PhD in a fun area, finding a (good) supervisor

I get emails from people asking me to supervise their PhD's (and give them a scholarship and if possible residency etc.... ;-)
Here is my super short answer

Dear D
if you want to have a better chance of being supervised for a PHD here are some suggestions:

1) read the papers which interest you and get a very good understanding of your area. 

- do some more research, 

- look at the research in the last 3 years. 

- what are the key new things ? 

2) Write a summary of the current state of research, what is being done, 

- what the current issues and challenges are. 

- reference them properly (find out what that means if you don't know). 

3) Think about what you would like to research and HOW. 

4) read  the links below

http://haikoteaching.blogspot.hk/2012/10/re-smart-way-to-get-scholarships-case.html

and 

http://haikoteaching.blogspot.hk/2009/01/doing-phd-and-getting-paid-for-it-how.html

5) contact the academics who are doing the work you want to do, in the area you want to work in.
Send them the summary your wrote in 2) above.
Ask intelligent questions about THEIR research
If and only iff they reply: outline your area of interest in 3) above.

Take it from there.

This should give you a better chance than just asking "please supervise me, here is my CV, I will work hard "

good luck 

Heiko

Applying for anything, grants, Scholarships....

I love the introduction to this guideline for grants:
it applies to scholarships, grants....anything like that.
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/grants/apply/projects/2015/2016_project_grants_grantspersonship.pdf
or here.

Re: smart way to get scholarships case study:

Ok here is secret #1: on getting PhD scholarships
 
The approach was clear: search and find an academic who is interested in what she was interested in, and then talk to that academic, email, and eventually once things progressed enough, fly over and meet...in person..... yes in person. In this age of instant communications this is can be a good way....


 

Please note:  Do NOT use this as a clever TRICK, this is only really going to work if you are genuinely interested in the topic. 

If you are really interested: Read papers on your topic, read papers the academic you are talking to wrote. 
Know what is going on and what is what. 
Academics are usually great at spotting bullshit (they are masters of it, I'm a master of BS myself) and we quickly see what is going on. 

Real skill and real interest will shine through in the end ! 

Try this approach: start with a  full PHD proposal, then keep talking to the academic. In the example case study: Eventually G got funding from the academic's grant, a school level scholarship, which can be given to whomever the school deems most suitable. 



Talk to academics who are doing what you WANT to do. 
That means YOU figure out YOUR interest and and be very specific....
Most academics (including me) are never ever going to go for a 'I want a scholarship and I'll study whatever you want me to" approach.
I bin those emails. Takes me 1 second to hit delete button. 
Well, Ok, perhaps 3 seconds.  

But if a student comes to me with: "I want to research the way true random quantum noise can be used in a micrporocessors can to detect subtle energy using the interference patterns of standing waves and deviations from the 3 sigma average...etc..." then I'll go "By Jove !  This girl/guy knows what s/he wants, ... let me talk to her/him..."
and if she reads papers I suggest, and does her homework and really konws what she is after I'll listen and take if further and if it works out I'll look for money to fund her study. 


In fact: most academics use this approach all the time ALREADY : Academics  keep an eye out for the brilliant Under Grad students who they think would be good at a PhD and ask them before they graduate, '...have you thought of doing a PhD in.... ?"

NB: Most academics have access to "some" money, or their school has and if they can persuade the student is a capable, a good risk, etc.... something might be possible...

This blog is based on a real event.

in your case: what is it YOU are interested in ? in Law, ? or in Legal history or anything. 

You could go to http://scholar.google.com/ and look for papers and topics that interest you. Then go from there..... - good luck :-) 


Secret #2:

 there  is another secret they don't tell you:
once you have graduated, you can do your PhD in just about anything.
you are NOT restricted to law, you can go into history, into social science, into linguistics, into languages, into entrepreneurship, into art,... (ok you can't do Engineering and sciences or medical stuff, but anything humanities related is fine)

so please : figure out what you really really want to study, and go for that, research it, and write an outline of what you want to
then send it to the academic, ask him:

Dear Sir, I want to study
the cultural interpretations that affect international law. In particular how this can lead to legal complexities as was seen in the Case of ABC VS XYZ in 2003.

I have read the theory of Justin Weber who argues that ....
and also the counter arguments of Michael Smith who takes a more practical approach and argues blahb...blahh...blahh..... .

