Category Archives: Analytical tools for the early months of candidature

The idea of having analytical tools to ascertain whether research students are advancing in the ways in which we hope and would like, arose out of a question put to me at a seminar for research supervisors. The question was … Continue reading →

Research supervision poses a range of problems. If a problem is recognised, a supervisor often draws on their repertoire of practice to come up with a way to address the problem. Sometimes this involves drawing on your own experiences of … Continue reading →

Over the past months I have been progressively exploring analytical tools for research supervisors to ascertain from student outputs their progress towards completing their research degree. The research proposal is often the main interim output on which a student’s progress … Continue reading →

Project management is an important graduate research capability. Elsewhere in this blog I have commented on the importance of scoping the research project. This is usually a task that is set as part of developing a research project proposal and … Continue reading →

Within the first six months of candidature, a research student is usually given a purposeful writing task to advance their research project and to enable their research supervisors to ascertain their writing abilities. This writing task is often a research … Continue reading →

Because a research degree is intended to make a contribution to knowledge, it is an important starting point for a research project to know what is known about your prospective topic. It goes (almost) without saying, that reading is an … Continue reading →

I am pitching this particular tool for about the second month of candidature. By this time, a research student will have had a chance to understand the requirements of their particular research degree and perhaps started to get underway with … Continue reading →

In other blogs I have emphasised the importance of the relationship in providing a successful candidature. In contemporary times of computer dating, where you can match up likely partners in a relationship, it is viable to look to how well … Continue reading →