Teori keberhasilan studi S3, sebuah pendekatan model kualitatif dan kuantitatif
How to Succeed in Graduate School:
A Guide for Students and Advisors
Marie desJardins [email protected]
Abstract
graduate students and advisors alike. The advice I give here This paper attempts to raise some issues that are important is directed towards Ph.D. students in computer science and for graduate students to be successful and to get as much their advisors, since that is my background, but I believe that out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish to much of it applies to graduate students in other areas as well. help their students be successful. The intent is not to pro-
In my experience, the two main things that make graduate vide prescriptive advice – no formulas for finishing a thesis or school hard are the unstructured nature of the process, and twelve-step programs for becoming a better advisor are given the lack of information about what you should spend your – but to raise awareness on both sides of the advisor-student time on. I hope that this article will provide information relationship as to what the expectations are and should be for for both graduate students and advisors that will help make this relationship, what a graduate student should expect to the process less painful. I want to emphasize that graduate accomplish, common problems, and where to go if the advisor school is not easy, and these suggestions will not always be is not forthcoming.
easy or even possible to follow (and they may not even be the ideal goal for you, personally, to strive for). You shouldn’t let that discourage you: start small, think big, and keep yourself
1 Introduction
focused on your ultimate goal, which shouldn’t just be to get through graduate school, but to enjoy yourself, make progress
This article originated with a discussion I had with several towards being able to do what you want to do with your life, women professors about the problems women face in grad- and learn something in the process. uate school, and how more women could be encouraged to
I owe a debt of gratitude to David Chapman, whose paper go to graduate school in computer science. Eventually, the ([Chapman, 1988]) was an invaluable reference for me not
conversation turned to the question of what these women only during the writing of this article, but during graduate could do in their interactions with women students to sup- school as well. port and encourage them. I volunteered that over the course
The goals of this article are to raise awareness of the need of my graduate career I had collected a variety of papers and for a healthy and interactive graduate student-advisor rela-
e-mail discussions about how to be a good advisor, how to tionship, to provide pointers and guidance for both advisors get through graduate school, and issues facing women. They and graduate students in navigating the maze of a doctoral were eager to get this material, and I told them I would sort degree, and to give references and resources for those who through it when I got a chance.
hope to learn more.
After mentioning this project to a number of people, both graduate students and faculty – all of whom expressed an in-
terest in anything I could give them – I realized two things: 2 Before You Start
first, the issues that we were talking about really were not just women’s issues but were of interest to all graduate students, Many headaches can be avoided by doing some advance plan- and to all caring advisors. Second, in order to disseminate ning. First, why go to graduate school at all? The usual the information I had collected (and was starting to collect reasons given are that a Ph.D. is required or preferred for from others) it seemed to make more sense to compile a bib- some jobs, especially research and academic positions; that it liography, and write a paper that would summarize the most gives you a chance to learn a great deal about a specific area; useful advice and suggestions I had collected.
and that it provides an opportunity to develop ideas and per-
I solicited inputs from friends and colleagues via mailing form original research. Wanting to delay your job hunt is lists and Internet bulletin boards, and collected almost an probably not a good enough reason. Over the past decade, overwhelming amount of information. Sorting through it and research and academic positions have become more difficult attempting to distill the collective wisdom of dozens of arti- to find, and many recent Ph.D.s end up “killing time” in a cles and hundreds of e-mail messages has not been an easy series of postdoctoral positions, or taking non-research jobs. task, but I hope that the results provide a useful resource for Having a Ph.D. is not a guarantee of finding a better job in I solicited inputs from friends and colleagues via mailing form original research. Wanting to delay your job hunt is lists and Internet bulletin boards, and collected almost an probably not a good enough reason. Over the past decade, overwhelming amount of information. Sorting through it and research and academic positions have become more difficult attempting to distill the collective wisdom of dozens of arti- to find, and many recent Ph.D.s end up “killing time” in a cles and hundreds of e-mail messages has not been an easy series of postdoctoral positions, or taking non-research jobs. task, but I hope that the results provide a useful resource for Having a Ph.D. is not a guarantee of finding a better job in
psychology classes are useful for AI students), getting good It helps to have a good idea of what area you want to grades (especially in upper division classes in your area of in- specialize in, and preferably a couple of particular research terest), and getting a high score on the GRE if required. Also, projects you might like to work on, although many graduate it’s a good idea to start thinking early about sources of fund- students change their minds about research projects and even ing: apply for an NSF fellowship, for example (see Section 3.5 specialization field after they start school. Look for books for more ideas on finding funding). and current journals and conference proceedings in your area, and read through them to get an idea of who’s doing what
where. (You’ll be doing a lot of reading once you start grad- 3 Doing Research
uate school, so you might as well get used to it.) This is where advisors first enter the scene: faculty members ought For many new graduate students, graduate school is unlike to be willing to talk to undergraduates and help them find anything else they’ve done. Sometimes it’s hard to know ex- out more about research areas and graduate schools. Try to actly what it is you’re supposed to be learning. Yes, you get involved in research: ask professors and TAs (teaching have to complete a dissertation, but how do you start? What assistants) whether they need someone to work on an ongo- should you spend your time doing? ing project, or start an independent research project, with
Graduate school is a very unstructured environment in guidance from a faculty member.
