without breaks. Holidays andweekends are important. Take time off regularly.

Your final thesis product will be the accumulation ofthe equivalent of about three years full-timeundertaking of your small daily thesis tasks. Thesecret of the most efficient PhD students is to doevery small task just once let it be filing journal

papers or research material, running a model orlooking up a particular reference. You will be familiarwith most of these small tasks but it is a good idea toaudit your skills at the beginning of your PhD.

Skills auditA person with a PhD should demonstrate an ability tocompetently write and complete a thesis, tocommunicate in written and oral forms, to be acompetent user of research techniques, relevant

equipment and software. Interpersonal, team-working, teaching and mentoring skills are alsorewarded in academic, government and industryemployment. It is thus worthwhile to develop yourportfolio of transferable skills, especially if your dream

job is outside academia. Find out about thespecialised and frequently free or subsidised! development courses for PhD students at youruniversity. Such courses usually include IT training,teaching training, presentation skills workshops,language training, and advice on establishing anacademic career. Skills portfolios can also be

developed by attending a UK Grad School (seewww.vitae.ac.uk).

Be prepared that you may find half-way through yourPhD that you need to learn new skills that you didnot anticipate at the beginning. Discuss your existingskills and training needs with your supervisor.

Research Ethics & Health and SafetyIf you do research, you will need to be aware ofethical and health and safety implications. In some

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3

The core of yourthesis work

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OutlineApproaches to writing differ somewhat acrossdisciplines. In the natural sciences it is still common towrite up your thesis at the end of three years onceyou know all the outcomes of your experiments. Youwill usually be advised to keep a log-book throughoutyour doctorate. In arts and social sciences subjects,however, an outline is the key to breaking your thesisdown into manageable chunks and a rough idea ofwhere your journey to completion is heading is stilluseful in laboratory based subjects. Ideally, youshould start an outline document in the first monthsof your PhD and update it regularly as you progress in

your work. Your first outline, for example, might justhave a rough structure of the type and number ofchapters you think will form your thesis (example:introduction, literature review, methodology, analysischapters, conclusion). As you flesh out the contentsof your thesis, this outline will become more detailed:you will have chapter headings and, where applicable,sub-headings and some titles for figures and tables.

You may have to refocus your research questionduring your PhD as the knowledge in your fieldadvances. Chapter outlines and the order in which

you tackle your research questions can change. Stayfocused by remembering that the ultimate goal is tocomplete coherent and interesting work worthy ofbeing awarded a PhD.

Individual chapters also need an outline and oftenthesis chapters have their own chapter introduction,middle section and conclusion or learning point fromthe chapter. If you are writing empirically basedwork, you may find it useful to assemble the figuresyou wish to use in the chapter and put them in theorder that you would use them in an academic talk.

Note down the key findings from each figure and usethose as skeletons for the chapter outline. Yoursupervisor will be a useful resource for feedback onyour proposed thesis and chapter structures. Youmay also wish to workshop your thesis structure withother PhD students. Your department may alreadyhave a PhD workshop in place but if not, why notorganise your own? This will also look good on yourCV in terms of organisation and leadership skills.

TimelineAs you are writing your first outline, you should alsoassemble your first timeline. Both will change as yourresearch advances, but it doesnt hurt to have something

to work from and to keep you on track. Especially at thebeginning of your research, you may under-estimate

how long certain tasks take and it is important to learnearly on to set realistic timeframes for small tasks so thatyou will ultimately complete your thesis on time. Also,you will almost certainly experience a scenario where anexperiment does not work as planned; where your ethicsreview, access to your data, an archive or a library bookis delayed; or where new considerations ordevelopments lead to changes in your research design.Allow some time for unexpected events in yourtimetable and plan to finish at least three months beforeyour funding runs out so even if you do over-run, you

have some buffer time for completion.Some students find it helpful to have severalheadings in their timeline for example, researchtargets, research dissemination (conferences andpublications), training and development andteaching. Dont forget to factor in holiday time.

Review and update your timeline regularly andevaluate how you are doing against your expectedcompletion time - it is a good idea to have yourtimeline in a dominant place such as next to yourcomputer screen. Ensure your supervisor has a

revised copy of your timeline so you have helpmonitoring your progress.

