Mastering Your PhD (eBook)

Prof. Dr. Bart Noordam (1964) obtained his PhD degree in Physics (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After a brief stint as a Postdoc in the USA, he headed up a research group at the FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in Amsterdam. There he studied the ultra-fast interactions between light and atoms. Prof. Noordam has supervised 9 PhD students and published over 120 scientific papers. He interrupted his academic career for two years to work as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and returned to AMOLF in the fall of 2002 as director of the institute. Bart Noordam gives short courses for graduate students to get the most out of their PhD. The enthusiast response over a training course he gave for EURODOC triggered the ideas behind this book (EURODOC is the European convention of the representatives of the national PhD student unions). Patricia Gosling (1963) obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and English Literature from Northwestern University, USA. After a 3-year period working as a research assistant in neurophysiology at Stanford University, she re-located to the Netherlands where she received her PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Nijmegen. From 1996-2002 she ran her own communications company, with a focus on scientific journalism and teaching writing and presentation skills to graduate students of Environmental Science. From 2003-2004 she was employed as a medical writer with Excerpta Medica (a division of Elsevier). She has also translated and edited numerous books and documents for the industrial and academic communities. A US native, Dr. Gosling has lived and worked in the Netherlands, Morocco, and France. Currently employed as Research Manager at the European Neuromuscular Centre in the Netherlands, she is the author of two guidebooks (Ethnic Amsterdam, Vassallucci, 2002 and The Lovers’ Guide to Amsterdam, Vassallucci, 2003). Fluent in Dutch and French and an enthusiastic student of Arabic, Dr. Gosling has chosen to follow a non-traditional post-PhD career path that has proved to be both eclectic and rewarding.

Preface 5
Why read a book about getting a PhD? 5
Sink or swim 5
Contents 9
Introduction 11
The start-up group 12
The up-and-running group 13
The small but established group 14
The empire 14
Getting Started 16
Become familiar with your department 17
Formulate a working plan and set up a schedule 17
Maintain a proper lab notebook 18
Establish good reference keeping practices 18
Dealing with initial ups and downs 19
Setting Goals and Objectives 20
A word to the sceptics 21
Effective time management 22
Record your daily activities 23
Learning from the record 24
Preparing a to-do list 25
Multi-tasking: is it for you? 25
The 80/20 rule 26
How do I know if I’mfocusing on the 80 percent or the 20 percent? 26
Implementing the 80/20 rule 27
How to Think Like a Scientist 29
Common errors in using the scientific method 30
Fact, theory, hypothesis – what’s the difference anyway? 31
Ockham’s razor 32
A final comment 33
Designing Good Experiments 35
Discriminating between different hypotheses 35
Reproducing your results 35
Proper control of variables 36
Methods of measurement 36
Blinding 36
Accuracy and precision 36
Good science and good experimental design go hand in hand 37
Design experiments to test your hypothesis 38
Prepare your materials and equipment 39
Record the data 39
Record your observations 39
Analyze the raw data 39
Draw conclusions 40
Finally: can you trust your results? 41
Spotting random errors 42
Systematic errors 42
Linked variables 42
What if your experiment hasn’tworked out as planned? 43
Charting your Progress Month by Month 44
Monthly progress monitor: four questions to keep you goal oriented 45
What you can learn from filling in the monthly progress monitor 48
Dealing with Setbacks 50
The cold reality of trial and error 51
Identifying the setback(s) 52
Take action 52
A difficult dilemma: should you stop all together? 54
The Art of Good Communication or How to get along with your lab mates et al. 57
How to get the help you need from the others on your team 58
What a character! 58
How you cope with the world: extrovert versus introvert 60
How you think: intuition vs. sensation 61
Are your decisions driven by objective arguments or feelings? 61
Chaotic team members vs. planners 61
Which type are you? 62
How to collaborate with your counterpart 62
Extroverts vs. introverts 62
Intuition and sensation: both are necessary for success 63
In science feeling is more important than thinkers want to believe 64
Judgers and perceivers have crucial roles at different times 65
A varied mix makes a good team 67
The Art of Good Communication, Part 2 Presentation Skills and Group Meetings 71
Formulate your objectives 71
Identify your audience 72
Rehearse your presentation out loud 73
Giving the presentation 74
Tips for a perfect delivery 75
Visual aids 76
Group meetings 77
Chairing a session 78
A final observation 79
Searching the Scientific Literature 81
Getting started in the library 81
Using the Internet 82
Making good use of the Science Citation Index 83
How do you know when your literature search is successful and complete? 84
Your First International Conference 86
Making the most of your first conference 86
First things first 87
Making sense of the conference programme 89
Making your presence count 91
Post-conference reality check 93
From Data to Manuscript: Writing Scientific Papers That Shine 95
Title 96
Abstract 96
Introduction 97
Materials and methods 97
Results 98
A note on tables and figures 98
Tips formaking great graphs 99
Discussion 101
Literature cited 101
Revising the first draft 103
Celebrate Your Success 104
The art of celebrating success 104
Why celebrate your success? 105
What defines success? 106
How can you celebrate your success? 106
How to Cope with Your Annual Evaluation 108
Keep it in perspective 109
Be prepared 110
The surprise attack: how to act when you’re caught off guard 112
The Final Year: Countdown to Your Thesis Defence 116
Establish your achievements 116
Verify your achievements 117
What else should be included in your thesis? 117
Describe your final project 118
The countdown list 119
Typical things you might learn from the countdown list 121
Handling uncertainties 121
Discuss your planning with your supervisor/advisor 122
The countdown is not carved in stone 122
Putting it all Together: A PhD…soWhat’s Next? 126
Opportunities for a newly minted PhD 126
The next logical step: a Post-doctoral fellowship 127
The corporate sector: where business and sciencemeet 129
Not-for-profit organizations – the best of both worlds? 129
Is your final decision carved in stone? 131
From searching for opportunities to getting the job 131
Do you want the job? 134
Swinging from branch to branch on the career tree 135
Writing Your Doctoral Thesis with Style 137
First things first: decide on the table of contents 138
Cut the problem down to size: write an outline 138
Getting down to fundamentals: what’s a PhD thesis anyway? 139
A PhD thesis is: 139
A PhD thesis is not: 140
Pick a straightforward format and layout 141
Transforming (published) articles into thesis chapters 141
Chapter Two: the first piece of new text 142
The last set of data: chapter or article first? 143
The introduction: the final hurdle 144
The summary 144
Going for gold: writing an error free thesis 145
Be generous with acknowledgements 145
The Final Act: Defending Your Thesis with Panache 147
Familiarize yourself with the formalities 148
Prepare yourself scientifically 149
Prepare your act 150
Your physical condition at the actual defence 151
Lessons Learned 153
Planning is essential 154
Communication creates harmony 155
A final thought 156
About the Authors 157
Acknowledgements 158