most cases. Graduate students typically take nine hours or Contact faculty members and graduate students at the less of coursework per semester, especially after the second
schools you’re interested in. Tell them about your background year. For many, the third year – after coursework is largely and interests and ask them what research projects they’re finished and preliminary exams have been completed – is a working on. A good way to do this is via electronic mail if very difficult and stressful period. This is when you’re sup- possible – e-mail is much easier and quicker to respond to than posed to find a thesis topic, if you’re not one of the lucky few
a paper letter. A good advisor will be willing to answer these who has already found one. Once you do find a topic, you kinds of inquiries (although if they’re busy they may give you can expect two or more years until completion, with very few only a brief answer or point you towards a graduate student landmarks or milestones in sight. – you’ll have to use your intuition to decide whether they’re
The following sections talk about the day-to-day process of brushing you off or just busy). If you can’t get any answer doing research, criticism and feedback, working on the thesis,
at all, consider that that individual might not end up being a and financial support for research. very accessible advisor. Asking these questions will help you narrow down your choices and may increase your chances of
admission if the professors you contact become interested in 3.1 The Daily Grind
working with you. Your best bet is to find a school where there are at least two Being a good researcher involves more than “merely” com- faculty members you’d be interested in working with. That ing up with brilliant ideas and implementing them. Most way, if one doesn’t work out, or is too busy to take on a new researchers spend the majority of their time reading papers, student, you have a fallback position. Breadth of the graduate discussing ideas with colleagues, writing and revising papers, program (i.e., high-quality faculty in a broad range of subar- staring blankly into space – and, of course, having brilliant eas) is also a good thing to look for in a school, especially if ideas and implementing them. you’re not entirely certain what you want to specialize in.
Section 4 discusses the process and importance of becoming It’s also important to most people to feel comfortable with part of a larger research community, which is a critical aspect the community of graduate students. It pays to talk to some of being a successful researcher. This section contains ideas on of the graduate students (both junior and senior) to find out keeping track of where you’re going, and where you’ve been, how they like it, which advisors are good, and what kinds with your research, staying motivated, and how to spend your of support (financial and psychological) are available. Be- time wisely. cause there are so many students applying to each school,
Keeping a journal of your research activities and ideas is even highly qualified applicants are often rejected. You should very useful. Write down speculations, interesting problems, apply to a range of programs – and don’t take it personally possible solutions, random ideas, references to look up, notes if you do get rejected by some of them.
on papers you’ve read, outlines of papers to write, and inter- You can increase your chances of getting into graduate esting quotes. Read back through it periodically. You’ll no- school by developing good relationships with your professors tice that the bits of random thoughts start to come together and work managers (this is very important for getting good and form a pattern, often turning into a research project or recommendations), working on a research project, having a even a thesis topic. I was surprised, looking back through my clear sense of what you want to work on (although it’s al- journal as I was finishing up my thesis, how early and often on papers you’ve read, outlines of papers to write, and inter- You can increase your chances of getting into graduate esting quotes. Read back through it periodically. You’ll no- school by developing good relationships with your professors tice that the bits of random thoughts start to come together and work managers (this is very important for getting good and form a pattern, often turning into a research project or recommendations), working on a research project, having a even a thesis topic. I was surprised, looking back through my clear sense of what you want to work on (although it’s al- journal as I was finishing up my thesis, how early and often
useful to add extra fields for keywords, the location of the You’ll have to read a lot of technical papers to become fa- paper (if you borrowed the reference from the library or a miliar with any field, and to stay current once you’ve caught friend), and a short summary of particularly interesting pa- up. You may find yourself spending over half of your time pers. This bibliography will be useful for later reference, for reading, especially at the beginning. This is normal. It’s writing your dissertation, and for sharing with other graduate also normal to be overwhelmed by the amount of reading you students (and eventually, perhaps, advisees). think you “should” do. Try to remember that it’s impossi-
ble to read everything that might be relevant: instead, read 3.2 Staying Motivated
selectively. When you first start reading up on a new field, ask your advisor or a fellow student what the most useful At times, particularly in the “middle years,” it can be very journals and conference proceedings are in your field, and ask hard to maintain a positive attitude and stay motivated. for a list of seminal or “classic” papers that you should defi- Many graduate students suffer from insecurity, anxiety, and nitely read. For AI researchers, a useful (if slightly outdated) even boredom. First of all, realize that these are normal feel- starting point is Agre’s [1982] summary of basic AI references. ings. Try to find a sympathetic ear – another graduate stu- Similar documents may exist for other research areas – ask dent, your advisor, or a friend outside of school. Next, try to around, and cruise the information superhighway. Start with identify why you’re having trouble and identify concrete steps these papers and the last few years of journals and proceed- that you can take to improve the situation. To stay focused ings.