However my own thinking is that this issue is best addressed by looking at the historical roots of the legal framework. In the case of Vietnam much of that framework is actually French/European modified by Asian values.

etc...
blah
blah....
blah.....

your's sincerely

TTTT Schweigen. 


Secret #2b:
this is a minor secret: whatever you study esp if it is unusual you have more freedom and more room to move if you do it in a general discipline.
Example: Women's role under Mao Tze Tung
you can do it under Sociology, but because that is a smaller discipline they have their own fixed way of approaching this topic,
Much better to do this kind of thing in History where you have a much much greater freedom of approach

writing a thesis is a social thing, not a solo thing, it's a TEAM activity

STUDENT SAYS; 

I don't get it. I work hard. From 1pm to 6am I'm with my computer. I have documents, all I have to do iis read. But I still don't get it. I don't know what to do. Am I......???? . 

Why can't I understand it well then just write?

 ANSWER:

A thesis is like a cake, you mix the ingredients, and then let it sit and rise,
just reading and then writing is not the answer, you need to have the ideas, the key ideas of what you really wanna say, else you just repeat and summarieze other's thoughts.
the cake takes time.
For moths now, you tell yourself you don't have time, you want it done asap,
= no time for cake to rise,

You need to have a clear idea of WHAT it is you want to say, then say it.
reading is  step 1, totally required, totally neccessary.

To get the idea of WHAT you wanna say: you need to talk about it with others, student or supervisors.

You try to write it on your own,
thesis, and scholarship is NOT a solo activity, it is a TEAM thing
- supervisor and student debate it,
- student and other students debate it - look at it, find the weaknesses, then student strengthens and changes it - Yes YOU write itbut you need a social group to talk to about it.

Not your fault, but you have not had that social aspect of thesis writing,
so you try to do it solo, possible but damn hard.


So no, you are not stupid,
just stresssed, and under stress things take even longer, and more difficult,

Accept that you will be late, and get a lifestyle your body likes, not all night shifts plllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease
your body needs sleep.
rest


if you ever do another thesis:
- supervisor you can talk to, who listens and has real advise
- clear topic and reserch questioin
- social support - ie. other students, a scholarly environment,

are the KEY for a good thesis writing setting

do I need a one page summary of my CV ?

A quick question. Do we really have to condense our resume to one page?
yeap

after 5 years working then not easy to do that

the term 'resume' means a summary. You don't need to include everything in your resume. You only need to give the information that your potential employer needs to get an idea about you, your best aspects, so to say. For the rest, you can tell them in an interview. Remember, the purpose of a resume is not to get you a job. It is to get you an interview.


It depends on what position you are applying. You will not send one page of resume when you are applying for a manager position for example. CV or resume is important for you to impress the protental emloyer and make them want to call you for an interview. I suggest not include every little thing in the resume and not try to make it long but include important things and make it longer than one page. ( Note to student who just finished school: Do not worry if your resume is short but make sure you have selling point in there. Maybe you can strongly mention about your academic background and if you have got good graduation GPA, make sure you mention it too. Talk about your internship as well. One page is fine for the fresh graduate.

HR   I was on MANY many interview panels and CV evaluation panels that preceded the interview....

Sorry to say this, but we took about 30 secs to scan the CV's
The idea that anyone actually READS those things make me smile.

Sure, if the summary grabbed us we'd have a closer look.

But the process is often like this(was in my experience:)
"Lets toss out the clear NO's"
scan all CV's for 15-30 secs.

now let's separte into
- Yes
- Maybe
- No
takes 30sec / CV

and so it goes and so it goes.
seleting people is a pain.
should be done fast.

all I lookedfor: is it clear and easy to find the info ?
if YES - does it meet the criteria ?
(3 or 4 key criteria max)

the last few, that are going to interviewed ok we'd read the CV ,sorta... sorta... flick flick flick....

So clear layout,
Clear info is good.

I guess my experience is not that unusual
but I'm older.

The key is simple: put yourself in the shoes of the other side.

improving my writing - HOW ?

One simple system:

Write simple short sentences.
One clear thought per sentence.
One clear idea per paragraph.


After your wrote it: Read it again.
write the introduction and then the conclusion.
Not at the start, but at the end.


