Posted on Crossroads: http://www.acm.org/crossroads/xrds1-2/advice1.html

 

byMarie desJardins

 

 

This paper attempts to raise some issues that are
important for graduate students to be successful and to get as
much out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish
to help their students be successful. The intent is not to
provide prescriptive advice -- no formulas for finishing a
thesis or twelve-step programs for becoming a better advisor
are given -- but to raise awareness on both sides of the
advisor-student relationship as to what the expectations are
and should be for this relationship, what a graduate student
should expect to accomplish, common problems, and where to go
if the advisor is not forthcoming.

 

 

Introduction

 

 

This article originated with a discussion I had with several
women professors about the problems women face in graduate
school, and how more women could be encouraged to go to
graduate school in computer science. Eventually, the
conversation turned to the question of what these women could
do in their interactions with women students to support and
encourage them. I volunteered that over the course of my
graduate career I had collected a variety of papers and email
discussions about how to be a good advisor, how to get through
graduate school, and issues facing women. They were eager to
get this material, and I told them I would sort through it when
I got a chance.

 

 

After mentioning this project to a number of people, both
graduate students and faculty -- all of whom expressed an
interest in anything I could give them -- I realized two
things: first, the issues that we were talking about really
were not just women's issues but were of interest to all
graduate students, and to all caring advisors. Second, in order
to disseminate the information I had collected (and was
starting to collect from others) it seemed to make more sense
to compile a bibliography, and write a paper that would
summarize the most useful advice and suggestions I had
collected.

 

 

I solicited inputs from friends and colleagues via mailing
lists and Internet bulletin boards, and collected almost an
overwhelming amount of information. Sorting through it and
attempting to distill the collective wisdom of dozens of
articles and hundreds of email messages has not been an easy
task, but I hope that the results provide a useful resource for
graduate students and advisors alike. The advice I give here is
directed towards Ph.D. students in computer science and their
advisors, since that is my background, but I believe that much
of it applies to graduate students in other areas as well.

 

 

In my experience, the two main things that make graduate
school hard are the unstructured nature of the process, and the
lack of information about what you should spend your time on. I
hope that this article will provide information for both
graduate students and advisors that will help make the process
less painful. I want to emphasize that graduate school is not
easy, and these suggestions will not always be easy or even
possible to follow (and they may not even be the ideal goal for
you, personally, to strive for). You shouldn't let that
discourage you: start small, think big, and keep yourself
focused on your ultimate goal, which shouldn't just be to
get through graduate school, but to enjoy yourself, make
progress towards being able to do what you want to do with your
life, and learn something in the process.

 

 

I owe a debt of gratitude to David Chapman, whose paper [2] was an invaluable reference
for me not only during the writing of this article, but during
graduate school as well.

 

 

The goals of this article are to raise awareness of the need
for a healthy and interactive graduate student-advisor
relationship, to provide pointers and guidance for both
advisors and graduate students in navigating the maze of a
doctoral degree, and to give references and resources for those
who hope to learn more.

 

 

Before You Start

 

 

Many headaches can be avoided by doing some advance
planning. First, why go to graduate school at all? The usual
reasons given are that a Ph.D. is required or preferred for
some jobs, especially research and academic positions; that it
gives you a chance to learn a great deal about a specific area;
and that it provides an opportunity to develop ideas and
perform original research. Wanting to delay your job hunt is
probably not a good enough reason. Over the past decade,
research and academic positions have become more difficult to
find, and many recent Ph.D.s end up ``killing time'' in
a series of postdoctoral positions, or taking non-research
jobs. Having a Ph.D. is not a guarantee of finding a better job
in and of itself! In addition, graduate school is a lot of work
and requires strong motivation and focus. You have to really
want to be there to make it through.

