Elizabeth Payne
Abstract
The nature of doctoral education requires postgraduate students take responsibility for managing their own PhD process. This may be problematic for novice postgraduate students and others looking for guidance through all the stages of uncertainty. The purpose of this article is to liberate an understanding of the PhD process by describing how to organize it graphically, allowing students the freedom to determine and then carry out their own educational goals.
Authors Phillips and Pugh (2005) provide a concise diagram of the PhD process in their book, How to Get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors. They make clear that the diagram must be individualized before the book’s insights are made relevant to the student. Once information is individualized, the student has “the capacity to operate successfully in the postgraduate environment.”
This paper reports on an individualized timeline developed by a PhD Candidate in Landscape Architecture. Evidence is offered in support of Phillips and Pugh’s claim that an individualized timeline will assist students in their understanding of thesis form: background theory, focal theory, data theory, and contribution. It will also help organize the PhD stages: topic selection, pilot study, proposal, data collection, analysis, and final write-up. Making and remaking of the timeline brings clarity and confidence. As a communication tool, the timeline allows progress in the doctoral process to be analyzed, modified, and shared with others. It allows students to move forward with certainty.
Abstract
The nature of doctoral education requires postgraduate students take responsibility for managing their own PhD process. This may be problematic for novice postgraduate students and others looking for guidance through all the stages of uncertainty. The purpose of this article is to liberate an understanding of the PhD process by describing how to organize it graphically, allowing students the freedom to determine and then carry out their own educational goals.
Authors Phillips and Pugh (2005) provide a concise diagram of the PhD process in their book, How to Get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors. They make clear that the diagram must be individualized before the book’s insights are made relevant to the student. Once information is individualized, the student has “the capacity to operate successfully in the postgraduate environment.”
This paper reports on an individualized timeline developed by a PhD Candidate in Landscape Architecture. Evidence is offered in support of Phillips and Pugh’s claim that an individualized timeline will assist students in their understanding of thesis form: background theory, focal theory, data theory, and contribution. It will also help organize the PhD stages: topic selection, pilot study, proposal, data collection, analysis, and final write-up. Making and remaking of the timeline brings clarity and confidence. As a communication tool, the timeline allows progress in the doctoral process to be analyzed, modified, and shared with others. It allows students to move forward with certainty.
Keywords: time management, pedagogy and doctoral education
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