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Time: 14 hours
Level: Advanced
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 Introduction Resource- The purpose of this unit is to help those embarking on a PhD in science, technology or mathematics. The selections that follow – there are three parts to the unit – are taken from a more substantial OU...
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- 1.1 Thoughts on a PhD Resource
- Entering students often think of a PhD as a ‘magnum opus’, a brilliant research project culminating in a great work. This is rather a demanding model, and few students win Nobel Prizes as a result of their...
- 1.2 Different reasons for doing PhDs Resource
- Just as there are different views of what a PhD is or means, there are different reasons for undertaking a PhD, ranging from the pragmatic – acquiring a research credential for academia or for industry...
- 1.3 Different models of PhDs within and across disciplines Resource
- There are many different models of how a PhD might be conducted. The models are shaped by the expected place of study (e.g. on the OU campus, in an industry laboratory, at the kitchen table), by the intensity...
- 1.4 Broadly typical phases of PhD research Resource
- A modern PhD can be viewed as having three key phases (very roughly, but not strictly, corresponding to the three years of a full-time degree), each of which contributes a necessary element of mastery:...
- 1.5 Key dissertation ingredients Resource
- A number of ingredients are essential for a satisfactory dissertation:
- 1.6 What is a ‘significant’ contribution? Resource
- Most students, when they hear the phrase ‘significant contribution’, think in terms of a new theory, crucial experiments, and technological breakthroughs – the stuff of Nobel Prizes. For a PhD, the truth...
- 1.7 Demonstration of research skills Resource
- The ‘key ingredients’ are reflected in demonstrations of various sorts of skills: transferable, generic, project based, discipline based.
- 1.8 The OU requirements Resource
- The criteria for an OU PhD (as stated in the Guidelines on Research Degree Examinations for Heads of Disciplines, Supervisors and Examination Panels, EX 10, revised January 1998) are that:
- 1.9 Summary and conclusion: ‘take-away messages’ Resource
- It helps to understand the PhD in context: the modern PhD is typically a three-year research training providing evidence of the ability to conduct and bring to fruition an independent programme of research....
- 1.10 End of section exercise Resource
- After reading this section.
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| | 2 Managing your PhD project
- 2.1 Introduction Resource
- The most basic requirement of a PhD thesis is high-quality research. This outcome requires obvious intellectual skills related to knowledge and intelligence, but also less obvious skills such as planning...
- 2.2 Making a plan Resource
- Since your PhD project is unique and only you know the pressures on your life, there is little point in other people providing you with a rigid timetable. This is why one of the first things you must do...
- 2.3 Short-term and long-term planning Resource
- Clearly an important step in planning your work is actually constructing a plan. We suggest you carry out short-term (3 months) and long-term (3 years) planning. The long-term planning will make sure you...
- 2.4 Planning with Gantt charts Resource
- One useful way of planning is to use a Gantt chart with supporting notes. Examples of Gantt charts are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Gantt charts are useful because they relate all activities to a single visual...
- 2.5 The problem of time Resource
- At the start of a research project there seems to be so much time: How can the work expand to fill it? So why do students not finish on time? How can you finish on time? When a student is asked at a viva...
- 2.6 Milestones Resource
- As the first few months of a project go by, the long lists of possible tasks often create a sobering and sometimes frightening chaos. Time planning, such as that suggested in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, is a...
- 2.7 Overcoming problems Resource
- A few issues regularly crop up as important in discussions with research students towards the end of their projects, when they reflect back on their research. Students often bring up these issues after...
- 2.8 Other useful reading Resource
- Bell, J. (1993) Doing your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers, Buckingham, Open University Press.
- 2.9 End of section exercise Resource
- After reading Section 2 you could conduct the following exercises as part of your evidence of achievement. You may like to discuss this activity with your supervisor.
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| | 3 An introduction to communicating science
- 3.1 Introduction Resource
- In 2000, the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology produced an influential report that highlighted the complex and increasingly problematic relationship between contemporary science...
- 3.2 What is communication? Resource
- The previous section introduced you to a number of issues where scientific, technological and mathematical knowledge played a key role in generating high-profile contemporary examples of science communication....
- 3.3 Producing a scientific paper: science communication as knowledge production and exchange Resource
- As with all other communication, the production of science communication does not exist in a social vacuum. It involves norms and conventions that science communicators learn as part of the process of...
- 3.4 Science communication and citizenship: getting involved Resource
- This section began with a brief review of the current context for science communication, noting the calls for greater dialogue and consultation between science and society. This is important for a number...
- 3.5 Conclusions Resource
- The contemporary context for science communication is changing as policy initiatives introduce options for dialogue and consultation between science and society. At the same time, new communications technologies...
- 3.7 End of seciton exercises Resource
- After reading Section 3 you might conduct one of the following three exercises as part of your Portfolio evidence of achievement. You may like to discuss this activity with your supervisor.
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| | References and Acknowledgements | |
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