RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

CHOSING YOUR RESEARCH

ADVISOR

1 Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ramzan

Dept of CS
Bahria University, Islamabad
 You are not expected to run off and hide in
some lab, conduct research, get a result, write
a thesis and defend it on your own.

You need to work with……

An
Advisor
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How do you choose
an advisor?

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HOW DO YOU CHOOSE AN ADVISOR?
 Talk to potential advisors
 You will get to know what they're working on
 Whether they're looking for new students or not

 Talk to current and former students

 Very important set
 Several different opinions about the advisor's strengths and
weaknesses
 Each student will have a different read on the advisor depending
on how well they work together, so it's important that you speak
to multiple students

 Read their publications

 What they're working on and what stage their research has 4
reached
What do you look
for in an advisor?

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WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AN ADVISOR?
 Accessibility
 How accessible are they likely to be?
 Often you will need reassurance, guidance,
signatures, direction, keys, and more signatures

 Compatibility
 Do you have similar working styles?
 What do they expect from their students?
 Do they think the work week is 40 hours or 80 hours long?
 What kind of expectations of progress do they have?
 How do they react if those expectations aren't met?
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WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AN ADVISOR?
 Durability
 Will they be here for all of your stay?
 Do they often go on leaves of absence?

 History – Track Record

 Have they graduated other students?
 Are their current students successful?
 Are they established in their area, or are they a
"rising star"?
 Have they lost a lot of students through advisor
changes or departures?
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WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AN ADVISOR?
 Research
 Are you interested in their research?
 Normally advertise what research areas they are interested
in
 See their publications.

 Do they have a large group working on one problem,

or individuals working on unrelated problems?

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WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AN ADVISOR?
 Do not be influenced by the performance of a
professor in non-supervisory tasks
 Teaches well or badly
 Late or early for meetings
 Dresses well or badly

 Actually tells you very little about how good a fit

they might be with you.

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RESPONSIBILITIES OF A SUPERVISOR
 Help you select/refine your research topic
 Guide you in writing the thesis proposal
 Review your thesis proposal and recommend its approval
 Meet regularly with you
 Review your progress on the thesis and guide your
research effort
 Review your research papers/presentations/reports and
give you appropriate feedback
 Guide you in the preparation of your thesis arguments in
document form
 Evaluate the readiness of your thesis for defense
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 Sit on your examination committee
An advisor will only give
you the directions to
follow – you have to
walk by yourself

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 PROS AND CONS – JUNIOR ADVISOR
o Easier to access o Inexperienced
o Enthusiastic o Little track record
o Cutting edge research o May be risky research area
o Hands-on mentoring o Harder to develop
o Fewer responsibilities independence
o Fewer networking contacts

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 PROS AND CONS – SENIOR ADVISOR
o Experienced o Not very accessible
o Knowledgeable o Generation Gap
o Significant track record o May be dated
o Established research o May delegate supervision
o Trained more students o May not give due attention
o Can foster independence o Many responsibilities/
o Many contacts travel/ meetings etc.

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Once an advisor, always
an advisor.

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The material in these slides is based on the following resources.

REFERENCES
 Choosing a Supervisor, Alexander Ferworn,
Department of Computer Science, Ryerson
University

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