and motivated, it often helps to have organized activities to Before bothering to read any paper, make sure it’s worth force you to manage your time and to do something every it. Scan the title, then the abstract, then – if you haven’t day. Setting up regular meetings with your advisor, attend- completely lost interest already – glance at the introduction ing seminars, or even extracurricular activities such as sports and conclusions. (Of course, if your advisor tells you that this or music can help you to maintain a regular schedule. is an important paper, skip this preliminary step and jump
Chapman [1988] enumerates a number of “immobilizing right in!) Before you try to get all of the nitty-gritty details shoulds” that can make you feel so guilty and unworthy that of the paper, skim the whole thing, and try to get a feel for you stop making progress. Telling yourself that you should the most important points. If it still seems worthwhile and have a great topic, that you should finish in n years, that you relevant, go back and read the whole thing. Many people find should work 4, or 8, or 12 hours a day isn’t helpful for most it useful to take notes while they read. Even if you don’t go people. Be realistic about what you can accomplish, and try back later and reread them, it helps to focus your attention to concentrate on giving yourself positive feedback for tasks and forces you to summarize as you read. And if you do need you do complete, instead of negative feedback for those you to refresh your memory later, rereading your notes is much don’t. easier and faster than reading the whole paper.
Setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals is a good idea,
A few other points to keep in mind as you read and evaluate and works even better if you use a “buddy system” where papers:
you and another student meet at regular intervals to review • Make sure the ideas described really worked (as opposed your progress. Try to find people to work with: doing research
to just being theoretically valid, or tested on a few toy is much easier if you have someone to bounce ideas off of and examples).
to give you feedback.
Breaking down any project into smaller pieces is always a • Try to get past buzzwords: they may sound good, but good tactic when things seem unmanageable. At the highest not mean much. Is there substance and an interesting level, doing a master’s project before diving into a Ph.D. dis- idea underneath the jargon?
sertation is generally a good idea (and is mandatory at some schools). A master’s gives you a chance to learn more about
• To really understand a paper, you have to understand an area, do a smaller research project, and establish working the motivations for the problem posed, the choices made relationships with your advisor and fellow students. in finding a solution, the assumptions behind the solu- The divide-and-conquer strategy works on a day-to-day tion, whether the assumptions are realistic and whether level as well. Instead of writing an entire thesis, focus on the they can be removed without invalidating the approach, goal of writing a chapter, section, or outline. Instead of imple- future directions for research, what was actually accom- menting a large system, break off pieces and implement one plished or implemented, the validity (or lack thereof) of module at a time. Identify tasks that you can do in an hour
the theoretical justifications or empirical demonstrations, or less; then you can come up with a realistic daily schedule. and the potential for extending and scaling the algorithm If you have doubts, don’t let them stop you from accomplish- up.
ing something – take it one day at a time. Remember, every Keep the papers you read filed away so you can find them task you complete gets you closer to finishing. Even if you again later, and set up an online bibliography (BibTeX is a don’t make any obvious progress, you’ll have learned some- ing something – take it one day at a time. Remember, every Keep the papers you read filed away so you can find them task you complete gets you closer to finishing. Even if you again later, and set up an online bibliography (BibTeX is a don’t make any obvious progress, you’ll have learned some-
chological support); introduce you and promote your work to important people in your field; encourage your own interests,
3.3 Getting to the Thesis
rather than promoting their own; be available to give you ad- vice on the direction of your thesis and your career; and help
The hardest part of getting a Ph.D. is, of course, writing you to find a job when you finish. They should help you to the dissertation. The process of finding a thesis topic, doing set and achieve long-term and short-term goals. the research, and writing the thesis is different from anything
Once you identify one or more potential advisors, get to most students have done before. If you have a good advisor know them. Introduce yourself and describe the area you’re
and support network, you’ll be able to get advice and help in interested in. Attend their research group meetings if they setting directions and goals. If not, you may need to be more hold them regularly. Give them a copy of a research proposal independent. If this is the case, don’t just isolate yourself if you have a good idea of what you want to work on, and from the world: try to go out and find the resources and ask for comments. Ask whether they have any TA or RA support you need from professors, other graduate students, (research assistant) positions available, or if there are any mailing lists, friends, family, and publications like this one.
ongoing research projects that you could get involved with. Read their published papers, and the work of their students.
