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How to Succeed in Graduate Studies?

How to Succeed in Graduate Studies?. Husni A-Muhtaseb muhtaseb@kfupm.edu.sa. How to Succeed in Graduate Studies?.

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How to Succeed in Graduate Studies?

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  1. How to Succeed in Graduate Studies? Husni A-Muhtaseb muhtaseb@kfupm.edu.sa

  2. How to Succeed in Graduate Studies? Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, UBC Faculty of Graduate Studies, Salih Duffuaa

  3. Outline • A Plan to Succeed • Develop Skills • Shop for a Research Topic • Shop for an Advisor • Thesis Proposal • Perform Research • Managing Your Advisor • Write-up • Time Management • Surviving the Defense • Life balance • Conclusion Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, Cristian Borcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  4. Develop A Plan to Succeed • List of what you must accomplish • Courses • Exams • Research • Make a timetable with deliverables • Reevaluate every semester • Commitment Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  5. Succeed in Graduate Studies Elements • Coursework • Exams and/ or Tests • Research Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  6. Succeed in Performing Research Develop Skills and Personality • Develop Skills and Personality • Shop for a Research Topic • Shop for an Advisor • Thesis Proposal • Perform Research • Managing Your Advisor • Writing – Publishing • Thesis/ Dissertation Write-up • Time Management • Surviving the Defense Perform Research Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa Managing Your Advisor Writing – Publishing

