Suggestions for PhD Students

(Inspired by https://matthewprattguterl.com/general-advice/)

Manuel B. Aalbers (manuel.aalbers@kuleuven.be), Department of Geography

& Tourism, KU Leuven, http://kuleuven.academia.edu/ManuelAalbers

1. Know your audience. Don’t explain your work to anyone “like they are a four-
year old”, unless you are actually dealing with a four-year old. Most people you
need to explain your work to are smart, but most are not experts in your field.
Apply this to all forms of communication but especially to oral presentations and
funding applications.

2. Always explain your choices. Why is this your research question, your case
study, your method, your theoretical framework, your line of argument, your
conclusion? Every step needs to be explained. If people ask irrelevant questions,
it is often because you have not explained your choices well.

3. Learn to develop an argument and defend it. Find your voice, in speaking and
in writing. Learn how to make your work relevant. This is not simply about
societal relevance (although it could be). This is also about being able to explain
why someone should be interested in your work. This implies you need to learn
how to write and speak. There are many books and websites that teach these
skills, but remember: you need to find your voice.

4. Teaching matters more than people say. “All that matters are publications!”
Wrong. Yes, publications are increasingly important and they do help in getting
funding or landing a job, but if you apply for a position that is at least in part a
teaching position, you also need to demonstrate you like to teach and are able to
do so. A good publication record may get you shortlisted, but having two more
papers than another candidate will rarely land you the job. A documented
willingness and ability to teach will. Don’t be afraid to start writing a syllabus for a
course you may one day teach. Think about literature, but also about didactical
approaches.

5. References are not an afterthought. References are an integral part of any

piece of academic writing. They are not an appendix and should be treated as
central to your argument. They should already be added to any draft you share.
Generally speaking, treat drafts that you share with others with some respect. A
draft is not supposed to be perfect but the least you can do is run a spelling
check.

6. There are three types of comments that require two types of responses.
First, there are comments that are correct or relevant and need to be addressed.
This is the simple part. Second, there are comments you do not agree with.
Defend your argument, not only in person but also in writing. Third, there are
comments that you consider less relevant, too detailed or even trivial or petty.
They also need to be addressed. What may seem trivial to you, may be quite
important to someone else. Even if this is less relevant to them as well, this is not
an excuse for not addressing it.

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 7. Prepare but do not over-prepare for presentations. Do not memorize every
line of your presentation. Do not read out a paper or parts of it. A so-called
“paper presentation” should never be a reading of a paper. Always bring at least
one printout of your presentation—you may need it. You can add notes to the
printout: key sentences and thank-yous for example. Do not look at the wall
where your slides are projected; look at your audience and at the computer
screen or your printout instead. It is easier to switch between computer/print-out
and audience, as they are both in front of you. Break this rule when you want to
point at something on the screen. Always bring a pen. Write down keywords from
questions (and who asked them, e.g. “Mike” or “blond ”) as well as
suggestions.

8. Dare to be different. But don’t be different just for the sake of it. Dare to
challenge whatever today’s academic fashion is. Don’t use the mot du jour
unless you can’t get around it. Avoid what George Orwell calls “Pretentious
diction” but be playful as well. What looks cool today will look outdated tomorrow.
Don’t discard the old for the new, unless you have studied the old and can really
say the new is better. Don’t carbon copy someone else’s critique of a theory or
idea. Many critiques are based on selective reading or are simply straw-man
arguments.

9. Check the facts. Don’t simply repeat things that others have told you. Check the
source and then find another source. I am not just talking about academic writing
here. Academic life is full of all kinds of stories about individuals, departments,
journals, reward systems, selection procedures and so on. Be aware that many
of these stories are incorrect. Don’t base your assessment of anyone or anything
on stories that cannot be taken at face value.

10. Apologies first, excuses second. If you cannot meet a mutually agreed
deadline or meeting, apologize, no matter what the reason is. “I’m sorry I didn’t
send in the paper in time; my child fell ill and I couldn’t focus on work” is an
accepted apology/excuse. Moreover, whenever possible, apologize before
missing a deadline or meeting. For example: “I’m sorry I won’t be able to attend
the meeting because…”

11. Be generous. If you’re not sure if you should thank someone, you should. I have
looked at published papers and thought: “Wow, I briefly discussed this paper with
her and she even put me in the acknowledgements—how kind!” But I’ve also had
the opposite response: “I’ve spent half a day reading this paper and discussing
this with the author. Let’s see how she mentions me in the acknowledgements…
What? She doesn’t?!”