 

 

It helps to have a good idea of what area you want to
specialize in, and preferably a couple of particular research
projects you might like to work on, although many graduate
students change their minds about research projects and even
specialization field after they start school. Look for books
and current journals and conference proceedings in your area,
and read through them to get an idea of who's doing what
where. (You'll be doing a lot of reading once you
start graduate school, so you might as well get used to it.)
This is where advisors first enter the scene: faculty members
ought to be willing to talk to undergraduates and help them
find out more about research areas and graduate schools. Try to
get involved in research: ask professors and TAs (teaching
assistants) whether they need someone to work on an ongoing
project, or start an independent research project, with
guidance from a faculty member.

 

 

Contact faculty members and graduate students at the schools
you're interested in. Tell them about your background and
interests and ask them what research projects they're
working on. A good way to do this is via electronic mail if
possible -- email is much easier and quicker to respond to than
a paper letter. A good advisor will be willing to answer these
kinds of inquiries (although if they're busy they may give
you only a brief answer or point you towards a graduate student
-- you'll have to use your intuition to decide whether
they're brushing you off or just busy). If you can't
get any answer at all, consider that that individual might not
end up being a very accessible advisor. Asking these questions
will help you narrow down your choices and may increase your
chances of admission if the professors you contact become
interested in working with you.

 

 

Your best bet is to find a school where there are at least
two faculty members you'd be interested in working with.
That way, if one doesn't work out, or is too busy to take
on a new student, you have a fallback position. Breadth of the
graduate program (i.e., high-quality faculty in a broad range
of subareas) is also a good thing to look for in a school,
especially if you're not entirely certain what you want to
specialize in.

 

 

It's also important to most people to feel comfortable
with the community of graduate students. It pays to talk to
some of the graduate students (both junior and senior) to find
out how they like it, which advisors are good, and what kinds
of support (financial and psychological) are available. Because
there are so many students applying to each school, even highly
qualified applicants are often rejected. You should apply to a
range of programs -- and don't take it personally if you do
get rejected by some of them.

 

 

You can increase your chances of getting into graduate
school by developing good relationships with your professors
and work managers (this is very important for getting good
recommendations), working on a research project, having a clear
sense of what you want to work on (although it's always all
right to change your mind later), having a broad background in
your field and in related fields (for example, psychology
classes are useful for AI students), getting good grades
(especially in upper division classes in your area of
interest), and getting a high score on the GRE if required.
Also, it's a good idea to start thinking early about
sources of funding: apply for an NSF fellowship, for
example.

 

 

Doing Research

 

 

For many new graduate students, graduate school is unlike
anything else they've done. Sometimes it's hard to know
exactly what it is you're supposed to be learning. Yes, you
have to complete a dissertation, but how do you start? What
should you spend your time doing?

 

 

Graduate school is a very unstructured environment in most
cases. Graduate students typically take nine hours or less of
coursework per semester, especially after the second year. For
many, the third year -- after coursework is largely finished
and preliminary exams have been completed -- is a very
difficult and stressful period. This is when you're
supposed to find a thesis topic, if you're not one of the
lucky few who has already found one. Once you do find a topic,
you can expect two or more years until completion, with very
few landmarks or milestones in sight.

 

 

The following sections talk about the day-to-day process of
doing research, criticism and feedback, working on the thesis,
and financial support for research.

 

 

The Daily Grind

 

 

Being a good researcher involves more than
``merely'' coming up with brilliant ideas and
implementing them. Most researchers spend the majority of their
time reading papers, discussing ideas with colleagues, writing
and revising papers, staring blankly into space -- and, of
course, having brilliant ideas and implementing them.

 

 

Part II of this article discusses the process and importance
of becoming part of a larger research community, which is a
critical aspect of being a successful researcher. This section
contains ideas on keeping track of where you're going, and
where you've been, with your research, staying motivated,
and how to spend your time wisely.

 

 

Keeping a journal of your research activities and ideas is
very useful. Write down speculations, interesting problems,
possible solutions, random ideas, references to look up, notes
on papers you've read, outlines of papers to write, and
interesting quotes. Read back through it periodically.
You'll notice that the bits of random thoughts start to
come together and form a pattern, often turning into a research
project or even a thesis topic. I was surprised, looking back
through my journal as I was finishing up my thesis, how early
and often similar ideas had cropped up in my thinking, and how
they gradually evolved into a dissertation.