More on supervisionThe relationship with your supervisor is key to PhDsuccess. The supervision scenario you encounter islikely to vary depending on your universitys policiesfor supervision, your departmental set up and thestyle of your particular supervisor. Some supervisorsconscientiously read and plan your work with you

perhaps to the point that you are feeling constraint inyour creative thinking, while others may disappearfrom sight and e-mail contact and skim read anywork in progress until they see completed chapters.Your university will have guidelines about what youcan expect from the supervision process, but you maystill need to ensure actively that your supervisor isgiving you the attention and support you need.

As in any relationship, communication is the key tosuccess. It is useful to have regular meetings withyour supervisor, to raise challenges faced in yourresearch early on and to ask for help when you getstuck. Supervisors can also be a useful source ofadvice on career planning and tips on conferences,publications and funding.

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Some universities formally allow or require you tohave two supervisors. This can frequently be helpful

and fruitful as long as communication is maintainedbetween the three of you. You may also find it usefulto investigate the opportunities for asking membersof staff who are not your supervisor about advice onspecific aspects of your work.

WritingWriting is thinking is the motto followed in manyhumanities and social science subjects. Writing is acrucial aspect of the conceptual development of your

work in these fields and your thesis will go throughmany drafts of writing and rewriting. This processshould start in the first few months of your doctorateand you will keep writing throughout your doctoralwork. In natural sciences, you will frequently beasked to keep a log-book throughout your doctorateto help you write up at the end.

Many writers find it helpful to write, leave and rewritework. If you are stuck or simply bored with editing aparticular paragraph or section of your thesis chapter,you may find that a few days or weeks later, you

suddenly know how to do it. Some supervisors arehappy to read drafts of your work while others wantto see polished versions. Whichever approach yoursupervisor takes, try to get feedback to improve yourwriting and the focus of your work. Friends and peerscan also be useful for reading work in progress andassessing the flow of your argument and you canlearn from reading their work too.

Follow general advice on good writing and yourdisciplinary etiquette of writing. If you explainsomething, be twice as explicit as you think you

should be. Write clearly, coherently and structured.Most subjects favour simple sentences using simplewords. Ensure that you are familiar with the way ofwriting expected in your subject at your university.

When you edit your work, make sure that individualsections and paragraphs are easy to read and thatthere is a good flow between sections. Proof-readyour work meticulously and pay attention tostipulated minimum and maximum word or pagelimits. Learn how to use Word or some othersoftware for structuring your thesis chapters intosections with different sub-headings and master howto insert and refer to graphics or tables in your text hopefully your university IT support offers a trainingcourse on the topic for PhD students. Manage your

bibliography while you write. It might be worthspending time to familiarise yourself with a

referencing software such as Endnote early on in yourPhD. Finally, back-up your work regularly and indifferent locations. You could also keep the latestversion of your thesis on your e-mail server tominimise the risk of losing your work in progress.

MotivationMotivation to stay focussed and continue the work is achallenge many PhD students face during their theses.It helps to stay focused to have at least fortnightly

targets of what you want to achieve. A work log ofyour progress allows you to see how you are doing andmay help you when asking peers or your supervisorwhen you get stuck. Unfortunately, some studentshave been known to disappear off the planet whenproblems occur do not do it, it will only magnifyproblems. Reward yourself for staying on track.

Study groups, your peers and your supervisor can alsohelp you to stay motivated, but it is also worthreminding yourself of your initial fascination withyour topic and to realise that a PhD is a time-bound

activity. If you are in a serious motivation crisis, dosomething completely different for a few days - forexample, take yourself on a weekend break andyou may just find that you have recharged yourmotivational batteries. Stay confident you havegotten this far and you can complete this thesis. Justremember that you really want to.

Action Points

Look at a successful PhD thesis in yourdepartment how is it structured?

Write a first draft outline and timeline of yourproposed thesis.

Learn to use a referencing tool for yourbibliography

Put a back-up system for all your files in place

Limit e-mail time to three times a day

Designate a folder to keep agendas forsupervisions and notes after your supervision

meeting

and just remind yourself how exciting andfascinating your PhD topic is!

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4Career and life


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If you undertake your PhD

with the aim of staying inacademia, you also need tothink from the beginning ofthe requirements for jobentry in your discipline inaddition to completing a

thesis typically universitieslike to appoint new staffwho have published in peer-reviewed journals and whohave some teachingexperience. It is still possible

to obtain a first academicpost without eitherexperience but why not putyourself in the strongestemployment positionpossible?

