Vlog 189 - How to increase the speed of your PhD
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- Finishing a PhD is all that matters. An unfinished PhD remains a wound in a life. It can heal. But there is a scar. So how can you finish a PhD at speed, even in difficult times?
(1) Write all the way through your candidature
(2) Find community of experience PhD students
(3) Supervision matters
(4) Learn to take feedback
(5) Small theses are the best theses
(6) Aim for regular meetings w/ your supervisor
(7) Give yourself a word-count deadline every single day
(8) Stay connected with your PhD everyday
(9) Do it, NOW!
(10) Don't focus on the big picture
(11) Stop social media notifications
(12) Use social media as a study break
(13) Recognize that there's never a perfect time to do a PhD
(14) Use the library, use librarians, and gain information literacy really early
(15) Remove something from your life
(16) Select a note-taking system early, and stick to it
(17) Work out the best time of the day to write/read
(18) Keep fresh in your drafting projects
(19) Put your entire thesis into one document
(20) Celebrate each micro-success
*We're all trying to save time, but WATCH THIS WHOLE VIDEO! The bits in between are GOLD!
Thanks for the synopsis.
Dude, this was helpful! Thank you.
Didn't notice this in time, so my version follows.
Please watch or listen the video from beginning to end, but if you need to come back to a single piece of advice, here are the signposts.
1. 1:00 Write all the way through your candidature
2. 2:09 Find a community of experienced PhD candidates
3. 2:45 Supervision matters
4. 4:00 Learn to take feedback
5. 5:33 Small theses are best theses
6. 6:00 Aim for regular meetings
7. 7:00 Word count demand per day
8. 8:34 Stay connected with your PhD thesis every day
9. 10:35 Do it now
10. 11:23 Don't focus on the big picture
11. 12:18 Stop social media notifications
12. 13:28 Use social media as a study break
13. 15:06 There is never a perfect time
14. 16:15 Use the library
15. 18:20 Remove something from your life
16. 20:35 Select a notetaking system
17. 22:04 Select the best time of the day
18. 23:08 Keep fresh in drafting
19. 24:30 Thesis to one document ASAP
20. 26:15 Celebrate each microsuccess
Brilliant, thank you!
This should be pinned on top ❤
Thank you so much, ma'am. This is the most valuable video I have watched in my Ph.D. journey.
Tara, you are a gem. I still can't believe that you share your knowledge - not just your Flinders students, but ALL of us! I am immensely grateful.
As a part-timer, I realise that I have NOT been connecting with my thesis everyday, nor giving myself a daily word-count target to hit. This means I am constantly having to reconnect, which causes anxiety and wastes time. I can put this right from today onwards. Thank you so much for these valuable tips.
My pleasure, Yvette. My absolute pleasure. I have so much respect for the part-time PhDers. I get it. I started my doctorate full time and finished it part time - while in full time work. I so get it. I get the sacrifice. You are walking the most difficult road for a doctorate and you deserve all our support. But yep- you've captured the key problem of the part time PhD - the time it takes to reconnect each day. 30 minutes every single day - stops that. I'm with you Yvette - keep in touch and let me know what else I can do to help. txxx
Office of Graduate Research Flinders University thank you so much. I have great supervisors, which really helps. But I have also learned so much from your fantastic vlogs and podcasts and your practical tips and strategies. Like many students around the world, I am so grateful for all that you do.
Thanks Prof, your insights were helpful at the last stage of my PhD when I was struggling. I defended this September successfully in Europe . Perseverance is imperative to complete this journey.
Reading aloud is a great way to improve writing. It is also something I’ve always struggled to do. A technique I used while working as a copy writer was utilising the text-to-speech function on my Mac. I found this hugely beneficial in improving the flow of my writing and picking up errors missed by spellcheck (such as incorrect word choices). It is probably not quite as effective as reading aloud but it’s a good work around if reading aloud is a struggle or not suited to the environment you’re working in.
Absolutely agree with "writing is thinking..." This took me a long time to believe.
Wonderful words of wisdom delivered with passion and wry wit. Thankyou soooooooo much Tara you are brill !!!