 

 

You'll have to read a lot of technical papers to become
familiar with any field, and to stay current once you've
caught up. You may find yourself spending over half of your
time reading, especially at the beginning. This is normal.
It's also normal to be overwhelmed by the amount of reading
you think you ``should'' do. Try to remember that
it's impossible to read everything that might be relevant:
instead, read selectively. When you first start reading up on a
new field, ask your advisor or a fellow student what the most
useful journals and conference proceedings are in your field,
and ask for a list of seminal or ``classic'' papers
that you should definitely read. For AI researchers, a useful
(if slightly outdated) starting point is Agre's [1] summary of basic AI
references. Similar documents may exist for other research
areas -- ask around, and cruise the information superhighway.
Start with these papers and the last few years of journals and
proceedings.

 

 

Before bothering to read any paper, make sure
it's worth it. Scan the title, then the abstract, then --
if you haven't completely lost interest already -- glance
at the introduction and conclusions. (Of course, if your
advisor tells you that this is an important paper, skip this
preliminary step and jump right in!) Before you try to get all
of the nitty-gritty details of the paper, skim the whole thing,
and try to get a feel for the most important points. If it
still seems worthwhile and relevant, go back and read the whole
thing. Many people find it useful to take notes while they
read. Even if you don't go back later and reread them, it
helps to focus your attention and forces you to summarize as
you read. And if you do need to refresh your memory later,
rereading your notes is much easier and faster than reading the
whole paper.

 

 

A few other points to keep in mind as you read and evaluate
papers:

 

 

• 
  

  Make sure the ideas described really worked (as opposed
  to just being theoretically valid, or tested on a few toy
  examples).

  
  

 

 

•  

   

  Try to get past buzzwords: they may sound good, but not
  mean much. Is there substance and an interesting idea
  underneath the jargon?

  
  

 

 

• 
  

  To really understand a paper, you have to understand the
  motivations for the problem posed, the choices made in
  finding a solution, the assumptions behind the solution,
  whether the assumptions are realistic and whether they can
  be removed without invalidating the approach, future
  directions for research, what was actually accomplished or
  implemented, the validity (or lack thereof) of the
  theoretical justifications or empirical demonstrations, and
  the potential for extending and scaling the algorithm
  up.

  
  

 

 

Keep the papers you read filed away so you can find them
again later, and set up an online bibliography (BibTeX is a
popular format, but anything consistent will do). I find it
useful to add extra fields for keywords, the location of the
paper (if you borrowed the reference from the library or a
friend), and a short summary of particularly interesting
papers. This bibliography will be useful for later reference,
for writing your dissertation, and for sharing with other
graduate students (and eventually, perhaps, advisees).

 

 

Staying Motivated

 

 

At times, particularly in the ``middle years,'' it
can be very hard to maintain a positive attitude and stay
motivated. Many graduate students suffer from insecurity,
anxiety, and even boredom. First of all, realize that these are
normal feelings. Try to find a sympathetic ear -- another
graduate student, your advisor, or a friend outside of school.
Next, try to identify why you're having trouble and
identify concrete steps that you can take to improve the
situation. To stay focused and motivated, it often helps to
have organized activities to force you to manage your time and
to do something every day. Setting up regular meetings with
your advisor, attending seminars, or even extracurricular
activities such as sports or music can help you to maintain a
regular schedule.

 

 

Chapman [2] enumerates a
number of ``immobilizing shoulds'' that can make you
feel so guilty and unworthy that you stop making progress.
Telling yourself that you should have a great topic,
that you should finish in n

years, that you should work 4, or 8, or 12 hours a day
isn't helpful for most people. Be realistic about what you
can accomplish, and try to concentrate on giving yourself
positive feedback for tasks you do complete, instead of
negative feedback for those you don't.

 

 

Setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals is a good idea, and
works even better if you use a ``buddy system'' where
you and another student meet at regular intervals to review
your progress. Try to find people to work with: doing research
is much easier if you have someone to bounce ideas off of and
to give you feedback.