Chapter 10 Searching the Scientific Literature (p. 75-76)

The history of science knows scores of instances
where an investigator was in the possession
of all the important facts for a newtheory,
but simply failed to ask the right questions.
Ernst Mayr

Before you carry out even your .rst experiment in the lab, you would be well advised to spend some time in the library doing a thorough literature search of your research topic. Perhaps youworked on a project in this same .eld as an undergraduate, or think you are familiar with the .eld because it is related to other work you have done. Even if you have some knowledge of the literature on your project, you shouldn’t skip this step. The investment of time in the library will pay off many times over in the lab. You don’t want to risk doing work that someone else has already done, or going down the same worn path that others have traveled before you. Science is not carried out in a vacuum. It is about steady forward progress over long periods of time and wise graduate students will take the time to read and bene.t from the research .ndings of their predecessors.

As you embark on your literature search, youmay feel quickly overwhelmed by the pile of papers you accumulate, so keep in mind that is impossible to read all the research ever published in your area. Being selective about what you read is key to getting a thorough overview of a particular .eld, without drowning in too much information. But whatever you do and however you decide to go about it, do not skip this step. Youwill live to regret it.

Getting started in the library

Get comfortable with the layout of the library and with the research tools available at your institute. Introduce yourself to the reference librarian(s) and explain that you want to carry out a literature search onyour thesis topic. These individuals are great sourcesof information and are there to help you in your search. You’ll be spending a lot of time in the library so take the time to become familiar with all its services.

What kinds of scienti.c literature exist and which ones will be most important to you? Broadly speaking, scienti.c literature can be divided into two types of articles: peer-reviewed and popular. Most of the articles published in scienti.c journals, both primary (original research) and secondary (review articles) have gone through a stringent process called peer-review. Before an editor will accept a paper for publication, he/she will send it out for review to at least two experts in the .eld. The identity of the reviewers is always kept secret fromthe author so that any comments made on the manuscript will be impartial.

When the paper comes back with comments from the referees, it is the author’s responsibility to correct any errors or discrepancies in interpretation before the paper can be accepted for publication. This process,while not infallible, insures that most articles are scienti.cally sound and as free fromerror as possible. Articles published in popular scienti.c magazines are not subject to peer review, and are therefore not always reliable sources of information.

Secondary literature is published in the form of review articles. As the name suggests, these articles are often very comprehensive in nature andprovide anoverviewof the scienti.c .ndings inaparticular .eld over a particular period of time. Reviews do not present new and original data, they are compilations of other people’s work, but very often written by a big name scientist in the .eld. Review articles can be a goldmine of information andwill signi.cantly help youwith your literature search by cutting down on the amount of time you spend on searching out individual (primary) research articles.