12. Promote your own work as well as that of others. MPG on this issue: “it’s
great to circulate news about your own work, but make sure you’re promoting
and sharing the work of friends and colleagues too. Practice intellectual and
professional generosity as part of your participation in the broader community.”
Also alert people about new papers, calls for papers and lecture announcements
that you happen to see. Forwarding an e-mail doesn’t take too long.

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 13. Be a good colleague, inside your department and outside of it. Say yes
when people ask you to comment on their work. It means they value your
opinion. Review a paper when you’re asked to do so. Don’t reply that you’ve
already reviewed three papers this year. Think about how many reviewers it
takes for one paper to be published in a journal. Three? Think again. Many
papers are rejected but they also need to be reviewed. Moreover, many papers
are reviewed twice before they are accepted for publication.

14. Doing a PhD is not a regular job, but things need to get done and
sometimes you are asked to do things that may not be your priority. This is
part of life. A high-quality dissertation is a necessary but by itself an insufficient
condition for entering academia. Besides teaching (see #4) you need to be a
swift communicator. MPG on this: “Learn how to say ‘no’ politely and firmly. And
do so often. But also learn how to say ‘yes.’ Learn how to recognize when
someone has gone the extra mile to extend an invitation to you, to introduce you
to someone, and say ‘yes’ as a sign of respect.” Furthermore, some e-mails
require a rapid response, doodles to plan meetings for example. Don’t delay
requests for admin details from your supervisor, department secretary or chair.
Most likely, they need to collect it for someone else. Don’t complain about admin
and the like too much. Typically, your supervisor, the graduate school director or
to the admin staff don’t make the rules. But: learn when to say yes or no.

15. Update your planning regularly. It helps you to keep track of how things are
going. It also helps your supervisor. Your planning for the next month should be
as detailed as possible. Include many tasks. This helps to set targets. Set big
targets and set small targets. The best planning includes many small targets.
This allows you to focus on concrete tasks—and finish them. It also feels good to
cross things of a list.

16. Sleep on it. Comments typically appear harsh when you first read or hear them.
You may need to respond to oral comments directly, but you do not always have
to do so. You can always take some time to respond to written comments. In my
experience, comments seem a lot more reasonable when you re-read them after
24 hours. Don’t be aggressive in your response. Most likely, people have put
time and energy in providing comments on your work, even if they may have
phrased them rather negatively. Also consider that you may have annoyed your
reader without intending to do so. Academics often review their colleagues’ work
after office hours. So whether their comments were constructive or not and
whether they had a good day or not: they have made an effort. More generally
speaking, if you don’t get enough sleep, it is hard to focus. Sometimes an hour of
additional sleep may result is a shorter, but more productive day of work.

17. Reference letters. MPG one more time: “Never ask for a letter of
recommendation without giving at least two week’s notice, a fresh copy of your
CV, and whatever is being proposed. Accept responsibility for bugging your
writer about the due dates and details.”

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 18. Layout matters. Think about your readers. Think about changing the default
font. Add your name. Add page numbers. People have their own preferences. If
you regularly send something to someone, ask them about what they find
pleasurable to read. Personally, I prefer Arial 12, single-lined and 1 inch or 2.5cm
margins on all sides. This allows me to print two pages of one sheet of paper
(and two on the flip side), thereby minimizing the number of prints that bury the
environment, my shoulder bag and my filing cabinet. Different people have
different preferences but some fonts appear to be unpleasant to any reader.

19. Don’t be lazy. OK, be lazy sometimes, but don’t become a lazy person.
Everyone who has finished a PhD can tell you that it gets busier as you get
closer to the deadline. We all lack inspiration sometimes, but if this happens all
the time, you need to look for the root causes. If you have an off-day but still want
to be productive: update your planning, your targets, your table of contents, your
references, your layout, your syllabi, your CV. Some of these tasks may actually
provide inspiration; others help in turning a lost day into a productive one.

20. Makes notes—always and everywhere. Do not think you will remember
everything—you won’t. So take notes when you talk to someone, when you get
feedback, when you attend a meeting or lecture, when you wake up in the middle
of the night with a stroke of genius, when you ride the train or when you get out
of the shower.

21. Stick up for yourself but don’t forget to stick up for others as well,
especially if they are in a weaker position than you. Give a damn about
people and about the world. Values matter. Practice what you preach. That
doesn’t mean you’re infallible; it means you try to do well.

22. “Break any of these rules sooner than say [or do] anything barbarous”
(http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/).

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