 

 

Breaking down any project into smaller pieces is always a
good tactic when things seem unmanageable. At the highest
level, doing a master's project before diving into a Ph.D.
dissertation is generally a good idea (and is mandatory at some
schools). A master's gives you a chance to learn more about
an area, do a smaller research project, and establish working
relationships with your advisor and fellow students.

 

 

The divide-and-conquer strategy works on a day-to-day level
as well. Instead of writing an entire thesis, focus on the goal
of writing a chapter, section, or outline. Instead of
implementing a large system, break off pieces and implement one
module at a time. Identify tasks that you can do in an hour or
less; then you can come up with a realistic daily schedule. If
you have doubts, don't let them stop you from accomplishing
something -- take it one day at a time. Remember, every task
you complete gets you closer to finishing. Even if you
don't make any obvious progress, you'll have learned
something, although it may be ``don't waste your time on
this task again!''

 

 

Getting to the Thesis

 

 

The hardest part of getting a Ph.D. is, of course, writing
the dissertation. The process of finding a thesis topic, doing
the research, and writing the thesis is different from anything
most students have done before. If you have a good advisor and
support network, you'll be able to get advice and help in
setting directions and goals. If not, you may need to be more
independent. If this is the case, don't just isolate
yourself from the world: try to go out and find the resources
and support you need from professors, other graduate students,
mailing lists, friends, family, and publications like this
one.

 

 

Finding an Advisor

 

 

Finding the right advisor can help you immeasurably in
successfully completing a thesis. You should ideally have
selected the schools you applied to by identifying faculty
members you'd like to work with. If not, start looking
around as early as possible. Of course, the ideal advisor will
be in the area you're interested in working in, will
actively be doing high-quality reseach and be involved in and
respected by the research community, and (not least) will be
someone you can get along with.

 

 

Read research summaries by faculty members (which are
usually published by the department), go to talks they give,
and attend or audit courses given by professors you might be
interested in working with. Talk to other graduate students and
recent graduates. Ask them how their relationships with their
advisors are/were, how quickly the advisor's students
graduate, and how successful (well recognized, high-quality)
their research is. What kinds of relationships do they have --
frequent interactions, collaborative work, encouraging
independence? handing out topics or helping students to create
individual research areas, or a more hands-off style?

 

 

Other things to find out about potential advisors:

 

 

• 
  

  What is the average time their Ph.D. students take to
  finish their degrees? What is the dropout rate for their
  students?

  
  

 

 

• 
  

  How long have they been on the faculty? There are
  advantages and disadvantages to being one of the first
  members of a new research group. On the positive side, you
  often have more freedom to choose your research topic and
  to influence the direction of the group's research. On
  the negative side, you may be more isolated (since there
  won't be older graduate students in the group), your
  advisor won't have as much experience, and if they
  don't get tenure you may be scrambling for a new
  advisor several years into your thesis.

  
  

 

 

A good advisor will serve as a mentor as well as a source of
technical assistance. A mentor should provide, or help you to
find, the resources you need (financial, equipment, and
psychological support); introduce you and promote your work to
important people in your field; encourage your own interests,
rather than promoting their own; be available to give you
advice on the direction of your thesis and your career; and
help you to find a job when you finish. They should help you to
set and achieve long-term and short-term goals.

 

 

Once you identify one or more potential advisors, get to
know them. Introduce yourself and describe the area you're
interested in. Attend their research group meetings if they
hold them regularly. Give them a copy of a research proposal if
you have a good idea of what you want to work on, and ask for
comments. Ask whether they have any TA or RA (research
assistant) positions available, or if there are any ongoing
research projects that you could get involved with. Read their
published papers, and the work of their students. Drop by
during office hours and ask questions or make comments. Offer
to read drafts of papers -- and do more than just
proofread.

 

 

The type of relationship that each student needs with an
advisor will be different. Some students prefer to be given
more direction, to have frequent contact, and to be ``checked
up on.'' Others are more independent. Some may need
contact but be self-conscious about asking for it. Other things
that vary include what kinds of feedback is preferred (lots of
``random'' ideas vs. very directed feedback
(pointers)), working individually vs. in groups, working on an
established research project vs. a new, independent effort;
working in the same area as your advisor or doing an
``outside'' thesis.

