The annual review happens usually at the end of 2nd year of our PhD study or in some cases, at the end of the 3rd year. This review serves for two purposes: to ensure you are progressing as planned, and as an opportunity to gather feedback and guidance on your work. In this week’s blog, Ivy shares her experiences and tips.
Generally, at the time of the annual review, the PhD candidate is finishing data collection planning to start writing the thesis. This is particularly the case with PhD students of social sciences. Usually, the upgrade panel at the end of the first year is focused on approving the proposed research; with the second annual review being around reviewing data collected in preparation of writing the thesis.
What does an annual review look like?
Unlike the uniformed upgrade panel, which consists of two reviewers and one PhD candidate, the annual review could be of more diverse forms to serve the specific needs of the PhD candidate. The most common form of an annual review is nevertheless in the same format as the upgrade panel. An innovative form could be for two PhD candidates to share their annual review sessions. For example, two PhD friends of mine, one at the end of 2nd year, with the data ready for thesis writing and the other at the end of 3rd year, in the middle of thesis writing, were suggested to have a joint annual review, since they share the similar research topics and could benefit from the discussion on each other’s project.
What happens in the annual review?
During the annual review, the candidate will first give a presentation about the project, the data collected, the methods for analysing, and the tentative structure for writing up the thesis. The presentation usually ends with the candidate’s concerns, or concrete questions for the reviewers to address. In some cases, the candidate might also turn in some writings before the review, then the review would probably start directly with the discussion.
Usually, the reviewers would give some comments when the presentation is over, particularly if there are something in the presentation that the reviewers fail to understand. Then the discussion is centres on the candidate’s concerns.
How can I prepare for the annual review?
It is common that we usually get so nervous before the big event and the annual review is kind of that, another milestone in our PhD. However, the first tip, just like what I mentioned in my blog about the upgrade panel, is to have a positive and calm mindset. The annual review is there mainly to support us rather than challenge us, although it could be interpreted as a challenge in some way. But this challenge is well-intended, and we need to be clear about what kind of help we might need to proceed with our thesis. Our reviewers and supervisors only want what’s best for us, and for us to succeed in our research.
The second tip is to follow the instructions for preparation, either as described in the departmental handbook or advised by the supervisor. Both are for us to have clear guidelines about what is supposed to happen, what we should prepare for, how we are supposed to behave and what benefits we may get from it. To make sure we are doing the right thing, it would also be helpful to check with our PhD friends, who have recently finished this review.
Hope the above tips help. Good luck with your annual review!
What’s your way of preparing for presentations of your research? Do you think the above tips (would) help? Tweet us @researchex, message us on Instagram @warwicklibrary, or email us at libraryblogs@warwick.ac.uk
If you’d like to find out more, why not take a look at our blogs on five top tips for upgrade success or how to ace your viva.
Want the latest PhD Life blogs direct to your inbox? Subscribe below.
PhDLife Blog 