It was nice to chat with some of you after the session and during the office hour.

 

During our talk, some of the topics came up more than once, so I thought it would be nice to share with others too.

 

There are two main issues: 1) reading efficiently and 2) understanding the content.

 

Regarding the first issue – Your time is limited, and reading list is long. In an ideal world, you will manage to read everything. But in reality, this is very difficult to do. Be selective. Prioritise. First, you need to screen out from the long list of reading (from both essential and suggested reading), the most important ones that you need to cover. Mind you, however, the process of deciding on what to read takes time. (Searching the material from the library, looking up and downloading on your laptop and Zotero, etc.) But once you go through the screening and prioritising process, at least, you will be one step closer to managing your work rather than feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand. 

 

But you may also wonder, I have a lecture tomorrow, and there are three articles to read. All three are important. Then what?

Using the précis writing guideline can be of help. On your first reading, instead of reading it from cover to cover (from a to z), get the facts: topics, problem, thesis/argument, analysis/evidence, and implications. Your reading should be quick but targeted. Find the above essential points and write it on a separate Word document or make notes directly on your PDF file or even better, on Zotero. After you complete your first reading and your précis note, go back a second time (straight away or after a short break) to fill in the details that support your first reading and note. The second reading is about confirming your understanding.

 

Which leads to the second issue – how much did you understand from your reading? Sometimes, even after reading the material several times, you may still be left wondering about the content. Discussing and sharing your thoughts with your colleagues can be handy and time-saving. Talk to others who have done the reading and share your précis note findings. Did you both find the same thing? You can also tell another colleague who has not read the article yet and try to explain what you understood and found. By trying to explain to another person, you get to test and confirm your understanding too.

 

I also think that working in small working groups of three will help you lighten the load. Each one of you can take one reading and prepare a précis for the team. If everyone tackles a paper each week, a group of three can generate three précis which will serve as a quick guide for other members of the team who haven’t read the article yet. 

 

Lastly, practice makes perfect. Every paper you read and every précis you write, you are getting better at it. Just keep reading and writing. 

 

Hope this helps!

Sung Kyu
(posted 18 October 2017)

I want to share with you some tips on improving your writing.

These tips are from Dr Catherine Pope, a former Research Development Team advisor at Sussex Doctoral School. I give full credit to her work: Pope, C. (2017) ‘Editing your thesis’ (Presented: 10 April 2017).

Paragraph

·         Shouldn’t be shorter than 3 lines

·         Shouldn’t contain more than one key idea

·         Should have a structure* (see below)

·         Should be connected to the previous paragraph

Structuring paragraphs

(1)    Topic sentence…

(2)    Elaborate/define your terms…

(3)    Give an example/evidence/illustrate…

(4)    Say how your example makes the point in your topic sentence.

Sentences

·         Write shorter sentences

·         Shouldn’t be longer than 3 lines

·         Read them aloud

·         Know your punctuation? (see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/)

The passive voice (please avoid these examples)

·         The data was collected by…

·         It was thought…

·         It could be argued…

Instead,

·         Use active verbs (scrutinise, dissect, recount, capture, etc.) over vague ones

·         Favour concrete language

·         Avoid waste words (it, this)

·         Keep it tight (don’t allow a noun and its accompanying verb to become separated by more than about 12 words)

Polishing your writing

·         Are your points well illustrated by examples?

·         Is every paragraph clear and coherent, and unified?

Proofreading

·         Leave yourself enough time

·         Crowdsource friends and colleagues

·         Use software (www.grammarly.com)

That's it for now.

Good luck and happy writing!

Sung Kyu
(posted 19 November 2017)

What you need to prepare

First, you need to have a compelling and well-articulated research idea and written proposal. Sometimes, the graduate schools tell you how to format the research proposal and application. The specifics (of length and structures) vary widely from American to European, and to the UK academic institutions. You will undoubtedly need a well-crafted and organised CV and at least two recommendation letters from your academic and professional supervisors, along with the official transcripts of all your previous academic studies. Again, the minimum requirements of grades for application differ from one institution to another.

Your MA dissertation can play a crucial role here. Your dissertation could potentially turn into a more comprehensive PhD research proposal. Also, your active and good working relationship with your supervisor and other course convenors at IDS will help you secure strong recommendation letters (get to know them well and ask for their advice on PhD too).

If you don’t have these yet, then you can start working towards building a strong record from now!