 

 

You may find that your thesis advisor doesn't always
give you all of the mentoring that you need. Multiple mentors
are common and useful; they may include other faculty members
in your department or elsewhere, senior graduate students, or
other colleagues. You may want to seriously consider changing
thesis advisors if your advisor is inaccessible or
disinterested, gives you only negative feedback, doesn't
have the technical background to advise you on your thesis, or
harasses you.

 

 

The most important thing is to ask for (i.e., demand
politely) what you need.

 

 

Finding a Thesis Topic

 

 

Doing a master's project is often a good idea (and is
required by some schools). Although choosing an appropriately
scaled-down topic may be difficult, having the ideal topic is
also less important, since you will have the chance to move on
after only a year or so. If you have a good idea of what you
want to do your Ph.D. dissertation on, choosing a master's
project that will lead into the dissertation is wise: you will
get a head start on the Ph.D., or may decide that you're
not interested in pursuing the topic after all (saving yourself
a lot of work and grief farther down the road).

 

 

A good source of ideas for master's projects (and
sometimes for dissertation topics) is the future work section
of papers you're interested in. Try developing and
implementing an extension to an existing system or
technique.

 

 

Generally speaking, a good Ph.D. thesis topic is interesting
to you, to your advisor, and to the research community. As with
many aspects of graduate school, the balance you find will
depend at least in part on the relationship you have with your
advisor. Some professors have well defined long-term research
programs and expect their students to contribute directly to
this program. Others have much looser, but still related
ongoing projects. Still others will take on anyone with an
interesting idea, and may have a broad range of interesting
ideas to offer their students. Be wary of the advisor who seems
willing to let you pursue any research direction at all. You
probably won't get the technical support you need, and they
may lose interest in you when the next graduate student with a
neat idea comes along.

 

 

If you pick a topic that you're not truly interested in
simply because it's your advisor's pet area, it will be
difficult to stay focused and motivated -- and you may be left
hanging if your advisor moves on to a different research area
before you finish. The same is true for choosing a topic
because of its marketability: if you're not personally
excited about the topic, you'll have a harder time
finishing and a harder time convincing other people that your
research is interesting. Besides, markets change more quickly
than most people finish dissertations.

 

 

In order to do original research, you must be aware of
ongoing research in your field. Most students spend up to a
year reading and studying current research to identify
important open problems. However, you'll never be able to
read everything that might be relevant -- and new work is
always being published.

 

 

Try to become aware and stay aware of directly related
research -- but if you see new work that seems to be doing
exactly what you're working on, don't panic. It's
common for graduate students to see a related piece of work and
think that their topic is ruined. If this happens to you,
reread the paper several times to get a good understanding of
what they've really been accomplished. Show the paper to
your advisor or someone else who's familiar with your topic
and whose opinions you respect. Introduce yourself to the
author at a conference or by email, and tell them about your
work. By starting a dialogue, you will usually find that their
work isn't quite the same, and that there are still
directions open to you. You may even end up collaborating with
them. Good researchers welcome the opportunity to interact and
collaborate with someone who's interested in the same
problems they are.

 

 

To finish quickly, it's usually best to pick a narrow,
well defined topic. The downside of this approach is that it
may not be as exciting to you or to the research community. If
you're more of a risk-taker, choose a topic that branches
out in a new direction. The danger here is that it can be
difficult to carefully define the problem, and to evaluate the
solution you develop. If you have a topic like this, it helps a
lot to have an advisor or mentor who is good at helping you to
focus and who can help you maintain a reasonably rigorous
approach to the problem.

 

 

In the extreme case, if your topic is so out of the ordinary
that it's unrelated to anything else, you may have
difficulty convincing people it's worthwhile. Truly
innovative research is, of course, exciting and often pays back
in recognition from the research community -- or you could just
be out in left field. If you have a far-out topic, be sure that
people are actually interested in it, or