Category: PhD

Instructions to my PhD students:Please note that The taxonomy master and taxonomy detail are only a “structured” way of organizing the information and identifying “codes” and discovering “themes and categories”. It is a tool to help you identify the literature support that leads to your PS. You need to transform this structured information into distilled…

As I look back I am trying to connect the dots that I have been trying to follow the footsteps of Prof Dr JC Browne at UT Austin, TX, in multidisciplinary research. He was, my PhD Supervisor during 1990-95 whose pic is here: JC Browne’s students were from electrical and computer engineering department, computer science…

I have often seen explanation of “originality” in research through abstract terms and ideas.  Here I will try to explain the concept of originality in PhD research through the concrete example of Moodle which is an LMS. This example is chosen because PhD students today are very likely to have come across an LMS and…

How HEC and PEC kill creativity! They kill creativity by targeting the roots from where creativity and innovation originate. Creativity, innovation, new paradigms, new frameworks and and new ideas originate from out-of-the-box thinking, lateral thinking, inter-disciplinary aha experiences. However, HEC/PEC’s notion of quality works in the reverse direction; they force faculty, curriculum as well as…

Paper Writing and Research Strategies  [Copied from the net in 2012. Source unknown] Introduction Here is a brief reminder of how to write papers and what kinds of papers to write. Please also see the other materials on our web site on paper structure. What matters most about a paper is what the reader gets…

Do you know that Allama Iqbal’s PhD thesis would never have passed HEC’s quality criteria of minimum duration of three years for a PhD! Iqbal arrived in Germany between 17 to 20 July 1907. Munich University issued call for defense on 21st July. Defense was held on 10th November 1907. A group photo, of young…

Abstract is the first thing in a dissertation that is read, and is often the last. A dissertation is at most read by 1.6 people from end to end, including the author [1]. PhD dissertation is written to enable a researcher to find all information necessary for replicating the results and understand the thesis. Hence,…

Conference Marketing and Promotion: Where is the “conference” in a conference? Marketing and branding of a conference depends upon its value proposition for its participants. Currently value proposition of most conferences is often every thing except the “confer” part of the conference, which means exchange of ideas and discussions. Typical value propositions of existing conferences…

The rigor with which your hypothesis are tested and the methodology that is pursued differentiates a PhD from an MS/MPhil [1]. A PhD is held to higher standards of meticulousness and scholarship which becomes evident from the rigor of the analysis of conditions, constraints, variables that influence the experiment, and may have an impact observations,…

Quality of literature review is what majorly differentiates a PhD Thesis from an MS Thesis. The qualitative difference is in the digestion and synthesis of the existing work into a framework on which your research contribution and sequence can stand. This synthesis of existing work in the topic area should itself be worthy of a…

I am coming across research proposals and dissertations where there is a section heading called “Problem Statement” under which you find several paragraphs containing everything except the “Problem Statement”! The problem statement seems to be embedded somewhere in these several paragraphs but never crisply, precisely stated in a single sentence. Statement is ONE sentence. The…

My supervisor JC Browne at the University of Texas at Austin during 1990-1993 made me write the problem statement and the thesis statement for every research paper that I would read for my literature survey. Since early 2000s, when I started supervising my research students, I have also found the “Thesis Statement” extremely useful in…

Based on my experience of research supervision since 2002, I can safely say that if you do not know how to read a technical research paper and from it identify the problem statement and thesis statement and write them in a convincing readable manner then it would be difficult for you to complete your MS/PhD…

Conclusion vs Assumption in Research Writing- Flipping the Thread of Argument in your PhD Thesis Research especially PhD research is often not a predictable process. Starting with some assumptions we start moving in a particular direction, however, the direction may change a number of times during our journey. Initially, we may have started in a…

What is the Difference between MS/MPhil Research and PhD Research An MPhil/MS research differs qualitatively in two aspects with a PhD Research: (i) Quality of literature survey, and (ii) rigor of research methodology [1]. 1. Digestion and Synthesis of Related Research or Literature Survey.  PhD literature survey requires a synthesis of the related literature in…

The mood and psychology of thesis research students directly corresponds to their progress status. If you are making continuous progress you would be positive, if you are not making progress or are missing the advising sessions then you would be pessimistic. Your pessimism and your disappointment and disillusionment will continue to increase with the time…

Am I Ready to Embark on my Thesis/Dissertation Research? Self-Checklist. This checklist will help evaluate your status of preparation for embarking on your thesis research. If you have not carefully gone through this list, be prepared for depression and discouragement during your research: I know the difference between a thesis and a project.  A project…

To appreciate the following you must have read my post “What does it Mean to be a PhD: Myths of specialization and departmental scope of expertise“. How to Select the Area of My Research? Don’t spend too much time mulling over which area of research to concentrate on. If you feel that you have entered…

Why energetic youth should pursue PhD? I think PhD is necessary for our youth, especially those who (1) have the opportunity and (2) have the academic background, for several reasons: I think it is ingratitude (na-shukri) of our youth who have the intellect and the opportunity to go for a PhD but do not. It is na-shukri…

After debunking the myth of  what does it mean to be a PhD and PhD myths related to specialization and departmental scope of expertise, this post debunks two of the myths about the difficulty of PhD. These two myths are responsible for discouraging many to pursue a PhD: Myth 1: PhD is hard because doing…

Following are the myths about the PhD degree that have created an aura of difficulty around the PhD degree that discourages many from undertaking the plunge. Myth: A PhD in your subject of specialization makes you the expert of the entire area i.e. department to which that subject specialization belongs.  Myth: PhDs are department specific…