  7. Develop Skills and Personality • Positive attitude/ Self esteem • Adaptability • Autonomy and Confidence • Demonstrate Initiative • Assertiveness • Creative Thinking • Ability to Learn Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  8. Develop Skills and Personality • Driving for Results • Decision Making • Knowledge in Major • Using Technology • Locating, organizing, analyzing information • Reasoning • Strategic thinking Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  9. Develop Skills and Personality • Communication skills (listening) • Communication skills (writing) • Communication skills (presenting) • Network skills (Interacting with others) • Team skills (Team participation) • Conflict resolution, Problem solving Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  10. Develop Skills and Personality • Coaching and mentoring (developing others) • Leadership skills • Observe safety rules • Attendance and Punctuality • Business Orientation • Customer Focus Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  11. Develop Skills and Personality • What about Ethics? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  12. Through experience, from Research Advisor Through other Mentors Through Classes Through Colleagues Self-learning Courses Special Purpose Courses Practice Where do we learn skills? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  13. Shop for a Research Topic Scenario - 1 • I am looking for any topic that facilitates me to graduate before the end of this semester • What will be your impression if you ware a possible advisor? Scenario - 2 • I am looking for any topic that provides me some extra income • What will be your impression if you ware a possible advisor? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  14. Shop for a Research Topic A Scenario • I am looking for an interesting topic that facilitates me to positively contribute to the field • What will be your impression if you ware a possible advisor? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  15. Shop for a Research Topic • Choose topic based on your research interests • You Must Like it • Don’t choose it just because you can get more income • Also think strategically • Is it a hot Topic? • Is it needed in the market? • If certain topic is hot now will still be hot in 3 years Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  16. Shop for a Research Topic • Consider expanding on your previous research experience • If you have no specific research interests • Build your interest in the first semester • Around 70% of research topics are proposed by advisors • Be smart while shopping for a topic Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  17. Shop for an Advisor • An Advisor Compatible with you • Get Well Together • respective • Avoid choosing an advisor because he is nice • Might withhold frank evaluations of your knowledge, skills, and progress to avoid hurting your feelings Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  18. Shop for an Advisor • Avoid some problems that may occur when an advisor • Plans to leave the University • Does not provide enough feedback • Does not meet you • Behave in a way you find irresponsible • How would you know some of these problems • Do you want to agree on one semester trial period? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  19. Shop for an Advisor • Full Professor Advisors • More experience • Usually have more Projects (money Support) • more connections • May be less demanding: Don’t push you hard • Don’t have time to work closely with you Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  20. Shop for an Advisor • Associate Professor advisors • May push you hard • future career depends on your results • work with you • Might have more up-to-date information • Assistant Professor advisors • Me: Depends on your Luck  • … and Regulations Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  21. Shop for a Research Topic(The slide is not Misplaced) • Your topic, approved by your advisor • Rare to know the topic from the moment you start working with advisor • If work is part of a project, it is somewhat clearer • More common to work on 1-3 topics in an area • New ideas come up during the work • Publication-wise, some ideas will be more successful than others Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  22. Student Responsibility to his advisor • Time Commitment • Honesty • Productivity • Teamwork, cooperation and assistant • Feedback and communication • Respect • Loyalty Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  23. Thesis Proposal • Might be your first Official Write-up • Some Literature Survey • Motivations • Objectives • Problems specification • A plan • with a timetable, milestones, and deliverables • Thesis without a chapter or two • Contract between you and committee: agree on content to be added in the final thesis Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  24. Thesis Proposal • The first impression on your writing • Following research guidelines and ethics • Give attention to literature survey • Avoid saying: • It was only a draft so I didn’t think it counted • I borrowed only the introduction and background material; the remaining is my original work • I listed the reference [explicitly quote] Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  25. Thesis Proposal • So what is the problem • Plagiarism is representing somebody else’s words as my own words • So .. Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  26. Choosing a Committee • With your Advisor Agreement • Reasonable People • Good Reputations • Advice • Assistant • Recommendations • Feedback • Feedback and feedback Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  27. Perform Research • Be Proactive: Don’t wait for advisor to push you • Reading papers: • Identify both strong and weak points • Advisor might point to important papers in your topic • Find more papers • Read a few papers every week • Read outside your area as well • Follow technology news • Let advisor/colleagues know about interesting things you read Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  28. Perform Research • Identifying important and hard problems • Learn to differentiate between interesting problems and junk • Advisor will help • Problem solving/design • Always ask : “what’s the novelty of my solution?” • Also: how is it different from/similar to alternative solutions? • If Advisor suggests a potential solution • Instead of saying “doesn’t work!” • Say “X didn’t work, but how about Y or Z?” • if advisor points out drawbacks in your solutions • Don’t get upset/discouraged • it’s technical, not personal Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  29. Perform Research • Implementation • In most research problems, will have to implement your ideas • Except for purely theoretical problems • Every successful project goes through this hard phase • Design is more fun than implementation • No magic here: work hard! • If you don’t know how to implement something or have troubles with a bug • ask colleagues or advisor for help • Don’t suffer in silence Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  30. Perform Research • Evaluation • Prove that your solution works as claimed • Should know from the design time experiments and metrics • Form a hypothesis: what type of results you expect • Experiments contradict hypothesis: think of potential reasons and discuss them with advisor • Work in the lab a significant amount of time • Learn from interactions with colleagues/advisor Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  31. Progressing Efficiently • Make a daily to-do list • Prioritize: do the most important things first • Multitask • Do many experiments (Maximize luck…) • Plan for the tomorrow’s work before you leave • Work on at least one weekend day (this will save you months!) • Read literature mostly at night • Put a date on EVERYTHING! It’s a locator device • Watch out for inefficient computer use or texting Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa From Iris Lindberg - http://thelindberglab.com

