Staying Motivated
At times, particularly in the ``middle years,'' it can be very hard to maintain a positive attitude and stay motivated.
Many graduate students suffer from insecurity, anxiety, and even boredom. First of all, realize that these are
normal feelings. Try to find a sympathetic ear -- another graduate student, your advisor, or a friend outside of
school. Next, try to identify why you're having trouble and identify concrete steps that you can take to improve the
situation. To stay focused and motivated, it often helps to have organized activities to force you to manage your
time and to do something every day. Setting up regular meetings with your advisor, attending seminars, or even
extracurricular activities such as sports or music can help you to maintain a regular schedule.
Chapman (see [chapman]) enumerates a number of ``immobilizing shoulds'' that can make you feel so guilty and
unworthy that you stop making progress. Telling yourself that you *should* have a great topic, that you *should*
finish in $n$ years, that you *should* work 4, or 8, or 12 hours a day isn't helpful for most people. Be realistic
about what you can accomplish, and try to concentrate on giving yourself positive feedback for tasks you do
complete, instead of negative feedback for those you don't.
Setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals is a good idea, and works even better if you use a ``buddy system'' where
you and another student meet at regular intervals to review your progress. Try to find people to work with: doing
research is much easier if you have someone to bounce ideas off of and to give you feedback.
Breaking down any project into smaller pieces is always a good tactic when things seem unmanageable. At the
highest level, doing a master's project before diving into a Ph.D. dissertation is generally a good idea (and is
mandatory at some schools). A master's gives you a chance to learn more about an area, do a smaller research
project, and establish working relationships with your advisor and fellow students.
The divide-and-conquer strategy works on a day-to-day level as well. Instead of writing an entire thesis, focus on
the goal of writing a chapter, section, or outline. Instead of implementing a large system, break off pieces and
implement one module at a time. Identify tasks that you can do in an hour or less; then you can come up with a
realistic daily schedule. If you have doubts, don't let them stop you from accomplishing something -- take it one
day at a time. Remember, every task you complete gets you closer to finishing.
Getting to the Thesis
The hardest part of getting a Ph.D. is, of course, writing the dissertation. The process of finding a thesis topic,
doing the research, and writing the thesis is different from anything most students have done before. If you have a
good advisor and support network, you'll be able to get advice and help in setting directions and goals. If not, you
may need to be more independent. If this is the case, don't just isolate yourself from the world: try to go out and
find the resources and support you need from professors, other graduate students, mailing lists, friends, family,
and publications like this one.
Finding an Advisor
Finding the right advisor can help you immeasurably in successfully completing a thesis. You should ideally have
selected the schools you applied to by identifying faculty members you'd like to work with. If not, start looking
around as early as possible. Of course, the ideal advisor will be in the area you're interested in working in, and will
actively be doing high-quality reseach and be involved in and respected by the research community.
Read research summaries by faculty members (which are usually published by the department), go to talks they
give, and attend or audit courses given by professors you might be interested in working with. Talk to other
graduate students and recent graduates. Ask them how their relationships with their advisors are/were, how quickly the advisor's students graduate, and how successful (well recognized, high-quality) their research is. What
kinds of relationships do they have -- frequent interactions, collaborative work, encouraging independence?
handing out topics or helping students to create individual research areas, or a more hands-off style?
Other things to find out about potential advisors:
1.What is the average time their Ph.D. students take to finish their degrees? What is the dropout rate for their
students?
2.How long have they been on the faculty? There are advantages and disadvantages to being one of the first
members of a new research group. On the positive side, you often have more freedom to choose your
research topic and to influence the direction of the group's research. On the negative side, you may be
more isolated (since there won't be older graduate students in the group), and your advisor won't have as
much experience.
A good advisor will serve as a mentor as well as a source of technical assistance. A mentor should provide, or
help you to find, the resources you need (financial, equipment, and psychological support); introduce you and
promote your work to important people in your field; encourage your own interests, rather than promoting their
own; be available to give you advice on the direction of your thesis and your career; and help you to find a job
when you finish. They should help you to set and achieve long-term and short-term goals.
Once you identify one or more potential advisors, get to know them. Introduce yourself and describe the area
you're interested in. Attend their research group meetings if they hold them regularly. Give them a copy of a
research proposal if you have a good idea of what you want to work on, and ask for comments. Ask whether they
have any TA or RA positions available, or if there are any ongoing research projects that you could get involved
with. Read their published papers, and the work of their students. Drop by during office hours and ask questions
or make comments. Offer to read drafts of papers -- and do more than just proofread (see the section on feedback).
The type of relationship that each student needs with an advisor will be different. Some students prefer to be given
more direction, to have frequent contact, and to be ``checked up on.'' Others are more independent. Some may
need contact but be self-conscious about asking for it. Other things that vary include what kinds of feedback is
preferred (lots of ``random'' ideas vs. very directed feedback (pointers)), working individually vs. in groups,
working on an established research project vs. a new, independent effort; working in the same area as your advisor
or doing an ``outside'' thesis.
You may find that your thesis advisor doesn't always give you all of the mentoring that you need. Multiple
mentors are common and useful; they may include other faculty members in your department or elsewhere, senior
graduate students, or other colleagues (see the section on networking). You may want to seriously consider
changing thesis advisors if your advisor is inaccessible or disinterested, gives you only negative feedback, doesn't
have the technical background to advise you on your thesis, or harasses you (see the section on women).
The most important thing is to ask for (i.e., demand politely) what you need.