Has anyone got any good surviving a PhD tips?

[EyyyupButtercup]

I’ve won a fully funded PhD scholarship!

I’ve had written confirmation from the interviewer, but not from the school yet, so I am waiting to tell people in real life until that comes through.

I’m nervous but excited about starting, and really want to make a success of things. Has anyone got any tips?

Don't give up. Somewhere in the middle of it all, you'll likely be sitting with your head in your hands wondering why you are doing it. This is normal...

It's your project. Don't expect to be spoon-fed ideas. This can happen if you're straight from a bachelor's degree, but it's important to remember that you should be driving it and your supervisor is there to help you do that.

Sometimes following an idea off at a tangent may lead to something more interesting than your original goal. But don't go too off-piste if you realise it's not going to be in your write-up.

Do your literature search properly. Saves weeks, especially if someone's come close to (or even done!) what you are wanting to do.

Draw up a table of contents as soon as you can see the structure of your research appearing, then you can tailor what you do to make sure you do relevant work. (Possibly more useful in scientific PhDs like mine which depend on expensive experiments.)

Be aware your supervisor may not be infallible. I know someone who failed his viva because his supervisor got it badly wrong and told him to submit when he wasn't ready. This is very rare, but happens and is gutting for the student. (Mine erred the other way and I got told at viva that I had done twice as much as I needed!)

Your starter for ten... many more hints will be given I'm sure - and YMMV. Your experience will not be the same as mine!

Good luck!

Scale down and focus (clearly define the question) rather than scratching the surface on many.

Don't loose sight of the big picture - how does your work fit what is happening around you.

Don't forget to pat yourself on the back when you realise that you are the world-expert in your topic and no-one at that moment understands as much as you do.

Develop ways to explain your research really simply. You might talk to Profs, but start every conversation as if you were explaining it to your Dog Walker. You can delve into the details later.

Good luck!

Watching op, as am in the same boat

Write up as you go along. Write as often as you can. You might ditch a lot of stuff but the act of writing will help. Every paper you read weave into your writing.

Get a good reference manager I like Zotero.

Join reading groups and attend even if some if it is not directly relevant to your topic. The friends and support will help you through.

Do the extra stuff if you can. Try out being an academic if you can.

I have loved my PhD (am writing up now) and I have made some excellent friends and had a great time. There is a lot of misery lit attached to doing a PhD. For some people it is genuinely hard but there is a woe is me thing as well. Enjoy it!! You are lucky

Congratulations!

I agree with PP, people like to weep and moan about how tough PhDs are but I have loved mine.

Tips are v discipline specific, I used to feel like a fraud when I heard other people saying they were working 12 hours a day or had written 3 chapters in the first year. These things are normal in lab based studies and humanities disciplines respectively, but not in social sciences (where I am). Set your own goals and work at a pace that makes sense for your topic/methods etc.

Use reference management software. Keep it simple, don't over think it.

Well done!

As others have said, a lot of advice is field-specific, but I would second getting your referencing software up and running from day one. I also kept a spreadsheet of everything I read so I had brief summaries I could search.

Save up whatever you can while you have funding. That's not a very exciting piece of advice but 90-something percent of PhDs don't finish in three years. Especially now with COVID, people are getting extensions but not extra funding and it's causing a lot of stress.

Think about how you can make your research questions and data collection COVID-proof. Again this will vary between fields, but I have friends who were planning to do overseas data collection, and that's off the books for the present. Face to face interviews and participant observation are also not possible. LIkewise, if you are planning to be lab-based, the labs aren't open. If you are reliant on viewing original documents, the libraries aren't open. These things should ease over the next semester but could reverse at any time.

Get yourself set up with decent vido-conferencing equipment now, if you haven't already. There is going to be a lot of online calls and induction sessions.

Think about how you are going to manage emotional support in a time of social distancing. PhDs can be isolating and the only people who really get what you're going through are your peer group. Universities tend to be very keen on getting students into campus in their first year so they can build the networks to sustain them during the data collection and write up phases. It was noticeable in my cohort that while some people worked remotely and did absolutely fine, the people who dropped out were the ones who never came in to the office. At present no one is allowed in the office, and I'm sure that will have an effect on retention rates. If you have the chance to have socially distanced meet ups with your peer group definitely do it.