Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
1. Introduction 1
What is a PhD? 2
A brief history of the PhD 3
A PhD route map (and guide to this book) 4
2. Embarking on a PhD 7
Wanting to do a PhD 8
. Why another degree? 9
Possible reasons for doing a PhD 12
How long will it take? 13
The part-time option 14
Albert Einstein 15
What topic? 15
Some interesting PhD topics 16
The Grand Academy of Lagado 16
Funding 17
Where to do it? 19
Who to do it with? 19
Applying to do a PhD 22
Dragons' Den 24
Ten bits of advice before you start 25
3. You and Your Supervisor 26
Your relationship with your supervisor 27
How to address your supervisor 29
Expectations: you and your supervisor 29
Supervisors: the good, the bad and the ugly 30
Relating to your supervisor's research 31
Ten questions to ask a prospective supervisor 32
Supervisors: when things go wrong... 33
Loss of a supervisor 34
Disputes 35
Intellectual property issues 36
Cecilia Payne 38
4. Finding Your Feet
(and a Desk to Put Them Under) 40
Your place in the department 4l
The academic food chain 43
Your contribution 43
Your space 44
Office facilities 46
Health and safety 48
A fresh start 48
5. Doing the Research 49
Originality and what it means 50 Finding that someone else has 'done your thesis' 51
Searching the literature 51
Information overload 54
PhD as jigsaw 55 Methodology: research as an iterative process 56
Fieldwork and lab work 57
Marie Curie 58
Time management 59
The upgrade report 61
6. Life as a PhD Student 63
Long haul irritations 64
When you're down 65
PhD joys: being paid to do a hobby? 66
PhD progress 67
Meeting people 67
Surviving relationships 68
When will you finish? 69
Diminishing marginal overruns 72
Working while you study (or, in search of cash and kudos) 72
7. Academia 74
Academic research . 75
Conferences 76
Book reviews 77
Lab demonstrations 77
Lecturing and tutoring 78
Being a supervisor 78
Marking 78
Invigilation 79
Research employment 79
Ludwig Wittgenstein 80
8. Thesis Construction 83
The big one 84
What the thesis is 84
Narrative structure 85
Thesis components 86
Examples of PhD titles 87
Bibliographic by-ways 90 Language and writing style 92 Writing in English as a foreign language 92 Holding a whole thesis in your head 93
Writing processes 94
Frankenstein's thesis 96
Unwriting 96
The obese thesis 97
Dr Seuss 97
B. Survival 99
Climbing at altitude 100 PhD completion and attrition 101
Mission to Mars 102 Plotting your course in PhD-space 105
Working and writing up 106
Unravelling purposes 108
Unfinished business 108
Magnum opus 109
The Devil's bargain 111
Dr Johnson 113
10. The End Came 114
Entering the end game 115
Knowing the rules 115
Playing the game . 117
Preparing for submission: final content check 118
Formatting your thesis 118
Keep a back-up 120
Acknowledgements 120
Final printing 121
Now you see it! 123
...... and then three come along 123
The person whose dinner guest spilled wine over the final printed version of the thesis 124
Finishing 124
11. The Examination 126
Outcomes of the viva voce 127
Choosing your examiners 127
About the examiner 129
How the examiner may see it 130
Averting corrections 131
Preparing for the exam 135
Defending your thesis 137
Enjoying the viva (it's possible) 139
The day of the viva 139
Heisenberg's viva 140
12. The Afterlife 142
Making corrections after the viva 143
Graduation 144
Isaac Asimov 144
Building on your doctoral research 145
Turning your thesis into a book 147
Top tips on doing a PhD 148
Further Reading 150
Index 151