Tips and Tricks to stay focused on your PhD studies
Mar 15, 2022

PhD researchers

While retaining physical and emotional health, completing a Ph.D. programme may be exceptionally challenging. Most Ph.D. researchers drop out before completing their degree, resulting in a greater attrition rate. Academic failures, a change in professional route, or loss of interest are all common causes for students dropping out as it's challenging to maintain motivation for a distant goal.
 
A Ph.D. includes a lot of diversity, which might be a problem; students can participate in various additional academic activities, ranging from teaching and publication to presentations, dissertation competitions, event planning and more. While all these are excellent growth opportunities, they may divert attention from the primary goal: to complete your thesis. Furthermore, staying focused without shifting your focus with the numerous tasks and errands cropping up might be tough no matter how well organized a person is. But worry not, we have a few tips and tricks we believe will help cope through Ph.D. studies:
 

1. Read voraciously

While a Ph.D. urges students to focus on a single topic, you may also provide value by creating links across diverse topics or areas. Papers that produce such links are informative. Ph.D. researchers must nurture a varied range of interests to have a diverse repertory to draw inspiration from. Read articles from various fields, attend summer schools in different parts of the country, network with people outside your field, and concentrate on the most critical issues. Reading allows students to:
  • Survey what already exists
  • Learn new methods
  • Determine the current thinking
  • Find gaps

2. Write a blog

To complete your Ph.D., you will need to prepare a thesis, which may be a complex procedure. Blogging offers many benefits, but the most important one is that it helps students practice writing and learn to like it. Blogging serves as a good warm-up for the thesis marathon; please look at our article on "Blogging During Ph.D.: Why Should You Consider It?" In reality, clear writing is essential for getting your work approved and having a substantial effect. Writing blogs allows one to explore and discover own voice instead of the hyper-compact structure of research articles. A blog may also be a valuable tool for showcasing and sharing your work. A great blog post regarding research reiterates and enhances its significant results.
 

3. Keep your attention solely on the next step or obstacle as you work

It's challenging to stay calm throughout the dissertation process. The mound of checklists and things to accomplish might quickly immobilize Ph.D. researchers. Set a schedule and a timetable, and concentrate on the tasks at hand.

 

4. Collaborate

The Ph.D. is sometimes portrayed as a solo pursuit of knowledge. While you must exhibit considerable original work to graduate, this does not imply that you must be a perfectionist or all on your own.

 

5. Immerse yourself in writing and learn how to create a research proposal

Some may argue that this aspect is more crucial once you have completed your Ph.D., but it's essential not to get too caught up in it. It's not the same as writing a dissertation or a journal article to learn how to create a research proposal request. Nevertheless, all sorts of research proposals can provide students with an opportunity to support their research while pursuing their Ph.D. Several other government awarding agencies, organizations, and private foundations offer funding options to help Ph.D. researchers pay for their research, mainly if the study is relevant to the agency's or foundation's goal.

During your Ph.D., students might be tempted to do things that may seem like an advantage in the short term but could harm Ph.D. researchers in the long run. Avoid shortcuts, as it will simply taint your credibility, thoroughness, and accountability and follow the simple tip and tricks mentioned above.

Our objective is to build shared ideas, principles, assessment criteria, standards, and procedures to assess and improve the quality of doctorate education by sharing experiences and cooperating in a worldwide network. For further information, go over to the Edamba website.

EDAMBA aims to achieve its mission through three pillars of activity:
1. The Annual Meeting
2. The Summer Research Academy
3. The EDAMBA-EIASM Consortium of Doctoral Supervision


EDAMBA engages in global collaboration across networks
1. European Code of Practice
2. EQUAL
3. AACSB

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