How to Finish a PhD

There are many surprises in doing a PhD. That, for example, it is so much easier to have a idea than to show that is any good. That, for example, your supervisor does not possess 'the answer'. Perhaps however, the greatest surprise is that it is so much easier to start a PhD than to finish it. I mean by finish, bring it to a conclusion. To stop, print, bind and consign your thesis to its fate. To stand back and say "that's it, done". This 'How To' addresses the challenge. How do you know you are "done" and how can you finish?

First let me characterise the experience. You are some way into your PhD, you have the 'question / problem / hypothesis' clearly in mind. You are on top of the immediate literature. You know how to test your approach and have the 'technical' skills necessary to follow through. You have drafts of most of the early parts of a thesis. Despite this however, the end point seems to be receding rather than nearing. More questions seem to be emerging. The literature relevant to your thesis seems to be expanding faster than you can assimilate it. Further tests / experiments seem necessary. The drafts seem out of sync with your current thinking and to require a complete rework. The passage of time, so leisurely in the early parts of your study, seems to have accelerated. Your supervisor, initially so authoritative, seems unclear on the best course of action. The larger existential uncertainties of life beyond being a student gather. It is easy at this point to lose heart and to lose faith in your research and your own capabilities. This is a mistake.

So, how to finish? First, acknowledge that the state-of-mind characterised above is not unique. Pretty much all students feel like this. The competitive, over-achieving culture of academia can prevent this from being talked about much, except defensively or jocularly, take it from me, you are not alone. Next, decide to finish. Determine a date. Do not think when 'can' I finish, think when 'shall' I finish. Tell your supervisor, your partner, your friends and family. Now you have a clear target to work to. Face and acknowledge life beyond graduation, start thinking about what you want to do and how you will get there, solicit advice and make practical plans.

You must now change your view of your thesis. Stop thinking of it as an intellectual endeavour, start thinking of it as a physical thing. A written report of a certain size, obeying certain practical conventions, bound and delivered by way of a prescribed process. When viewed in this way your thesis should cease to be intimidating and become a task you can plan for and make balanced decisions in relation to. It should help to take all your current written work and assemble it, beneath a thesis cover page and abstract, into the rough form of a thesis, this gives some measure of the work to be done. Start making a timed to-do-list. Not, repeat not, one of the airy high-level time plans typical of the early days of your studies (or worse, an elaborate but empty gantt chart). Rather, a list with tightly defined tasks each with clear beginning and end-point. If your list contains uncertainties or weakly defined tasks act now to get better descriptions of these tasks (and plan in turn for these uncertainty reduction actions).

Keep a diary. Not a 'Dear Diary' introspective account but rather a list of what you have accomplished along with any time-wasting distractions. Record your hours of work. Keep this record for good days and bad days. Congratulate yourself on the good days, determine to make the next day count after bad days. Use the diary as a tool for starting each day afresh.

One of the biggest time sinks associated with 'finishing problems' is reading. The literature is endless and without borders. One paper leads to another and new work is being added all the time. Reading always seems like a constructive thing to be doing. Underlying this is the unspoken fear that the work will have been done before, perhaps in some adjacent discipline, or that it will be scooped. Reading can be a distraction, it can confuse, sap confidence and clearly exhibits diminishing returns. There is a time to stop looking for an answer from somebody else and follow your own star. This is the very essence of research.

Having assumed control of time you must grapple with the actual business of finishing your thesis. There are criteria associated with the award of a PhD. These are set down in the award regulations, or similar, remind yourself of them. They probably include words such as originality, substance, literary quality and scholarship. Discuss what they mean with your supervisor. To calibrate yourself look carefully and with an open critical eye at some recent successful theses from your university, perhaps three or four. Read them as you imagine an examiner would. Pragmatically, this is what finishing means.

Now look carefully at the framing assumptions that support your thesis. List them out as completely as you feel able to. Ask for each: is it reasonable; how likely is it, in your expert judgment, that the assumption holds, is there an evidential basis or authority that you can rely upon; is it likely that another expert, your examiner, for example, would disagree? Now complete an impact assessment, what would happen if the assumption were invalid, specifically what would happen to your projected thesis conclusions. You can add and subtract assumptions at this stage. Are there any assumptions you can safely make that would bound your work and give your work plan greater clarity and certainty?

Undoubtedly your work will have imperfections. These may range from issues of clarity through technical problems, glitches in the mathematical treatment for example. Accept that, though you will do your best to eliminate them, such imperfections are inevitable. Perfectionism can become an end in itself. Imagine your 'viva'. It is likely that the first question will be something like: "please tell us the main contributions of your thesis". Practice answering this question, even though your thesis is incomplete. Craft your response and test it on friends, colleagues and your supervisor. Now all you have to do is make it real, it is the big picture that counts.

Lastly, take a break. Stop, go to the gym or the pub, book a holiday or just set out. Stare at the sea, do nothing, read a novel. Your thesis will be there when you get back and weirdly it will have improved significantly in your absence.