graduate studies - a survival guide
• tips for MScs/ PhDs
• essential writing guide
http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/martinc/msc/ (click ‘news’)
some eternal truths
• you didn’t get here by mistake
• you don’t need to be a genius
– MSc/PhD = reasonable intelligence + tenacity +
interest
• MScs work disproportionately harder
–
MScs are advanced UGs, but expectations are FAR higher
higher education effort scale!
MSc
PhD
UG
some eternal truths (cont)
• stats are tough
–
Langdridge, D. (2004). Research Methods and Data
Analysis in Psychology. London: Pearson Prentice Hill.
• you’ll probably get miserable!
–
you will get over it
–
http://www.student-counselling.ed.ac.uk/
• writing-up makes you fat!
so why put yourself through it
??!?!!????
• to enrich your life
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tips
• ask someone
–
–
head of PG studies, lecturers, post-docs, older post-grads, peers
The Advice Place: www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/advice/
• academic issues, accommodation, council tax, harassment,
health, legal, money, sexuality, sexual health, disability
–
Centre for Teaching Learning & Assessment: www.tla.ed.ac.uk
•
•
one-to-one sessions on study difficulties
workshops this term on:
–
Reading/Lectures/Your Time/Your Studies/Essays/
Long Essays and
Dissertations/Exams/Procrastination
tips (cont.)
• take initiative
–
–
–
supervisors have more work that you imagine
choose essay/thesis titles early (talk to lecturer)
for changing courses etc. act early, act quickly!
• keep a routine
–
–
stop work-time spreading over into rest-time
uni diary £5.70 (7-11 Nicolson Street)
• beware isolation!
–
take time to socialise: come to the BP!
politics
• foster good relations
– don’t forget that the person you clash with today
will be the reviewer of your paper tomorrow
– appreciate the support staff
“your success in graduate school and beyond depends
a great deal upon your ability to build and maintain
interpersonal relationships, with your adviser, the research
staff, the support staff and your fellow students.”
tips: tension with supervisors
• it happens! assess how serious it is…
• irritating but not detrimental?
–
–
take the time to explain how you feel (your supervisor
can’t read your mind.. so say it)
let off steam to your peers? (but remember the politics!)
• if detrimental
–
protocols for switching supervisor
– Code of Practice for Supervisors & Students
– departmental PG contact points: Louise Kelly;
Sergio della Sala; MSc’s: Martin Corley
– School/College level: Ronnie Cann/Chris Clarke
how not to get a PhD/MSc
• not WANTING one
• underestimating it
– be prepared to work
• overestimating it
– your thesis should be your 1st piece of work, not your best!
• supervisory problems (see above!)
• losing contact… with your supervisor/peers
– don’t get lost!
References
• Phillips, E. M. and Pugh, D.S. (1987) How
to get a Ph.D. A handbook for students and
their supervisors. OUP Milton Keynes.
and finally…
• be enthusiastic about your strengths
• find someone to complement your strengths
• don’t struggle in silence
A guide to essay writing. Or...
how not to throw away marks…
finding references
• helpful on-line resources
– web of science
– http://wos.mimas.ac.uk/
– click ‘login WoK’, then ‘ISI Web of Science’
– science direct
– http://www.sciencedirect.com/
– google scholar
– http://scholar.google.com/
APA format
• APA = American Psychological Association
– provide a guide for formatting journal articles
– you’re required to follow this for MSc/PhD
– APA style guide can be found:
–
–
in detail in
– Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (5th edition)
– Concise Rules of APA Style (2005)
in brief
– in MSc handbook
– as follows…
citing others
• must cite with surname(s) and year
– Ward and Simner (2003) show blah blah blah …
• If 3 or more authors (up to/incl 5)
1st mention: in full
– Simner, Glover and Mowat (2005) showed that...
– Simner et al. (2005) showed that... 2nd/3rd/4th etc. mention: et al.
• If 6 or more authors
– Simner et al. (2005) showed that...
all instances: et al.
referencing others
• If 1 or more authors (up to/incl 7)
mention: in full
– Simner, J., Ward, J., Lanz, M., Jansari, A., Noonan, K., Glover,
L., & Oakley, D. A. (2005). Non-Random Associations of
Graphemes to Colours in Synaesthetic and Non-synaesthetic
Populations. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 1-17.