3.3.1 Finding an Advisor Drop by during office hours and ask questions or make com- Finding the right advisor can help you immeasurably in suc- ments. Offer to read drafts of papers – and do more than just
cessfully completing a thesis. You should ideally have se- proofread (see Section 3.4). lected the schools you applied to by identifying faculty mem-
The type of relationship that each student needs with an bers you’d like to work with. If not, start looking around as advisor will be different. Some students prefer to be given
early as possible. Of course, the ideal advisor will be in the more direction, to have frequent contact, and to be “checked area you’re interested in working in, will actively be doing up on.” Others are more independent. Some may need con- high-quality reseach and be involved in and respected by the tact but be self-conscious about asking for it. Other things research community, and (not least) will be someone you can that vary include what kinds of feedback is preferred (lots of get along with.
“random” ideas vs. very directed feedback (pointers)); work- Read research summaries by faculty members (which are ing individually vs. in groups; working on an established re-
usually published by the department), go to talks they give, search project vs. a new, independent effort; working in the and attend or audit courses given by professors you might be same area as your advisor vs. doing an “outside” thesis. interested in working with. Talk to other graduate students
You may find that your thesis advisor doesn’t always give and recent graduates. Ask them how their relationships with you all of the mentoring that you need. Multiple mentors are
their advisors are/were, how quickly the advisor’s students common and useful; they may include other faculty members graduate, and how successful (well recognized, high-quality) in your department or elsewhere, senior graduate students, or their research is. What kinds of relationships do they have other colleagues (see Section 4.3). You may want to seriously – frequent interactions, collaborative work, encouraging inde- consider changing thesis advisors if your advisor is inaccessi- pendence? handing out topics or helping students to create ble or disinterested, gives you only negative feedback, doesn’t individual research areas, or a more hands-off style?
have the technical background to advise you on your thesis, Other things to find out about potential advisors:
or harasses you (see Section 7).
The most important thing is to ask for (i.e., demand po- • What is the average time their Ph.D. students take to litely) what you need.
finish their degrees? What is the dropout rate for their students?
3.3.2 Finding a Thesis Topic
• How long have they been on the faculty? There are ad- Doing a master’s project is often a good idea (and is required vantages and disadvantages to being one of the first mem- by some schools). Although choosing an appropriately scaled- bers of a new research group. On the positive side, you down topic may be difficult, having the ideal topic is also less often have more freedom to choose your research topic important, since you will have the chance to move on after and to influence the direction of the group’s research. only a year or so. If you have a good idea of what you want On the negative side, you may be more isolated (since to do your Ph.D. dissertation on, choosing a master’s project there won’t be older graduate students in the group), that will lead into the dissertation is wise: you will get a head your advisor won’t have as much experience, and if they start on the Ph.D., or may decide that you’re not interested don’t get tenure you may be scrambling for a new advisor in pursuing the topic after all (saving yourself a lot of work several years into your thesis.
and grief farther down the road).