ConferencesTo obtain an academic job, it is worthwhile tobecome acquainted with the great and the good inyour field, the latest research developments, and toraise awareness of your work. The way to do this isby attending conferences and giving talks in yourdepartment / university. In your first PhD year, youmay only attend major conferences withoutpresenting your work or you might present at apostgraduate conference. Aim to present at leastone paper at a good conference during your PhD.Find out whether your university, the conferenceorganisers or your scholarship provide you with extra

funds for conference travel. Have a business cardready and participate in and enjoy the social activitiesat the conference new research collaborations andeven friendships can be forged over casual food anddrink as well as formal talks. Besides, what otheroccasions are there to meet so many brilliant peopleinterested in similar issues and ideas?

PublicationsYour academic career will also depend on yourpublication record. Your supervisor will be able to

advise you on how much is required for getting aposition as a post-doctoral researcher or junioruniversity lecturer. Generally, you should aim forpublications in well known international journals.Review processes frequently take many months tocomplete, so try sending a paper for considerationsby the middle of your second year. In somehumanities subjects, the gold standard is still a singleauthored book. Your academic employment chancesare enhanced if you are one of the few outstandingstudents who secure a book contract with a good

publisher before completing your thesis.

TeachingUndertaking limited teaching will not only enhanceyour employability after your doctorate but it can alsobe fun, provide some variety to your working weekand increase your income. But remember that yourtop priority is your thesis spend at most one day aweek on all your teaching activities, includingpreparation, leading seminars, lectures or labexperiments and marking. You are a step ahead of


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the academic careers game if you undertake aPGCHE or apply for membership of the Higher

Education Academy www.headacademy.ac.uk whilestill doing your PhD this signals your commitmentto teaching.

JobsBe aware that deadlines for some post-doctoralresearch positions and lectureships as well as otheremployment such as consultancy can frequently havenine months lead time start the academic jobsearch in August / September before completing your

PhD. Sign up to automatic alerts should the jobsection page from your favourite employers change(for examplewww.changedetection.com/monitor.html). Subscribeto www.jobs.ac.uk to receive the latest job alerts inyour academic field and get on your careers servicesdistribution list for new vacancies in industry. Yourcareer service will be able to help you in preparingyour CV. Keep your CV only one mouse-click away you never know when you will spot jobs you wish toapply for. Practice interviews and job talks, yourcareers service may also have some mock interviews

in their DVD collection that are worth watching.

LifeLife continues while you are busy writing your PhD.The support from family and friends will be asimportant as the academic support in helping yousucceed in your doctorate. Stay connected andinvolved with your nearest and dearest, especially ifyour thesis seems to take over every aspect of yourlife. Visits and joint time off may help you stayconnected.

Many PhD students find that involvement in someextra-curricular activities keeps their energy levelshigh. Your enthusiasm for other things will give youmore energy for your thesis and you may pick upfurther transferable skills on the way as well.

Follow general common sense in managing yourphysical and mental health. Make sure you areregistered with a GP and dentist. Universitiesgenerally have a counselling service that you shouldbe entitled to use free of charge as well as a student

nightline. Your supervisor might be able to providesome pastoral support but not all supervisors are

equally happy to be involved in issues around yourpersonal life and you yourself might prefer keepingyour personal life separate from your thesis. In anycase, use the available support services early onrather than allowing potentially manageableproblems to spiral out of control.

Reflection

Have I visited my careers service? Am I on the

mailing list for jobs academic or otherwise?

Is my updated CV just one mouse click away?

Am I staying in touch with my nearest anddearest?

Have I got a holiday or weekend break plan?

Do I have a current GP and dentist registrationwhere I live?

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5Final steps

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SubmissionUltimately, a good PhD is a finished PhD. A potentiallyoutstandingly original piece of work that is neversubmitted will neither earn you a PhD nor gain youthe recognition you deserve. Your final thesis productwill never be perfect but will mirror an appropriateacademic accomplishment for three years of research.As a general rule, the final writing and proofreadingprocess will take at least twice as long as you expect,so allow plenty of time for the final polishing stages.Ensure that your thesis complies with institutionalsubmission guidelines (spacing, spelling, word limit,structure, binding, submission forms) and is neatly

presented. Consult with your supervisor aboutpossible examiners for your thesis. You will want toappoint someone who is sympathetic to your line ofenquiry and who is realistic about the requirementsfor conferring a doctorate. For an academic career itcan also be helpful to appoint a distinguishedprofessor as their networks and references could helpyou get jobs. If possible, avoid appointing someonewho holds a personal grudge against yoursupervisor(s) or your institution.

