How to Start a PhD
I just drove up to Manchester to take my eldest son to University. We settled him into his shared house, stocked the fridge and left him to tack up his Chelsea posters and sort out the Internet. Tonight is the eve of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, which, though it shifts about with the lunar calendar, is always associated for me with a strong 'back-to-school' feeling. Soon lectures will start and the students will arrive on campus. Among them, new doctoral students.
Regular readers may recall that some time ago I wrote 'How to Finish a PhD'. An important premise of the article was that actually finishing a PhD was much the most difficult part of the process. I still hold to that opinion but starting a PhD deserves some attention too.
So here we go: my list of ten things to do to start a PhD.
Talk to your supervisor and get them to give an account what they believe to be your thesis 'challenge' (aka problem or hypothesis). Repeat it back to them in your own words. Continue this process until you arrive at an agreed formulation that they accept and you understand. Test out your ability to articulate it on as many people as you can. Put it on a research web page.
Find some of your supervisor's former students. Ask them about how to get the best value from your supervisor. Get the low down on likes and dislikes. Get any hints on how to 'manage' your supervisor.
Ask your supervisor for the best thesis that they have supervised. Read it and discuss with your supervisor why it is good.
Make friends with the other students in the lab or office. Find out what their skills and backgrounds are. In a good student office there is a trade: good mathematicians, talented programmers, skilled writers, inspired experimenters, effective presenters all swap skills and help each other. Work out what you can bring to the mix.
Go to any, and every, seminar you can. In your area or not. Offer to be a teaching assistant, choose to support a subject that you are not already expert in.
Ask your supervisor and other key academics in your area to identify the twenty or so 'classic' papers in your area. Read them before you start in on your specialist topic. You may be surprised that the papers are different, more nuanced, and contain more than the headline result for which they are known.
Look through the recent journals issues and conference proceedings in your area. Do not necessarily read them but rather get a sense of the trends. What is being published, what seems to be missing? Your supervisor is probably involved in reviewing for key journals or conferences, offer to shadow this work.
Set up a system for recording references (Mendeley is very popular) and keeping notes on what you have read. A little bit of investment now will pay dividends later. Be absolutely scrupulous about ensuring that you can trace back your reading. After a couple of years it may be difficult to recall where an idea came from. Also keep a hardback 'desk book' for scribbling down ideas. If you do not do so already, start a diary and regularly track how you are spending your time.
If you spend all your time reading you will rapidly lose focus. There is a limit to natural capacity to absorb this material. Find a practical task that will support your research and develop your skills. Offering to help your supervisor on some practical aspect of an ongoing research project may be a good way to make a start.
Read a couple of the 'how to do a PhD books'. Do not wait until you are feeling lost or stuck. My students rate 'The Unwritten Rules of Ph.D. Research' but there are plenty of other choices. Follow #phdchat on twitter. Do not let any advice or advisor intimidate you, have fun.