A good source of ideas for master’s projects (and sometimes technical assistance. A mentor should provide, or help you to for dissertation topics) is the future work section of papers
A good advisor will serve as a mentor as well as a source of A good advisor will serve as a mentor as well as a source of
who can help you maintain a reasonably rigorous approach to Generally speaking, a good Ph.D. thesis topic is interesting the problem. to you, to your advisor, and to the research community. As
In the extreme case, if your topic is so out of the ordinary with many aspects of graduate school, the balance you find that it’s unrelated to anything else, you may have difficulty will depend at least in part on the relationship you have with convincing people it’s worthwhile. Truly innovative research your advisor. Some professors have well defined long-term is, of course, exciting and often pays back in recognition from research programs and expect their students to contribute the research community – or you could just be out in left field. directly to this program. Others have much looser, but still If you have a far-out topic, be sure that people are actually related, ongoing projects. Still others will take on anyone with interested in it, or you’ll never be able to “sell” it later, and an interesting idea, and may have a broad range of interesting will probably have trouble getting your work published and ideas to offer their students. Be wary of the advisor who seems finding a job. In addition, it will be hard to find colleagues willing to let you pursue any research direction at all. You who are interested in the same problems and who can give probably won’t get the technical support you need, and they you advice and feedback. may lose interest in you when the next graduate student with
In any case, a good topic will address important issues. You
a neat idea comes along. should be trying to solve a real problem, not a toy problem (or If you pick a topic that you’re not truly interested in sim- worse yet, no problem at all); you should have solid theoretical ply because it’s your advisor’s pet area, it will be difficult to work, good empirical results or, preferably, both; and the stay focused and motivated – and you may be left hanging topic will be connected to – but not be a simple variation on or if your advisor moves on to a different research area before extension of – existing research. It will also be significant yet you finish. The same is true for choosing a topic because of manageable. Finding the right size problem can be difficult. its marketability: if you’re not personally excited about the One good way of identifying the right size is to read other topic, you’ll have a harder time finishing and a harder time dissertations. It’s also useful to have what Chapman [1988] convincing other people that your research is interesting. Be- calls a “telescoping organization” – a central problem that’s sides, markets change more quickly than most people finish solvable and acceptable, with extensions and additions that dissertations.
are “successively riskier and that will make the thesis more In order to do original research, you must be aware of on- exciting.” If the gee-whiz additions don’t pan out, you’ll still going research in your field. Most students spend up to a year have a solid result. reading and studying current research to identify important
A good way to focus on a topic is to write one-sentence open problems. However, you’ll never be able to read every- and one-paragraph descriptions of the problem you want to thing that might be relevant – and new work is always being address, and do the same for your proposed solution; then published.
write an outline of what a thesis that solved this problem Try to become aware and stay aware of directly related would look like (i.e., what chapters would be included, or, if research – but if you see new work that seems to be doing you’re ambitious, what sections in each chapter). exactly what you’re working on, don’t panic. It’s common
Sometimes finding a small problem to work on and building for graduate students to see a related piece of work and think on it in a “bottom up” fashion can work equally well, as long that their topic is ruined. If this happens to you, reread as you don’t fall into the trap of solving lots of small unrelated the paper several times to get a good understanding of what problems that don’t lead to a coherent, solid, substantial piece they’ve really been accomplished. Show the paper to your of research (i.e., a thesis). advisor or someone else who’s familiar with your topic and
Remember that a thesis is only a few years of your work, whose opinions you respect. Introduce yourself to the author and that – if all goes well – your research career will con- at a conference or by e-mail, and tell them about your work. tinue for another 30 or 40. Don’t be afraid to leave part of By starting a dialogue, you will usually find that their work the problem for future work, and don’t compare yourself to isn’t quite the same, and that there are still directions open senior researchers who have years of work and publications to you. You may even end up collaborating with them. Good to show for it. (On the other hand, if you identify too much researchers welcome the opportunity to interact and collabo- future work, your thesis won’t look very exciting by compar- rate with someone who’s interested in the same problems they ison.) Graduate students often pick overly ambitious topics are.
(in theory, your advisor will help you to identify a realistic To finish quickly, it’s usually best to pick a narrow, well size problem). Don’t overestimate what other people have defined topic. The downside of this approach is that it may done. Learn to read between the lines of grandiose claims not be as exciting to you or to the research community. If (something else a good advisor will help you to do). you’re more of a risk-taker, choose a topic that branches out
Some schools may require that you write a thesis proposal. in a new direction. The danger here is that it can be difficult Even if they don’t, this is a good first step to take. It forces to carefully define the problem, and to evaluate the solution you to define the problem, outline possible solutions, and you develop. If you have a topic like this, it helps a lot to have identify evaluation criteria; and it will help you to get use- Some schools may require that you write a thesis proposal. in a new direction. The danger here is that it can be difficult Even if they don’t, this is a good first step to take. It forces to carefully define the problem, and to evaluate the solution you to define the problem, outline possible solutions, and you develop. If you have a topic like this, it helps a lot to have identify evaluation criteria; and it will help you to get use-
a good thesis proposal will take up to several months, de- and enthusiastic, you can sink your teeth into a solid problem, pending on how much background work and thinking you’ve but on days when you’re run-down and unmotivated, you can already done in the process of choosing the topic.
at least accomplish a few small tasks and get them off your The proposal should provide a foundation for the disser- queue. tation. First, you must circumscribe the problem and argue
It also helps to start writing at a coarse granularity and convincingly that it needs to be solved, and that you have successively refine your thesis. Don’t sit down and try to
a methodology for solving it. You must identify and discuss start writing the entire thesis from beginning to end. First related work: has this problem been addressed before? What jot down notes on what you want to cover; then organize these are the shortcomings of existing work in the area, and how into an outline (which will probably change as you progress in will your approach differ from and be an improvement over your research and writing). Start drafting sections, beginning these methods?