VivaA few weeks or months after your thesis submissionyou will be called to your viva, the final oral PhDexamination. The purpose of this examination is toconfirm that it was you who actually wrote the thesisand that you fully understand the work you havedone and the significance of your work within yourresearch field. A viva is an open book exam. Notonly do you have an opportunity to prepare but youcan even take a list of anticipated questions andanswers into your viva. Take this list into your viva as

well as chapter summaries, a list of errors you foundwhen re-reading your thesis and, if applicable, workyou have undertaken since submission.

If you want to continue with your academic work, theviva is a good opportunity to improve your work forfurther publications and to get advice on the suitable

journals and publishers for research dissemination.

Viva preparationYour viva will contain some predictable questions.

Ideally, you will have thought about these questionswhile you were writing your PhD. Practice your answerswith fellow students and friends or write down somebullet points to remind you of your response.

Summarise your thesis in one sentence / 3 minutes/ 10 minutes. What is the take-home message?

What have you done that merits a PhD?

What are your main contributions to knowledge?

How applicable is what you have done to othercontexts?

What are the recent developments in your field?How does your work link to those developments?

What would you do differently if you were to startthe project again?

Where do you see this kind of research moving inthe future?

What is the strongest criticism of your work?What would your worst critic say about yourthesis?

Depending on your subject areas, questions may alsoinclude implications for policy audience, end-users orindustry; ethical considerations in research involvinghuman subjects; and technical, methodological andmathematical questions.

Some questions are asked because the examiners aregenuinely interested and want to know the answer,so set a friendly rather than adversarial tone.Remember you are now the worlds expert on yourtopic! You know more about it than your examiners.Use general answering techniques to shine in yourviva. Phrases such as Thank you for that helpfulcomment; That is a good question; Now, theanswer is not straightforward go a long way.Acknowledge when you are faced with a challengingbut justified question - You have identified a seriouslimitation of this approach/method/technique and the

results/findings have to be interpreted in the light ofthis observation. Score points by mentioning specificdetails of names, titles, journals, date of publication but the greatest way of winning over your examinersremains your continued enthusiasm and excitementfor your research.

The most usual outcome of a viva examination is arequirement to make some changes to your thesis. Ifyou make these changes to the satisfaction of theexaminers within a specified period, then you will beawarded a doctorate. A great reason to celebrate.

Enjoy your PhD!

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SarahSarah embarked on a PhD in particle physics knowingthat her interests were equally divided between physicsand languages and politics. During her PhD she kept herinterests alive by learning a new language and beinginvolved in a political society at her student union whilegiving 100 per cent to her research from 9 to 5. Sarahstarted employment with the foreign office aftercompleting her PhD she has found that her physicsbackground has given her very precise thinking andanalytical skills that help her succeed in her new career.I am glad I did the PhD. It taught me so many things Iwouldnt know otherwise and you can just tell whoamong my new colleagues has got one and who hasnt.

BhavnaBhavnas decision to undertake a PhD in the socialsciences was inspired by her friends decision: Wedecided to do a PhD together because we couldntthink of anything else to do and I had a topic in mindthat fascinated me. Funding was not forthcomingand Bhavna held down part-time jobs and a

wardenship in a hall of residence throughout her PhD.Nonetheless, not only did Bhavna succeeded in herPhD, she also gained a prestigious post-doctoralfellowship and soon afterwards a permanent academic

job at a top university. I could not possibly advise mystudents to start a PhD with such little idea of wherethey are going and no funding. But, yes, it worked forme and it is the second best thing I have done in mylife (after meeting my husband). The tough road tocompletion also made me appreciate my current joband the security that comes with it more.

DonDon undertook a PhD in Mathematics. He enjoyedthe academic side of his PhD but also the freedom topursue his interests in cycling. At the end of his PhD,he was offered a post-doctoral position in Canada.But two weeks before taking up his new job hedecided not to go. The prospect of going overseaswas exciting but I decided that my roots in the townwhere I undertook my PhD were more important tome. Having discovered that his priority was to stay

local, he secured lucrative employment at a privatefinancial consultancy firm. The PhD allowed me tohave maximum choice in my life and I am happy ithas given me an opportunity to stay in a place I likewith the people I care about.

