Mastering Your PhD - Survival and Success in the Doctoral Years and Beyond
von: Patricia Gosling, Lambertus D. Noordam
Springer-Verlag, 2006
ISBN: 9783540333883
Sprache: Englisch
157 Seiten, Download: 1103 KB
Format: PDF, auch als Online-Lesen
| Preface | 5 | ||
| Why read a book about getting a PhD? | 5 | ||
| Sink or swim | 5 | ||
| Contents | 9 | ||
| Introduction | 11 | ||
| The start-up group | 12 | ||
| The up-and-running group | 13 | ||
| The small but established group | 14 | ||
| The empire | 14 | ||
| Getting Started | 16 | ||
| Become familiar with your department | 17 | ||
| Formulate a working plan and set up a schedule | 17 | ||
| Maintain a proper lab notebook | 18 | ||
| Establish good reference keeping practices | 18 | ||
| Dealing with initial ups and downs | 19 | ||
| Setting Goals and Objectives | 20 | ||
| A word to the sceptics | 21 | ||
| Effective time management | 22 | ||
| Record your daily activities | 23 | ||
| Learning from the record | 24 | ||
| Preparing a to-do list | 25 | ||
| Multi-tasking: is it for you? | 25 | ||
| The 80/20 rule | 26 | ||
| How do I know if I’mfocusing on the 80 percent or the 20 percent? | 26 | ||
| Implementing the 80/20 rule | 27 | ||
| How to Think Like a Scientist | 29 | ||
| Common errors in using the scientific method | 30 | ||
| Fact, theory, hypothesis – what’s the difference anyway? | 31 | ||
| Ockham’s razor | 32 | ||
| A final comment | 33 | ||
| Designing Good Experiments | 35 | ||
| Discriminating between different hypotheses | 35 | ||
| Reproducing your results | 35 | ||
| Proper control of variables | 36 | ||
| Methods of measurement | 36 | ||
| Blinding | 36 | ||
| Accuracy and precision | 36 | ||
| Good science and good experimental design go hand in hand | 37 | ||
| Design experiments to test your hypothesis | 38 | ||
| Prepare your materials and equipment | 39 | ||
| Record the data | 39 | ||
| Record your observations | 39 | ||
| Analyze the raw data | 39 | ||
| Draw conclusions | 40 | ||
| Finally: can you trust your results? | 41 | ||
| Spotting random errors | 42 | ||
| Systematic errors | 42 | ||
| Linked variables | 42 | ||
| What if your experiment hasn’tworked out as planned? | 43 | ||
| Charting your Progress Month by Month | 44 | ||
| Monthly progress monitor: four questions to keep you goal oriented | 45 | ||
| What you can learn from filling in the monthly progress monitor | 48 | ||
| Dealing with Setbacks | 50 | ||
| The cold reality of trial and error | 51 | ||
| Identifying the setback(s) | 52 | ||
| Take action | 52 | ||
| A difficult dilemma: should you stop all together? | 54 | ||
| The Art of Good Communication or How to get along with your lab mates et al. | 57 | ||
| How to get the help you need from the others on your team | 58 | ||
| What a character! | 58 | ||
| How you cope with the world: extrovert versus introvert | 60 | ||
| How you think: intuition vs. sensation | 61 | ||
| Are your decisions driven by objective arguments or feelings? | 61 | ||
| Chaotic team members vs. planners | 61 | ||
| Which type are you? | 62 | ||
| How to collaborate with your counterpart | 62 | ||
| Extroverts vs. introverts | 62 | ||
| Intuition and sensation: both are necessary for success | 63 | ||
| In science feeling is more important than thinkers want to believe | 64 | ||
| Judgers and perceivers have crucial roles at different times | 65 | ||
| A varied mix makes a good team | 67 | ||
| The Art of Good Communication, Part 2 Presentation Skills and Group Meetings | 71 | ||
| Formulate your objectives | 71 | ||
| Identify your audience | 72 | ||
| Rehearse your presentation out loud | 73 | ||