Last trick: DO NOT expect to get it right and perfect
first time.
Accept that you will read it again, edit it.
At least once, probably twice.

 
Notice how your writing improves.

to quote wikipedia or not to quote, that is the question - referencing

Luxor -2008

Using wikipedia - to quote or not to quote that is the question

I've received this query:
Am i allowed to quote wikipedia or should I find their sources?

I hear a lot of arguments about using Wikipedia.
Some academics say it is fine to use it, others will not tolerate it.

The real issue a little different:

Basically: you can quote anyone and anything there is no limit to this.
The key in academic writing is to clearly state who you are quoting and where and what.
i.e. full references.

But the question is really: is Wikipedia  an adequate authority ?
For general background and introduction to a topic it is excellent.
I personally like it and use it a lot

The core question is really:  What is the best source to support my argument ?

if you are going to argue seriously for an idea you need to go to serious authorities.
ie.: you can't base your serious PHD research about micro-controllers or diabetes on THE AGE newspaper, MX magazine or wikipedia.
In others words you can't say: "its true because it's in "THE AGE" or Women's weekly, or Wikipedia, you need to go the the appropriate authority and source.

If you are looking for an introduction to a topic Wikipedia is great.
When I had to quickly get up to speed on chip design, leakage currents, etc... Wikipedia was excellent in giving a good introduction.
If I'm going to do breakthrough research I can't base my arguments on Wikipedia, I would use the original sources.

most effective study skills

interesting list of things to do to study most effectively
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all

some of these I have done automatically and intuitevely others I have learnt from this post....

making the best of it

Making the best of things that might seem like a pain

Have you been asked to present your work for the University Open Day ? 

 Is your reaction: 

Open day... groan.............

 

to make the most of Open Day for YOURSELF:

1. - come to open day and exhibit your project, jazz it up.
2. - take photos of yourself surrounded by eager young innocent Engineering students of the future...
3. - keep proof your having participated.

 

add photos of yourself and proof from 2. 3. above to your CV and show to future employers at interviews.

 

Goes down REALLY WELL !!!

 

Optional extra: follow the advice on:

 

http://haikoteaching.blogspot.com/2009/11/public-profile-idea-is-simple-students.html

 

and add your Open Day material to the site.

 

NB: instead of Open Day you can substitute any number of similar events.... be creative...

 

cheers

 

Heiko

 

 

improving your English HOW TO

how do I improve my English ?

Simple: Do two things: 

First:   Take your writing or your speaking: 

identify the ONE key error that you make most of the time. 

Then fix that. Concentrate on it until you have mastered it. Just that ONE thing. 

It may be something simple like: 

• confusing "is" with "was" 
• confusing "a" with "the"
• putting "the" in front of people's names e.g. "The Peter"
• mixing up plural and singlar e.g.   "He took two apple.... "
• whatever it is that is YOUR MOST common error.
 

 

The most common mistake is the pink half of the pie chart. If you fix that your HALF of all your mistakes are gone.

Second:   Read.

When I say read I don't mean read something so you get better at writing, don't read in the way you do training at a Gym or take medicine. Read what you ENJOY in English.
Read romance, fiction, thriller, detective novels .... it does not matter what you read, but only ONE thing matters: you ENJOY it, really truly enjoy the book.

That is all you need to do. Enjoyment is the best way to learn, anything.

Remember it does NOT matter what you read, (in English) as long as you LIKE it.
Enjoy it.

Question: My problem is I am only interested about the story. I never notice the phrase use, vocab and grammar bla bla bla.

I like reading but I don't know how reading can make better writing?

Answer: It does. It is not obvious HOW that happens. You don't have to take conscious note of the grammar, it just seeps into you, you get it through exposure and repetition... the same reason businesses spend millions, billions of dollars on advertising: it works, not consciously but it works somehow.

So: Reading makes you better at writing.
Not fast, and not in an obvious way.
But you will find that all good writers are great readers.



************************************
for TEACHERS:
I used to correct my students English, they would sometimes look at it but usually just say "oh nice, thanks" and file it away.