RosalindRosalind enjoyed her laboratory based work inBiology as it gave her a supportive peer-group duringher PhD. Furthermore, she had always wanted totravel and had missed out on this experience due toher familys financial situation when she was growingup. The best thing about my PhD is the funds to goto international conferences. And a professor Irecently met at a conference has invited me to joinhis research team for a year so I am looking forwardto moving to the US after my PhD. Without the PhD Iwould not be able to catch up on all theseexperiences I have previously missed out on. I alsoenjoy being outstanding at what I do.

GeorgeGeorge had always known he wanted to be anacademic historian. But after submitting anunsuccessful application for PhD funding to hisresearch council, he decided that it was too risky toembark on a self-funded PhD followed by uncertain

job prospects. Fortunately, Georges revised and

improved PhD proposal secured funding a year laterwhile he was working as an accountant in the City. Iam now half-way through my PhD and I am enjoyingit. I do a lot of teaching and marking, and I still knowthat there might not be an academic job at the endof it. Still, I feel privileged to have a chance to pursuemy academic interests for three years.

JaninaJanina had put her career ambitions aside to followher husbands job and to care for their newborn

baby. But four years later, she found herself divorcedwith poor job prospects and a community that feltuneasy with a single mum in their midst. Sheplunged her savings into a down payment on thetuition fees for a PhD in politics in a different townand her life changed from there. I could finally dosomething I felt passionate about and was defined bymy own ability rather than my ex-husbandsaccomplishments. The PhD gave me my confidenceback, I have just accepted a job in local governmentand I am getting married again in autumn. Life with

the PhD is good.

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www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/humnet/acaserv/pgresearch/training - for more information abouttraining and development for researcher in theHumanities Faculty at the University of Manchester

PhD community & writing tipswww.proquest.co.uk - search completed doctoraltheses

port.igrs.sas.ac.uk/supervision.htm - advice on PhDplanning, supervision and writing.

www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html - adviceon the writing part of your PhD

www.vitae.ac.uk UK national organisation withinformation and resources to support thedevelopment of researchers

www.purelyPhD.com information about PhDstudy, progression, networking and getting a jobafterwards

Career planningwww.jobs.ac.uk - for academic job search after thePhD, sign up for weekly job alerts, mainly UK butsome international postings

chronicle.com/jobs/100 - for job offers in the USacademic market, sign up for weekly alerts

www.prospects.ac.uk - resource for graduatecareers

www.heacademy.ac.uk - membership of the highereducation academy may enhance your chances ofsecuring an academic job after completing your PhD.

www.rcuk.ac.uk - find the UK research councilresponsible for your area of research and find fundingand post-doctoral opportunities

www.changedetection.com/monitor.html - allowsyou to monitor websites and be notified when theychange. Very useful for monitoring job websites atparticular institutions.

Book

Estelle M. Phillips and Derek S. Pugh How to get aPhD: a handbook for students and their supervisors,4th edition, 2005, Open University Press.

The authorAnna Zimdars completed herdoctorate in Sociology at theUniversity of Oxford in 2007.She is now working as a post-doctoral researcher at theUniversity of Manchester.Reflecting on her own PhDexperience, Anna felt that therewere things she wishedsomeone had told her when she embarked on thePhD journey and the idea to write a short booklet forfuture PhD students was born.

We hope you have found the booklet useful yourfeedback, comments and suggestions are welcomehere: [email protected].

The University of Manchester June 2009

Reflections

What do I hope to get out of the PhD experience?

What excites me most about my PhD topic?

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Your Notes Basic Checklist(please tick when you accomplish a task)

when you start.

folder designated to keep log of supervisionmeetings

back-up system for all files in place

comfortable workspace

registration with GP and dentist (optional: gym)

after the first three months

looked at a good PhD thesis related to my researchinterest at my university

talked to at least one more advanced PhD studentin my discipline

know at least one key administrative staff in mydiscipline by name

reviewed training needs and ethics implicationwith supervisor

attended at least one research seminar in mydiscipline

by the end of Year 1

visited careers service

draft outline and draft timetable to completion


attended at least one conference / workshop /

internal seminar

presented or plans to present at a conference /workshop / internal seminar

updated CV is one mouse-click away

on mailing lists with relevant future employment

mastered required research skills and how tomanage large documents, references

had a holiday / break


draft of thesis at least three months beforeyou want to submit

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Skills Training and Development TeamFaculty of HumanitiesDevonshire HouseThe University of ManchesterOxford RoadManchesterM13 9PL

tel +44(0)161 306 1113email [email protected]

Documents

How to Get Your PhD