Category: PhD Basics

Compared to my friends who have gone out of academia, into business and the corporate world, I am moving at a very slow pace. They run several projects a year and publish reports, I still haven’t published results from research that was run in November 2017. Yes, that is effectively two and a half years ago. Most projects in the private sector don’t take that long to run fully, let alone if we are only talking analysis and writing up.

Doing a PhD is an exciting thing. To make sure you stay on track, you have a supervisor supporting you through this minefield!  And as helpful as they can be, navigating your relation to your supervisor can be a minefield on its own. Essentially, it’s a difficult relationship where it often isn’t clear what the exact guidelines are. And that can get confusing.

Quick disclaimer: this article is only about what’s going on during the PhD. If you want some more tips on how to pick the supervisor, please read this article on “How to pick your PhD Supervisor.”

You might expect the library to be the first port of call when starting your literature search, but it may surprise you to learn that there are a lot of other ways that your institution’s team of information professionals can help you with your research project. Warwick’s Scholarly Communications Manager, Julie Robinson, highlights some of the key areas…not all of which are obvious! 

The viva can bring out our worst doubts about our PhD dissertations and about ourselves, making us question the worth of our work and ourselves as researchers. Jenny Mak offers some responses to ease these worries in a constructive way.

At this time of academic year, many doctoral researchers in their first year of study are preparing for upgrade review. As a second year PhD student (one that survived the upgrade process!) Sophie has provided some tips to help you best prepare for your upgrade and take the next step in your PhD.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the Library’s Scholarly Communications Manager, Julie Robinson, explains why you need to love your research data.

Applying for a PhD degree is a daunting process that depends on securing funding. For many, this is the key step which often means the difference between starting your degree or not doing it at all. It’s important to start your application early enough and to explore all your options. Amy Kynman offers a few tips which can make this experience less challenging…

In part two of this series, Sophie Shorland outlines some of the biggest stylistic mistakes you might be making in your writing.   Here’s how to avoid these and ensure your thesis does its job of communicating your original ideas with style!

Ever feel stuck in a maze of artfully-constructed sentences while writing your thesis? In part one of this two part series, Sophie Shorland discusses the importance of using your own style guide whilst writing – and sticking to it!

“How is your writing going?” – this might be the question you dread to hear. You might have promised your supervisor to send a draft of a chapter, and now after several weeks or months there is still not much to show for it. This week on PhD Life, Olga Degtyareva tells science students how to make a start with writing the PhD thesis…