So from my students I leart to something different:
- I highlight the word, or space between words where the correction is required. but I don't correct it.
I ask the student to correct it herself.

public profile: The idea is simple: Students, Postgrads, academics, professionals

The idea is simple:
Document what you do, keep a public profile of your activities. A realistic profile, not advertising hype.  I would recommend Google sites as a great starting point, (instead of a blog). http://sites.google.com

For Undergrad students: this is useful for when they go for job interviews:
"What have you done other than get good marks in all the standard subjects ?"
"Well Sir/M'am, if you care to look at www.mystudentwork.com you'll see my final year project, my third year powersupply design. On my blog site at www.studentsFavHobby.blogspot.com  you'll see what I do in my spare time."

Now it's important that this site is NOT thrown together in a huge mess in a week or so. It is important that it has grown over years. That it is genuine.

If you've been asked to help out Open-Day at your University, why not make the best of it and see it as an opportunity ? http://haikoteaching.blogspot.com/2010/07/making-best-of-it.html

My favourite grumpy old man has just taken this idea a few order or magnitude further:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/11/05.html
----------- I quote from his blog:  ------------

This is a talent market. Developers are not even remotely interchangeable. Therefore, recruiting should work like Hollywood, not like union hiring halls of the last century.

In a union hiring hall, downtrodden workers line up like cogs, hoping to make it to the front of the line in time to get a few bucks for dinner.

In Hollywood, studios who need talent browse through portfolios, find two or three possible candidates, and make them great offers. And then they all try to outdo each other providing plush work environments and great benefits.

Here’s how Stack Overflow Careers will work. Instead of job seekers browsing through job listings, the employers will browse through the CVs of experienced developers.

Instead of deciding you hate your job and going out to find a better one, you’ll just keep your CV on file at Stack Overflow and you’ll get contacted by employers.

Instead of submitting a resume, you’ll fill out a CV, which links back to your Stack Overflow account, so that you can demonstrate your reputation in the community and show us all how smart you really are. To a hiring manager, the fact that you took the time to help a fellow programmer with a detailed answer in some obscure corner of programming knowledge, and demonstrated mastery, is a lot more relevant than the Latin Club you joined in school.

------------ end of quote --------------

Students who are "with it" will understand this.


For academics and professionals:

The same applies.
The inspiration for this came from seeing a well known figure in Engineering Education Richard Felder, put his wisdom and ideas publicly online:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/

It was Felder who gave me the key idea to build up my own profile on the web. I realized that any employer's site was subject to that employer and if you move on most of the material gets binned.
Hence the idea of making it accessible to all. Hence THIS blog you are reading now.

For Researchers, PhD students, academics.

Another excellent example is collaborative publications such as is exemplified in the ChinaBeat blog:
http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/
A group of academics get together around a topic and contribute to it.

Search Engine Journal is another collaborative effort, worth checking out www.searchenginejournal.com

A student of mine who has set up his own sitesites.google.com/site/troyboswellengineering

As a student: Making the best of things such as Open Day http://haikoteaching.blogspot.com/2010/07/making-best-of-it.html

---o(O)o---

Replies and correspondence from the above blog

Dear   K...
..... having your own profile is probably a good way to say: look this is my public stuff.

The other secret with these blogs thinggies is: you ONLY put out what you are comfortable putting out.

In the early days of blogging people did a psychological vomit on blogs... revealing things most private and perhaps best left that way.
Those days are long since gone.

Now if you have a site like Felder's  and people will quote you from it, see what you have been doing, invite you to talk about stuff. They will see what your emphasis and interest is. Do we want to invite this person to that conference ? Is she suitable to talk about XYZ ? etc...

Focus your blog on a topic: ie. Laos, or Lao health or ..... whatever.
I have different blogs for different aspects, some for travel others for teaching, and others for just whatever whimsical ideas pop into my brain.

For me as an academic: I use blogs to say to students.

See this link ? Read it.

Then talk to me again.

or to point people who ask about things over and over again to ONE clear answer.

For you as a PG research student: it is your public research profile.
it is your shingle.
You can have another blog for consultancies, etc... add to it as things come up.


Making the best of things http://haikoteaching.blogspot.com/2010/07/making-best-of-it.html

Technically: setting up a blog and using it is about as hard as setting up web based email and using it. I use Blogger by Google because it is easy to use, and they make it with a conscious emphasis on simple to use. E.g. lots of little things they have actually thought about and made them easier to do.

