Mastering Your PhD: Survival And Success In The Doctoral Years And Beyond

Preface
Why Read a Book About Getting a PhD?
Sink or Swim
The Problem: Saving an Old Master Painting from the Ravages of Time
Authors’ Note
Contents
1 Choosing a Research Group: Pluses and Pitfalls
	The Start-Up Group
	The ‘Up-and-Running’ Group
	The ‘Small-but-Established’ Group
	The Empire
	The Gardener
	Surviving in a Non-supportive Group
2 Getting Started
	Become Familiar with Your Research Department
	Formulate a Working Plan and Set up a Schedule
	Maintain a Proper Lab Notebook
	Establish Good Reference Keeping Practices
	Dealing with Initial Ups and Downs
	Connect with Others in Your Group or Department
3 Setting Goals and Objectives
	Effective Time Management
	Record Your Daily Activities
	Learn from the Record
		Prepare a To-Do List
	Multi-tasking: Is It for You?
	The 80/20 Rule
	Are You Focusing on the 80% or the 20%?
	Implementing the 80/20 Rule
4 How to Think Like a Scientist
	Common Errors in Using the Scientific Method
		Not Proving the Hypothesis by Experiment
		Discounting Data that Don’t Support the Hypothesis
		Over- or Underestimating Systematic Errors
	Fact, Theory, Hypothesis—What’s the Difference Anyway?
	Is There Ever a Situation Where the Scientific Method Is Not Applicable?
	A Final Comment
5 Designing Good Experiments
	Good Science and Good Experimental Design Go Hand in Hand
	Design Experiments to Test Your Hypothesis
	Finally: Can You Trust Your Results?
	Spotting Random Errors
	Identifying Systematic Errors
	Recognising Linked Variables
	What if Your Experiment Hasn’t Worked Out as Planned?
6 Charting Your Progress Month by Month
	Monthly Progress Monitor: Four Questions to Keep Yourself Goal-Orientated
	What You Can Learn from Completing the Monthly Progress Monitor
7 Dealing with Setbacks
	The Cold Reality of Trial and Error
	Identifying the Setback(s)
	Take Action
	Tips for Recovering from a Setback
	A Final Thought: Should You Stop Altogether?
8 Mentors, Leadership, and Community
	Mining for Gold: Defining Mentorship
	Choosing a Mentor
	Working with What You’ve Got
	Develop a Community of Peers—Or Become a Mentor Yourself
9 How to Get Along with Your Labmates, et al.
	How to Get the Help You Need from Others on Your Team
	You, Me, Everybody
	How You Get Energised: Extrovert Versus Introvert
	How You Think: Intuition Versus Sensation
	Are Your Decisions Driven by Objective Arguments or Feelings?
	Chaotic Team Members Versus Planners
	Which Type Are You?
	How to Collaborate with Your Personality-Type Counterpart
	Extroverts Versus Introverts
	Intuition and Sensation Are Both Necessary for Success
	Feeling is More Important in Science than Thinkers Want to Believe
	Judgers and Perceivers Play Crucial Roles at Different Stages of the Project
	A Varied Mix Makes a Good Team
10 Group Dynamics: Dealing with Difficult Colleagues
	Strategies for Coping
	Monitor Your Response
11 The Art of Good Communication
	Understanding Different Styles of Communication
	Structured Communication is Key
	Effective Communication in the Lab: A Practical Approach
	Ground Rules for Optimising Effective Communication
12 Mastering Presentations and Group Meetings
	Get Prepared
	Identify Your Audience
	Rehearse Your Presentation Aloud
	Deliver the Presentation
	Visual Aids
	Common Mistakes
	Group Meetings
	How to Handle Your Group Meetings with Style
	Chairing a Session
	A Final Observation
13 Searching the Scientific Literature
	Getting Started in the Library—Both the Physical Space and with Online Search Tools
	Making the Most of Your Online Literature Search
	Making Good Use of the Science Citation Index
	How Do You Know When Your Literature Search is Successful and Complete?
14 Your First International Conference
	Making the Most of Your First Conference
	First Things First
	Making Your Presence Count
	Post-conference Reality Check
15 Remote Collaboration
	Meeting of One
	Remote Work Sessions
	Team Meetings
	Department Meetings
	Virtual Conferences
	Hybrid Meetings
16 From Data to Manuscript: Writing Scientific Papers That Shine
	Title
	Abstract
	Introduction
	Materials and Methods
	Results
	A Note on Tables and Figures
		Tables
		Figures
		Graphs and Histograms
	Drawings and Photographs
	Discussion
	Literature Citations
	Revising the First Draft
	Submitting Your Paper for Publication
	Closing Ceremony
17 Celebrate Your Success
	The Art of Celebrating Success
	Why Celebrate Your Success?
	What Defines Success?
	How Can You Celebrate Your Success?
18 How to Make the Most of Your Annual Evaluation
	The Surprise Attack: How to Act When You’re Caught Off Guard
	Evaluating Your First Year
19 The Final Year: Countdown to Your Thesis Defence
	Make a List of Your Achievements
	Verify Your Achievements with Your Supervisor
	What Else Should Be Included in Your Thesis?
	Describe Your Final Project
	The Countdown List
	Typical Things You Might Learn from Making the Countdown List
	Handling Uncertainties
	Discuss Your Planning with Your Supervisor(s)
	Your Countdown Planning is not Carved in Stone
20 Writing Your Doctoral Thesis with Style
	First Things First: Decide on the Table of Contents
	Cut the Problem Down to Size: Write an Outline
	Getting Down to Fundamentals: What’s a PhD Thesis Anyway?
	A PhD Thesis is
	A PhD Thesis is not
	Choose a Straightforward Format and Layout
	Transform (Published) Articles into Thesis Chapters
	Chapter Two: The First Piece of New Text
	The Last Set of Data: Chapter or Article First?
	The Introduction: The Final Hurdle
	The Summary
	Going for Gold: Aiming for an Error-Free Thesis
	Be Generous with Acknowledgements
21 The Final Act: Defending Your Thesis with Panache
	Familiarise Yourself with the Formalities
	Prepare Yourself Scientifically
	Prepare Your Act
	Your Physical Condition at the Actual Defence
22 Putting It All Together: A PhD...What’s Next?
	Opportunities for a Newly Minted PhD
	The Next Logical Step: A Post-Doctoral Fellowship
	For-Profit Organisations: Where Business and Science Meet
	Not-for-Profit Organisations—The Best of Both Worlds?
	Is Your Final Decision Carved in Stone?
	From Searching for Opportunities to Getting the Job
	When to Start Your Job Search
	How to Leverage Your Network
	What Type of Skills Do You Possess?
	How to Prepare for an Interview
	Last, But Not Least: Do You Want the Job?
23 Is Industry Right for You? Opportunities to Explore
	Research in a Business-Driven Environment
	The Difference Between Academic and Corporate Problem Solving
	Ways to Explore Whether Corporate Research is Right for You
	Not Your Final Destination
	A Career as a Management Consultant
	Consultancy Firms Hiring PhDs
	The Steep and Uncertain Career Path as a Management Consultant
	Companies Care
24 Exploring Not-for-Profit Organisations
	Where to Start
	Advantages
	Disadvantages
	Is the Nonprofit Sector Right for You?
	Swinging from Branch to Branch on the Career Tree
25 Lessons Learned
	Planning is Essential
	Communication Creates Harmony
	Some Final Thoughts
Acknowledgements
About the Authors