Lesson How to write a PhD

The lecture presents the contents: high quality presentaion that reflects the hard work & new knowledge & experise acquired during the phd; good discussion of strengths and limitaions – methods and results; appreciaion of implicaions of results in wider context; badly-designed & executed experiments; make a plan – content and imeline; make the presentaion clear and simple but precise & to the point; avoid verbose....

HOW   T O   W RITE   A   P HD   Adapted  from  Geva  Greenfield’s  lecture   Marie-­‐Claude   Boily   DIDE,  ICL     TOPICS   ¡  Before  &  During  wriIng-­‐up   §  Requirements  &  Timeline   §  Content   §  Style  and  form   §  What  to  aim  for  –  ExpectaIons   §  Tips  &  piOalls   §  Final  product  and  submission     PHD  àTHESIS   ¡  High  quality  presentaIon  that  reflects  the  hard  work  &  new   knowledge  &  experIse  acquired  during  the  PhD   ¡  What  is  a  PhD?   §  In-­‐depth  study  &  criIcal  examinaIon  of  a  specific  topic   §  Original  and  creaIve  piece  of  research  developed  autonomously   §  Provide  new  knowledge  and  useful  discoveries   §  Work  of  publishable  quality  in  scienIfic  journals  or  internaIonal  meeIngs   Ø Thesis  should  reflect  this   §  Exercise  of  paIence  &  frustraIon  (not  afraid  to  start  again)   §  Learn  and  develop  skills  to  navigate  the  unknown  &  be  your  own  judge     §  Opportunity  to  make  friends  and  new  colleagues  (build  network)   Ø Use  this  to  your  advantage  when  wri6ng  the  thesis   PHD  THESIS   ¡  Before  starIng       §  §  §  §  §  Find  your  bearings     Revise  relevant  informaIon  from  College  website  on  the  thesis  and  viva   Reflect  on  what  makes  a  good  thesis  :  expected  content  and  form     Read  examples  of  theses   Read  the  recent  literature   ¡  GeYng  started   §  §  §  §  §  §  Make  a  plan  –  Content  and  Imeline   (Update)  Thesis  content  -­‐  feedback  from  supervisor   Make  a  wriIng  plan  /list  of  chapters  &  main  secIons   Scheduling  (supervisor  feedback  and  proof  reading)   Make  a  checklist  &  Imeline  :  content  &  admin  issues   Budget  sufficient  Ime   h]p://www3.imperial.ac.uk/registry/exams/thesisandvivas   REQUIREMENTS   (1)   ¡  The  thesis  shall:   §  Candidate’s  own  account  of  his/her  work  –  mostly  accomplished  a`er  the   PhD  registraIon     §  Sole  or  collaboraIve  work  -­‐  DeclaraIon  of  own  sole  or  shared  work (2)     §  Not  submi]ed  for  similar  degree  elsewhere   §  Not  be  a  series  of  papers  –  published  work  can  be  included   §  Acknowledge  the  work  of  others  or  self  published  work:  Copyright  issues   (permission  &  declaraIon  for  3 rd  party  or  own  published  work/papers,  etc) (3)   §  In  English  (In  a  foreign  language  IF  agreed  by  graduate  School)   §