Recently I've moved to  Google sites as a great starting point, (instead of a blog). http://sites.google.com

Best to keep one site on one topic, start a new site if you want to start a new topic such as sport, etc...

what to drop and what to keep: You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

JUGGLING or TRADEOFFS of Engineering.

Sometimes we all spend 90% of their effort on a part of the program that only earns <5% of rewards/marks.
If you find that one aspect of the requirements takes too much time and sabotages your entire program (close to zero marks), then it may be worthwhile considering a simpler version that works and gets you more realistic marks. This is a tradeoff situation and only YOU can decide the level at which you are comfortable.

You will need to juggle the need for thoroughly meeting ALL specifications
with the need to keep your code simple enough to confidently reproduce it in the
lab test.
 


In programming a number of possible paths exist towards a solution.
Your challenge consists of meeting the requirements within a given time limit, within your ability to remember, understand and confidently reproduce, test and debug your code. 


With unlimited time and resources your program would look very different from the one you will submit for the lab test.

 Making such choices is difficult, but part of the educational process,
not only at this University but also in the University of life in which we are all enrolled... .
 


These tradeoff choices litter the highway (or jungle) of life.... at every stage.

Having said all that here is simple HINT - you don't have to take it - it is simply a SUGGESTION:  

Keep you code simple.

Is the error check for commas in input such as: 4,123.5

really worth it ? It is if you can do it elegantly and simply,

It is not if it takes up 90% of your code.

Learning is a social activity.

Programming is a kind of "social sport" it is a team sport.

Talk to other students, work with friends, ask around, use the internet to gain the skills you need.

Yes, testing WILL be on an individual basis, to make sure you actually HAVE learned the required skills.

It is a neccessary part of our University courses. Why ? Because when we don't test your INDIVIDUAL skills then we get the "Passenger effect" and that is not a good thing.

More on the "Passenger effect" in a future email, I think it's not too hard to figure out.

And even though we ostensibly teach: How to control Hardware with Software i.e. Engineering Software and programming, (using C++), we are really also teaching:

• - how to juggle different demands
• - tradeoffs (i.e. should I bother with the error check for commas in input such as: 4,123.5 ?? can I live with the loss in marks ? )
• - getting ALL of 'it' working, not just a bits of 'it'.

Of course for those who  are keen to do more research on this question outside narrow Engineering: see/google: Ivan Illich and the 'hidden curriculum' :-) for a really eye opening ideas.

The same idea as I've expounded at length above has been put much more succinctly by Kenny Rogers as:

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.

Know when to walk away, know when to run

You never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin', when the dealin's done.

- The  Gambler - Kenny Rogers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gambler_%28song%29

 Students often ask me about the Comma in input strings question, so below is a simple, no guarantees piece of code:

#include
#include

#include
#include
#include
#include // leave this one in please, it is required !
#define TEMPSIZE 80 // assume input in always less than this number, professional code SHOULD really do error check to make sure this is the case...

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{

   if (argc == 2) {

        cout << "\n before removing commas: argv[1] is: " << argv[1];
        char temp[TEMPSIZE]; // assume input in always less than this number, professional code SHOULD really do error check to make sure this is the case...
        int inputstrlen = strlen(argv[1]);
        int tempIndex=0;
        for (int i=0;i < inputstrlen; i++) {
            if (argv[1][i]==',') { // found the comma, don't copy it to temp, ie. do nothing.
                // do nothing here, make it clear by using comments such as this.
                cout << "\nfound comma\n";  // handy debug comment, leave it IN for use later on.
                cout << "\n i " << i << "   tempIndes " << tempIndex;
            }
            else { // copy the input string to temp
                cout << "\n In else: i " << i << "   tempIndes " << tempIndex;
                temp[tempIndex]=argv[1][i];
                tempIndex++;
            }
        }

        temp[tempIndex]='\0'; // huh?? what's this for ? what happens if you don't do it ? (Answer: Bad things happen)

        cout << "\n AFTER removing commas: argv[1] has been moved to string temp and is: \n" << temp <<"\n\n\n\n";
        system("pause");
        return(0) ;
    }
    else {
        cout << " This program requires ONE and ONLY ONE command line parameter\n\n";
        system("pause");
        return(0) ;
}
return 0;
}