  32. Managing Your Advisor • Trust advisor and earn his trust • good work • reliability • Advisors, are not perfect. They try their best to help • doubts might appear when • A paper is rejected • Different opinions on how to proceed • Seemingly advisor cares only about his career • Remember • Advisors work hard to support research work • You work hard to produce results • What is good for student is good for advisor and vice versa Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  33. Impress Your Advisor • Ask for weekly meeting, write the minutes and send them after the meeting to your advisor • Set your own deadlines and meet them • Milestones • Papers • Experiments • Committee meetings • Read the literature on your own • Think critically about experiments • Participate fully in lab meetings, if any • Work smart/ hard… Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  34. Writing – Publishing • Always Recall Plagiarism to avoid it • Write minutes meeting and action items • When reading a related paper summarize key issues in your own language • Document • summaries of experiments and results • Problem faced and solutions • Possible future work • Special purpose implemented experiments Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  35. Writing – Publishing • For publishing you need extensive help of your advisor • Possible targets (conference or Journal) • Structure of the paper • Revisions • Follow-up • Submission Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  36. Thesis/ Dissertation Write-up • Often happens in a rush at the end • Consequently has a lot of problems • Takes multiple drafts • Product worthy of publication • Usually, two-three research papers with deep introduction and conclusion • Needs to be thorough • Best if publish papers as you go! Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  37. Thesis/ Dissertation Write-up • Comprehensive literature Survey would be a possible Journal paper • The detailed problem specification with a proposed solution design could be a conference paper • Methodology with experimental results, analysis, and evaluation would be a second possible journal paper Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  38. Writing Papers • Might be hard • Good results are not published due to sloppy writing • Ask advisor for models of good papers • Get advisor’s feedback early and often • Re-write • Read on writing • One idea per paragraph • Do paragraphs follow one another in a logical structure? Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  39. Writing Papers • Typical structure • Abstract - Introduction • Related work - Design • Implementation - Evaluation • Conclusions • Have clear abstract/introduction • If vague or poorly written, reviewers will just look for reasons to reject afterwards • Don’t claim more than you did • Distinguish between “will do” and “have been done” Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  40. Time Management • Students in high-ranked schools work between 60 and 80 hours per week [CristianBorcea] • Faculty spend a similar amount of time • You will compete for jobs with students form other schools as well • Citing Borceaadvisor: “school breaks are for undergrad students” • Good time to work in case you have teaching duties • The advisor has more free time to help you Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  41. Don’t have time to finish all your tasks? • Must acquire time management skills • Write down your tasks (both work-related and personal), set deadlines, and categorize them function of importance • Pausch’s graph for task time management: Importance Continue with these tasks Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa Obviously, finish these tasks first Urgency

  42. More on time management • Don’t have time for personal life? • Some personal tasks must have high importance • Family/friends help you avoid “going nuts”  • According to previous slide, you might end up not doing “urgent, but not important tasks”; it’s ok, the world goes on • Know yourself and manage advisor’s expectations • Learn to estimate accurately the time it takes to do certain tasks • Learn to say “no” if it’s not possible to do a task before a deadline • Try hard to respect deadlines once you agreed to them • Inform your advisor as soon as you are getting behind the schedule Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  43. Defense Time • Reason • Finish writing during your final year • Execute the proposal • Advisor and committee members think you are ready • What about these reasons? • Family Problems • Financial Problems • Job-related Problems Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  44. Surviving the Defense • Finish writing during your final year • In parallel with job searching • Thesis defense is reason to celebrate • Advisor/committee won’t allow you to defend if not ready • Not a good idea to defend if you don’t have a job • Unless you don’t receive support any longer • You could get job before thesis defense • Risk: you might never get the drive to finish Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

  45. Surviving the Defense: Question Time • Be confident and well-prepared • You should be the rare experts in your topic • Let your questioner finish his comment/ question • Be prepared to rehearse the question • Keep your answers short but precise • Deflect hostile questions • Confess your ignorance Husni Al-Muhtaseb Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, Cristian Borcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa 45

  46. Life balance: A Brain on A Stick • You are a human being • Not a brain on a stick • You have friends and family outside graduate school • Seek out the many resources at KFUPM that can help you through the tough times Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd012609s.gif

  47. ConclusionSucceed in Performing Research • Develop Skills and Personality • Shop for a Research Topic • Shop for an Advisor • Thesis Proposal • Perform Research • Managing Your Advisor • Writing – Publishing • Thesis/ Dissertation Write-up • Time Management • Surviving the Defense Husni Al-Muhtaseb - Credits: Marie DesJardins, CristianBorcea, Steve Kass, Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Sherry Schneider, Stephen Vodanovich, Laura Koppes Bryan, Sandra Cruz-Pol, Daniel Ernst, Paul Wagner, Tao Xie, Gail P. Taylor, Salih Duffuaa

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