with those you’re most confident about. Don’t feel obligated Present your ideas for solving the problem in as much detail to write it perfectly the first time: if you can’t get a paragraph as possible, and give a detailed plan of the remaining research or phrase right, just write something (a rough cut, a note to be done. The proposal should include, or be structured to yourself, a list of bulleted points) and move on. You can as, a rough outline of the thesis itself. In fact, unless your fi- always come back to the hard parts later; the important thing nal topic differs significantly from your proposed topic (which is to make steady progress. many do), you may be able to reuse parts of the proposal in
When writing a thesis, or any technical paper, realize that the thesis.
your audience is almost guaranteed to be less familiar with You will probably have to take an oral exam in which you your subject than you are. Explain your motivations, goals, present and/or answer questions about your proposal. Be and methodology clearly. Be repetitive without being boring, sure that your committee members are as familiar as possible by presenting your ideas at several levels of abstraction, and with your work beforehand. Give them copies of the proposal, by using examples to convey the ideas in a different way. and talk to them about it. During the exam, don’t panic if
Having a “writing buddy” is a good idea. If they’re working you don’t know the answer to a question. Simply say, “I’m on their thesis at the same time, so much the better, but the
not sure” and then do your best to analyze the question and most important thing is that they be willing to give you feed- present possible answers. Your examining committee wants back on rough drafts, meet regularly to chart your progress to see your analytical skills, not just hear canned answers to and give you psychological support, and preferably that they questions you were expecting. Give a practice talk to other
be familiar enough with your field to understand and review students and faculty members. Remember: you know more your writing.
about your thesis topic than your committee; you’re teaching You may find Sloman’s extensive notes on writing a the- them something for a change.
sis [Sloman, ] helpful; although they are intended for AI software-development theses, many of his points apply to the-
3.3.3 Writing the Thesis
sis writing in general.
Graduate students often think that the thesis happens in two
distinct phases: doing the research, and writing the disserta- 3.4 Getting Feedback
tion. This may be the case for some students, but more often, these phases overlap and interact with one another. Some- To be successful at research, it is essential that you learn times it’s difficult to formalize an idea well enough to test and to cope with criticism, and even that you actively seek it prove it until you’ve written it up; the results of your tests out. Learn to listen to valid, constructive criticism and to often require you to make changes that mean that you have ignore destructive, pointless criticism (after finding any pearls to go back and rewrite parts of the thesis; and the process of wisdom that may be buried in it). of developing and testing your ideas is almost never complete
In order to get feedback, you have to present your ideas. (there’s always more that you could do) so that many gradu- Write up what you’re working on, even if you’re not ready ate students end up “doing research” right up until the day to write a full conference or journal paper, and show it to or two before the thesis is turned in.
people. Even for pre-publishable papers, write carefully and The divide-and-conquer approach works as well for writ- clearly, to maximize your chances of getting useful comments ing as it does for research. A problem that many graduate (and of having people read what you wrote at all). students face is that their only goal seems to be “finish the
Give presentations at seminar series at your university, at thesis.” It is essential that you break this down into man- conferences, and at other universities and research labs when ageable stages, both in terms of doing the research and when you get the chance. Your advisor should help you find ap- writing the thesis. Tasks that you can finish in a week, a day, propriate forums to present your work and ideas. Many fields or even as little as half an hour are much more realistic goals. have informal workshops that are ideal for presenting work in Try to come up with a range of tasks, both in terms of dura- progress.
Attend conferences and talk about your research. When Start looking for money early. Many schools arrange sup- you meet someone new and they ask you what you’re working port in the form of an RA or TA position in the first year, on, seize the opportunity. Don’t just say “I’m doing my thesis but after that, you’re on your own. Deadlines for applica- on foobar applications of whatsis algorithms” – tell them as tions vary, and if you miss one, you’ll probably have to wait much as they’re willing to listen to. You should have 30- another year. After you apply, it can take six months or so to second, 2-minute, 5-minute and 10-minute summaries of your review the applications and several more months to actually thesis ready at a moment’s notice (but not memorized word- start receiving money. for-word; nobody wants to listen to a canned speech).