• If 8 or more authors
6 authors et al.
– Simner, J., Mulvenna, C., Sagiv, N., Tsakanikos, E.,
Witherby, S. A., Fraser, C., Scott, K., & Ward, J. (in press).
Synaesthesia: The prevalence of atypical cross-modal
experiences. Perception.
referencing articles vs. books
• Articles
Journal title: all words start uppercase
– Simner, J., & Pickering, M. J. (2005). Planning causes and
consequences in discourse. Journal of Memory and Language, 52,
226-239.
• Books
Book title: first word only starts uppercase
– Cytowic, R. E. (1993). The man who tastes shapes. London: Abacus
books.
• Chapters within Books
Editors: initials precede surname
– Day, S. (2005). Some demographic and socio-cultural aspects of
synesthesia. In L. C. Robertson & N. Sagiv (Eds.), Synesthesia:
Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 11-33). New York:
Oxford University Press.
citing inside and outside brackets
comma before date
no double brackets (Ward & Simner (2003)) NO
– Blah blah blah (Ward & Simner, 2003).
– Ward and Simner (2003) show blah blah blah …
and outside brackets; & inside brackets
abbreviations
full stop
full stops + comma
– Simner et al. (2005) have shown that verbs
have typical agents (e.g., doctor is more typical
than waiter for the verb heal; see also McCrae
et al., 1999).
italics
full stop + comma
Also
•
•
•
•
give page numbers for direct quotations
caption and number tables above each table
caption and number figures below each figure
and much, much more
– see handbook, and guides…
style
• scientific writing
– not chatty!
•
•
•
•
•
no jokes, no puns
no amusing titles
no emotionally-laden terms (this is shocking/amazing…)
no abbreviations (e.g., a.s.o.; don’t/won’t/can’t)
absolutely never use an exclamation mark.
–Never
–Never
–Ever
structuring your essay
simple rule:
1. say what you’re going to say
2. say it
3. say what you said
introduction
1. say what you’re going to say
–
state aims of the essay
•
what you’re examining (e.g., rel clauses)
•
AND what you’re showing about it
 a critique of methodology?
 a comparison of 2 approaches?
 a review of the literature? (Boring! lose marks)
–
state structure the essay will have
body of essay
2. Say it
–
–
exactly what you said you would in the intro
follow exactly the structure described in your intro
state
Provide a coherent argument
–
–
–
make sure the examiner knows your viewpoint
not just a neutral description
Evaluate! Compare! Assess!
–
if you want a 1st - include your own ideas
content
• For every point you make, state:
– your claim
– your example
– your evidence
• Always all 3... for every
argument
content. eg.
– your claim
• centre embedded relative clauses are difficult to process
– your example
• The house the man the dog the cat scratched bit built fell down
– your evidence
– name of study
– task + materials
– results/interpretation
all of these,
every time
– PLUS! your own interpretation, if different
» your own ideas will help you get a 1st
conclusion
3. say was you said
–
–
–
•
sum up exactly what was said in the essay
don’t introduce new findings
include your own ideas!
don’t include ‘undergrad style’ vagaries
–
–
Many questions remain unanswered…
This is an area of much debate…
Rule: Don’t include anything that could fit into the
conclusion of an entirely different essay
non-native english speakers
•
marked at (approx) same standard as native speakers
–
–
•
slight dispensation for spelling errors
e.g., those overlooked by ‘spell-check’ (e.g., two vs. too)
ask a native English speaker to proof-read
–
they can comment only on your grammar, not content
(i.e., BEWARE PLAGERISM!)
resources for non-native english
speakers
•
English Language courses run throughout the year.
–
Contact: via International Student Homepage
(http://www.ed.ac.uk/internat/ Click on: ‘English
Language Courses’ )
–
e.g., “IALS (Institute of Applied Language Studies) runs
a special programme, free of charge, on behalf of the
University, for postgraduate students registered for a
degree who need help with their English” (see:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/international_stu
dents/lang_requirements.html)
Good luck