I wish I knew about so many of these vlogs before I started my PhD, a lot of time and unrealistic expectations may have been sorted out sooner than later. Although it's never to late to put the tips into action and shift into the fast lane!
Dear Professor Brabazon,
Thank you again for an extremely insightful video. Watching some of your vlogs has encouraged me to make the difficult (but right) decision to transfer as a PhD student from one programme/ supervisor to another. While I'm certain this is the right decision for me (and thankfully I'd only just started this PhD project and I'm not several years in) I doubt I would have had the confidence to do so had it not been for your extremely detailed library of the graduate experience at large. Some may say the content you produce is niche, but it is always invaluable for those of us watching.
With respect and thanks,
Another Ph.D student
Thank you so much! This video is fantastic - please keep doing them. They help and motivate me incredibly finishing my phd!!! :)
This is a fantastic video, thank you, Tara. Yes, librarians are amazing they really are. Speak to them, learn from them and listen to them!
Your vlogs are inspiring! Its made my 45 minute commute to work everyday enjoyable- thanks!
Thank you Toni. You are wonderful. And when I started making podcasts all those years ago, the goal was to create a spark of ideas for crew on the commute or exercising. I know the pleasure of listening in these liminal spaces. It is a privilege to accompany you. txxx
Thanks Tara. Key concepts not only for study but in life.
Waow, I'm amazingly thankful for this blog. My university/field has a very long average length for the PhD (5 years) and, although I'll do it if it's necessary, I'm very interested in speeding that journey wherever it's possible. As always you're amazingly helpful. Many thanks and best of wishes from France. Xx
One of the best videos that I have ever watched. It opened my eyes and gave me a sense of control. I’m wondering if you can do a video about international students whose English is not their first language.. Any tip to catch up ?
Great video. Great vlogs. Wonderful information...
Incredible Work 👍
That was enlightening. Thanku Tara.
God bless you. I am approaching the end of my PhD (3 chapters, adviser wants 1 more - ugh). I needed to hear these words!!
Best tips ever.
Excellent guidance thanks ma'am.
Inspirational !
Oh my goodness, Tara! I was in serious need of hearing this today! I will listen to it again tomorrow and make serious changes in the way I have and have not been attempting to complete my thesis. A multitude of blessings on your head.
Thanks for the Vlog just what I needed. I am struggling to find a good note taking system, I don't think word will cut it. Again with the thesis as a whole document, will Word cope with that?
A technical question that others in the comments might have insight into: how do you get Word to cope with a thesis-sized document when working with it every day?
I've broken my thesis down into chapters, each with an individual Word file, and I store these in a single folder. The folder itself looks like a table of contents because each file is numbered and named appropriately (including separate files for figures, tables, and appendices because I like to have them arranged in the order they'll appear so I can reference them in the text, appropriately, but inserting them as I write is a nightmare). The ultimate task will be merging those files together into one, monster, unwieldy Word document once everything is finished. But for daily working on my writing, I've found Word gets clunky and glitchy if the file gets over a certain size.
But maybe I'm not working efficiently in Word and that explains my struggle? Is there anything I could be doing better in order to get everything into a single file? I do like seeing everything together to gauge progress which is why I gather it the way I do, even though the chapters are still spilt up.
Tara......the voice at the start...so gripping/theatrical....😂
Thanks allot for this dear Dr. I have found data collection, ethical approvals and other logistics are really time consuming and in some occasions, you can't control them unfortunately
Absolutely right, Dr AA. But a good and clear research design means that the ethics approvals can be commenced early in the process. Also data collection - and it does depend on your methodology - can add so much to the research story. The 'problems' that emerge through ethnography - that's actually the research ;) Take care and thanks for being you. Txx
Could someone please help with the names of the apps to control social media and phone addiction..
Couldn’t find them on App Store
Hello, Tara
Could you explain a backup system?
My harddrives and computers keep crashing.
Oh Raymeester - always ask a librarian or our IT colleagues! But I have three external hard drives. I methodically back up the computer once a week. My life is on this computer - I can't lose anything :) Biggest hug txxx
when I quit facebook, I made a great progress I become more productive person.