Ask faculty members (especially your advisor, who should Talking to other people will help you to realize which as-
be helping you to find support or providing support out of his pects of your research are truly different and innovative, how or her grant money), department administrators, and fellow your work fits into the current state of your field and where graduate students about available funding. Go to your univer- it’s going, and which aspects of your work are harder to sell sity’s fellowship office or its equivalent, and look through the (and, therefore, which aspects you need to think more about listings in The Annual Register of Grant Support, The Grant justifying).
Register, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Foundation Giving feedback to other students and colleagues is useful Grants to Individuals. Look into NSF grants (there are sev-
for many reasons. First, it helps you to polish your critical eral different programs). Take advantage of your status as skills, which are helpful both in understanding other people’s
a woman or minority if you are one (this may be the only work and in evaluating your own. Second, it helps you to build time when it actually is an advantage). Most universities
a network of people who will be your colleagues for years to have fellowship programs that may be administered through come. Finally, if you give useful feedback, those people will individual departments or may be campus-wide.
be more likely to make an effort to do the same for you. If you haven’t yet begun actively doing research, getting an It will be helpful (to you and to the person whose pa- RA position from a faculty member may be a good way to
per you’re reviewing) to organize comments on a paper in become involved in a research project. Working on an existing descending order of abstraction: high-level content-oriented research project by maintaining or developing hardware or comments, mid-level stylistic and presentation comments, and software, writing reports, and running experiments will give low-level nitpicky comments on syntax and grammar. Try to you a feel for what it’s like to do research – and you may even keep your comments constructive (“this would read better if find a thesis topic. Ask around to see what’s available, and you defined X before introducing Y”) rather than destructive go talk to professors whose work you find interesting. (“this is nonsense”).
For a research grant or fellowship, you will probably have to You’ll want to read a paper at least twice – once to get write a proposal, so the more you’ve thought about potential
the basic ideas, then a second time to mark down comments. thesis topics, the better off you’ll be. You may need to tailor High-level comments describing your overall impression of the your proposal to the interests and needs of the particular paper, making suggestions for organization, presentation and funding agency or program you’re applying to, but stick to alternative approaches to try, potential extensions, and rele- something you know about and are sincerely interested in. vant references are generally the most useful and the hardest
Write for a general audience, since the people reviewing to give. Low-level comments are more appropriate for a paper your application may not be in the same field. Emphasize
that is being submitted for publication than for an unpub- your goals and why the project you propose to work on is lished paper such as a proposal or description of preliminary important. Talk as much as you can about how you’re going research.
to solve the problem, and be sure that your proposed solution See [Parberry, 1989] for more suggestions on reviewing pa- will satisfy the goals you’ve set forth. Follow the rules for pers.
format, page layout and length, or your application may not even be reviewed.
3.5 Getting Financial Support
4 Becoming Part of the Research
Most graduate students (at least in the natural sciences) have
Community
a source of financial support that pays their tuition and a small living stipend. Although nobody ever got rich being a One of the most important things a graduate student should graduate student, you probably won’t starve either. Sources do is to become established as part of the research community. of funding include fellowships (from NSF, universisites, foun- Your advisor can help with this process by funding confer- dations, government agencies, and industry), employer sup- ence travel, encouraging you to publish research results early, port, research assistantships (i.e., money from a faculty mem- collaborating on joint publications, introducing you to col- ber’s research grant) and teaching assistantships. Kantrowitz leagues, and promoting your work. and DiGennaro [1994] provide an extensive list of funding
In turn, you can make yourself more visible by participat- sources for math, science, and engineering graduate students. ing in conferences and workshops, publishing papers on your In turn, you can make yourself more visible by participat- sources for math, science, and engineering graduate students. ing in conferences and workshops, publishing papers on your
4.1 Attending Conferences
you know more about your work (flaws and all) than anyone else.
Attending conferences and workshops is valuable whether you present a paper or not. Some of the reasons to do so are:
Parberry [1988] contains some more suggestions for organiz- ing and presenting a talk, directed at theoretical computer
• You’ll meet people and have a chance to discuss your scientists. ideas and to hear theirs.
• You’ll get a good sense of what the current state of re- 4.2 Publishing Papers
search is, and will learn more about how to write confer- ence papers and give talks (sometimes by counterexam- Publishing your ideas is important for several reasons: it gives ple).
you a source of feedback from people who read your papers; it establishes you as a member of the research community
• You’ll probably realize that your ideas are more signifi- (useful for getting a job down the line); and it forces you to cant, relatively speaking, than you thought. A common clarify your ideas and to fit them in the context of the current reaction is “I could write a better paper than this!”
state of research in your field.
