Questions you may like to reflect upon (for yourself) after reading the accompanying

essay by Linda Elder and Richard Paul

1. How clear do you think is your doctoral research topic? Have you ever tried to
explain your research topic to your classmates? Were they able to fairly understand
your topic?
a. Have you ever tried to explain your research topic to someone outside your
discipline (parents, friends, etc.) in non-technical words? Were they able to
fairly understand your research topic?
2. How significant do think is your doctoral research in contributing to knowledge
building in your domain?
a. What would be your response if someone asks you ‘why is your doctoral
research topic the most important for you’? Of course, you may reply that ‘it
helps me earn my PhD!’, but what would be your response beyond that?
3. You probably get a lot of information daily from social media. What questions do you
usually ask yourself to verify that the information you read is free from errors, bias,
distortions, etc.?
a. Please read the following argument and evaluate the claim. Do you see any
problem with this argument?
“Research from several universities in Ethiopia suggest that students who
attend tutorials often score better grades. In 2020, 78% of students surveyed
indicated that they believe their attendance at tutorials was the main reason
for their success in their examination. I am a very motivated student who is
very keen to score high grades so I will attend all my tutorials and feel
confident it will guarantee my success”.

b. If you are (were) a teacher, what would be your response if one of your
students complain that he doesn’t deserve C grade for the course you taught
the previous semester because he prepared for the exam for more than 50
hours.
4. Think about your experience so far as a doctoral researcher at Bahir Dar University.
What would be your response if someone asks you to reflect on the following
questions: How do you evaluate your relationship with your (co-)supervisor? How
frequently do you meet with your supervisor? If you don’t meet with your supervisor
frequently, have you ever challenged your supervisor that you need to have regular
meetings and engage extensively in academic discourse? If you feel that you are
accepting the status quo, do you probably feel that you are part of the problem?
What do you THINK you should do to improve your experience as a doctoral
researcher at Bahir Dar University?