Getting started for postgraduate students

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Getting started for postgraduate students

• The Student Learning Advisory Service
• Shaun Theobald
• Friday 10.x.08

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Group activity

• Discussion
• What are the main challenges of postgraduate
  study?
• What issues are you uncertain about/need to
  discuss?

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Motivation, motivation, motivation

• PhD/ MPhil/MA MSc by research/taught MA
  MSc/other?
• Formative feedback
• not always frequently?
• depends on supervisor?
• Deferred summative feedback
• Longer time-spans
• Less reliance on others/course structure
• Emphasis on independent organisation

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Motivation, motivation, motivation

• Be prepared to keep going
• The motivational slump
• The mid-term blues
• Self-awareness/self-discipline
• Time management organisation
• Collaborative work with your supervisors
• Meticulous study skills
• Enhanced writing skills
• Rest relaxation
• Communication/working with others

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Time management

• This is essential!
• Draw up schedules
• Keep all your diary and schedule information
  together
• Remember the golden rules of time-management
  schedules priorities using gap-time
  effectively targets
• Plan your work SMART targets
• Revise and review your plans

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Time management

• SMART targets
• Specific
• Manageable
• Accurate
• Realistic
• Time-defined
• Set milestones
• Supplement with micro-milestones

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Organisation and information retrieval

• Organise your desk-top
• Organise your computer use
• Organise your notes e.g. keep dated/numbered
  files for lecture notes seminar notes notes for
  writing notes on supervision meetings etc
• Make sure that all the information and ideas you
  process can be retrieved later!

8
Postgraduate reading

• Remember you cant read everything
• Be selective
• Micro literature reviews?
• Use guidance
• Supervisors/other recommendations
• Share resources
• Read actively

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Postgraduate reading

• Active reading
• Remember to read for different purposes skim
  scan read for detail
• Raise questions in advance
• Standardise the note taking process
• Academic hygiene
• Distinction between your summaries and source
  material
• Meticulous bibliographical records
• Notes template?

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Literature reviews

• Try and establish a clear focus before you start
  a literature review
• Integrate discuss literature reviews
• Relate material to your ideas concepts
• Seek guidance
• Librarian
• Programme/supervisor
• Start with the basics

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Literature reviews

• Deal with the amount of sources you review
• Related to your purpose?
• Time-defined searches
• Appropriate structure
• Chronological?
• Thematic?
• Effective WWW sources
• Meticulous record-keeping

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Lectures/seminars/supervisory meetings

• Attend!
• Stay alert and active
• Explore different note-taking techniques
• Be organised file away notes review notes
  immediately afterwards
• Systematic/thematic filing?

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Dealing with the supervisory process

• Take charge?
• (Diplomatically!)
• Anticipate questions in advance
• Plan actions to discuss them
• Then record agreed actions
• Always have a specific agenda
• Plan meetings strategically regularly

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Postgraduate writing- ACTIVITY

• 1.Deconstructing/understanding the writing task
  (responding to the question)
• 2.Reading and research
• 3.Planning the writing
• 4.Early drafts/the drafting process
• 5.Editing
• 6.Presenting the document style
  sheet/references/ancillary information

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Postgraduate writing- ACTIVITY

• Work in pairs
• 10 MINS Chose one of these six stages of the
  writing process
• What issues would you like to clarify?
• Any tips or techniques for this aspect of the
  writing process you can share?

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Postgraduate writing

• (Obviously!)
• Longer documents
• Longer gestation
• More extensive research
• In-depth research
• Autonomous research
• Implications for the quality of writing
• Implications for managing writing

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Postgraduate writing

• Time management
• Word/day/week targets
• e.g. 1500 per day x 3
• Accuracy
• Structure
• Spelling/punctuation/grammar
• Style guides
• Plan writing

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Postgraduate writing

• Allow time for final editing
• Always leave a gap between an early draft and
  final editing
• Strategic editing
• Deal with the document layer by layer
• E.g. grammar/syntax/technical terms/paragraphs
  etc
• Edit by section/chapter?
• Or whole document?

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References

• Follow departmental conventions
• Meticulous approach
• Based on early bibliographical references
• (see Slide 9)
• Consistency
• Accuracy
• For guidance, http//www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/ai/index.
  html

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Planning extensive writing

• Get going early!
• Writing notebook?
• Shape ideas as they develop
• Record ideas instantly
• Reading notebook/journal?
• Early systematic thought?
• Prepare for the proposal stage
• Follow departmental/subject conventions

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Mathematics

• Recommended website
• www.mathcentre.ac.uk
• Maths Helpdesk
• SLAS provides a virtual maths helpdesk where you
  can raise specific maths queries by either phone
  or email. A maths specialist will respond and can
  set up a meeting, if needed.
• Contact details are as follows Email
  maths-desk_at_kent.ac.uk

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Advice and guidance/further support

• The Student Learning Advisory Service
• www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/learning
• 11s/workshops/on-line resources/resources
• Texts Dunleavy/Denscombe/Murray etc
• Videos, Library PhD viva

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Advice and guidance/further support

• The Templeman Library
• Subject Librarians
• Endnote/RefWorks/Literature reviews
• www.kent.ac.uk/student/skills
• The Royal Literary Fund
• http//www.rlf.org.uk/
• Simon Levack, Medway Campus
• learningmedway_at_kent.ac.uk

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Good luck

• With postgraduate study
• www.kent.ac.uk/uelt/learning