If you’re giving a talk you’ll gain even more visibility, and There are two key properties of a good paper: significant will have an opportunity to make an impression on other re- content – original, important ideas that are well developed
searchers. Some tips for preparing your talk to make this and tested – and good writing style. The degree to which impression as positive as possible:
the paper’s content has to be “significant” depends on where you’re submitting it. Preliminary ideas and work in progress
• Give a practice talk, especially if you tend to get stage are more suitable for a workshop or symposium; well devel- fright. Be sure to invite people who will give you con- oped, extensively tested ideas are more appropriate for a jour- structive, but useful, feedback.
nal. One way to decide where your paper should be submitted is to read papers in potentially appropriate publications (last
• Make sure your talk fits in the time slot allocated. year’s conference proceedings; current journal issues). An- There’s nothing worse than a speaker who rushes through other method is to show a draft or outline of the paper to the last ten slides, or skips from the middle of the talk your advisor or other colleagues and ask their advice. to the conclusion. A good rule is to allocate 2-3 minutes
If you have a great idea, but present it poorly, your pa- per slide, on average.
per probably won’t be accepted. Be sure you know what the • It’s better to be somewhat abstract than to get bogged point of the paper is, and state it clearly and repeatedly. The
down in technical details – but be sure you give enough same goes for the key technical ideas. Don’t make the reader detail to make a convincing case. Your paper should fill work to figure out what’s important – tell them explicitly. in the missing details, so that people can read it to get Otherwise, they might get it wrong, if they bother to finish
a more in-depth understanding. Know your audience: reading the paper at all. State the problem you’re adderss- you’ll have to give more background to a general audi- ing, why it’s important, how you’re solving it, what results ence, and more technical detail to audiences that are very you have, how other researchers have addressed the same or familiar with the field of research you’re discussing.
similar problems, and why your method is different or better. Write for the audience that you expect to read the paper,
• Use examples and pictures to illustrate and clarify your just as you would plan a talk. Give more background for gen- ideas.
eral audiences, less background and more technical detail for specialized audiences. Use a running exmaple if possible, es-
• Learn by observation: try to imitate qualities of talks pecially if your paper is dense with equations and algorithms. that you like, and avoid things that other speakers do
Don’t try to put every idea in your thesis into one confer- that bother you.
ence paper. Break it down into pieces, or write one or two • Talk about your ideas informally whenever you get the longer journal articles. chance, so that the talk will come more naturally and,
As you refine your ideas, you can re-publish in new forms, hopefully, you’ll have a chance to respond to and think but be sure you’re adding new material, not just rehashing about questions that might get asked at the talk.
the same ideas. Some papers start as short workshop papers, evolve into conference papers, and eventually – with the ad-
• Make sure your slides are readable and as simple as pos- dition of detailed empirical results or formal proofs – become sible. Never put up a slide with tiny text and say “I know journal articles. It’s usually okay to publish the same or sub- you can’t read this, but...”
stantially similar papers in multiple workshops, but papers stantially similar papers in multiple workshops, but papers
should, learn in order to be a successful member of the re- It is critical that any paper you plan to submit be read search community. by someone else first, if only to check for typos, grammatical
Just going to conferences and standing in the corner isn’t errors, and style. A good reviewer will give you feedback enough. Especially if you’re not normally an outgoing per- on the organization and content of the paper as well (see son, you have to make a conscious effort to meet and build Section 3.4). The more tightly refereed the publication you’re relationships with other researchers. Presenting papers is a submitting to, the more trouble you should go to in order to good way to do this, since people will often approach you have it pre-reviewed. For a workshop paper, having your to discuss your presentation. Introducing yourself to people advisor read it over (assuming you can convince them to do whose presentations you found interesting, and asking a rel- so!) is probably enough. For a refereed conference, have evant question or describing related research you’re doing, is one or two other graduate students read it as well. For a also a good way to meet people. Sometimes it’s easier to meet journal paper, you should probably find researchers who are other graduate students than senior researchers—this is fine, active in the field, preferably at other institutions (to give since those graduate students will provide contacts to the se- breadth), read it over and give you comments. This is where nior people they know, and somebody they’ll be senior people the network of colleagues you should build (Section 4.3) comes themselves (as will you)! in handy.
You should talk about your research interests every chance If you go through multiple revisions of a paper, don’t expect you get. (But be sure to spend some time listening, too: you’ll the same person (even—perhaps especially—your advisor) to learn more this way, and people will feel that your conversa- keep reading new drafts. You should only give a revised draft tions are a two-way street.) Have summaries of your work of to your advisor or another reviewer if the paper has changed various lengths and levels of detail mentally prepared, so that substantially and they’ve said that they’re willing to re-read you can answer the inevitable “So what are you working on?” it.