| Giving the presentation | 74 | ||
| Tips for a perfect delivery | 75 | ||
| Visual aids | 76 | ||
| Group meetings | 77 | ||
| Chairing a session | 78 | ||
| A final observation | 79 | ||
| Searching the Scientific Literature | 81 | ||
| Getting started in the library | 81 | ||
| Using the Internet | 82 | ||
| Making good use of the Science Citation Index | 83 | ||
| How do you know when your literature search is successful and complete? | 84 | ||
| Your First International Conference | 86 | ||
| Making the most of your first conference | 86 | ||
| First things first | 87 | ||
| Making sense of the conference programme | 89 | ||
| Making your presence count | 91 | ||
| Post-conference reality check | 93 | ||
| From Data to Manuscript: Writing Scientific Papers That Shine | 95 | ||
| Title | 96 | ||
| Abstract | 96 | ||
| Introduction | 97 | ||
| Materials and methods | 97 | ||
| Results | 98 | ||
| A note on tables and figures | 98 | ||
| Tips formaking great graphs | 99 | ||
| Discussion | 101 | ||
| Literature cited | 101 | ||
| Revising the first draft | 103 | ||
| Celebrate Your Success | 104 | ||
| The art of celebrating success | 104 | ||
| Why celebrate your success? | 105 | ||
| What defines success? | 106 | ||
| How can you celebrate your success? | 106 | ||
| How to Cope with Your Annual Evaluation | 108 | ||
| Keep it in perspective | 109 | ||
| Be prepared | 110 | ||
| The surprise attack: how to act when you’re caught off guard | 112 | ||
| The Final Year: Countdown to Your Thesis Defence | 116 | ||
| Establish your achievements | 116 | ||
| Verify your achievements | 117 | ||
| What else should be included in your thesis? | 117 | ||
| Describe your final project | 118 | ||
| The countdown list | 119 | ||
| Typical things you might learn from the countdown list | 121 | ||
| Handling uncertainties | 121 | ||
| Discuss your planning with your supervisor/advisor | 122 | ||
| The countdown is not carved in stone | 122 | ||
| Putting it all Together: A PhD…soWhat’s Next? | 126 | ||
| Opportunities for a newly minted PhD | 126 | ||
| The next logical step: a Post-doctoral fellowship | 127 | ||
| The corporate sector: where business and sciencemeet | 129 | ||
| Not-for-profit organizations – the best of both worlds? | 129 | ||
| Is your final decision carved in stone? | 131 | ||
| From searching for opportunities to getting the job | 131 | ||
| Do you want the job? | 134 | ||
| Swinging from branch to branch on the career tree | 135 | ||
| Writing Your Doctoral Thesis with Style | 137 | ||
| First things first: decide on the table of contents | 138 | ||
| Cut the problem down to size: write an outline | 138 | ||
| Getting down to fundamentals: what’s a PhD thesis anyway? | 139 | ||
| A PhD thesis is: | 139 | ||
| A PhD thesis is not: | 140 | ||
| Pick a straightforward format and layout | 141 | ||
| Transforming (published) articles into thesis chapters | 141 | ||
| Chapter Two: the first piece of new text | 142 | ||
| The last set of data: chapter or article first? | 143 | ||
| The introduction: the final hurdle | 144 | ||
| The summary | 144 | ||
| Going for gold: writing an error free thesis | 145 | ||
| Be generous with acknowledgements | 145 | ||
| The Final Act: Defending Your Thesis with Panache | 147 | ||
| Familiarize yourself with the formalities | 148 | ||
| Prepare yourself scientifically | 149 | ||
| Prepare your act | 150 | ||
| Your physical condition at the actual defence | 151 | ||
| Lessons Learned | 153 | ||
| Planning is essential | 154 | ||
| Communication creates harmony | 155 | ||
| A final thought | 156 | ||
| About the Authors | 157 | ||
| Acknowledgements | 158 |