It’s ok to not know your topic of research 100%. You learn more as you go along your research journey. 

It was a requirement for us to write a portion of literature review before the first year ends. I think there are pros and cons. Pros – when searching for the literature review content, we get more knowledge about our area. Cons- at that point I think we are not able to write that good as we would be if we were, say, midway through our research. However, you have to do according to the guidelines of your university. Anyways, for literature review, get ideas from other theses as in how to structure your chapter. You can get material from review articles and introduction sections of research articles. I will do a separate blog on writing literature review.  

I believe no two PhD or Masters projects are same, I mean you cannot compare one research project to another. It is not like all the students in the class have to sit the same type of exams and tests. What I am trying to say is that you don’t have to feel bad if you see another research fellow which you think might be doing well compared to you. Comparing yourself to another researcher fellow is like comparing apples to oranges. Stay in your lane, stick to your plan and focus on your milestones! 

What timetable works for you may not work for another researcher. There are many reasons for this. One research project may be mostly lab based, another may be fully desk based, another may be field based, some may have a combination of these. Thats why the timeline may not be same for all researchers. Having said that there are usually milestones set by the university that one has to achieve. These milestones such as submitting yearly reports etc. can help one keep on track.  

A 9 to 5 routine may work for some researchers however speaking from experience, mine was different depending on the stage of my research. Sometimes I was busy a lot in lab, and getting no time for write up. Some days I was busy with write-up when near a deadline some days were a bit relaxed. So its not always a nightmare. Again I believe no two PhDs or research projects are same.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash 

Be organised. Yeah I wish it was that easy.. Right?  Be organised in the sense that set deadlines for yourself, I know its not that easy. Sometimes its our procrastination and other times its delay of response from supervisors. Other times its technical fault in an equipment, sometimes you are waiting for a delivery or waiting for approval of purchase. Sometimes there are situations that feels like disaster such as your whole experiments is spoiled because of some reason. Don’t panic, it happens, this is all part of PhD journey. These things happen. This is what gives us transferable skills of handling projects, trouble-shooting, multi-tasking and generally making us resilient. In case of your procrastination, check out my other blogs. In case of stuff that is out of your control, speak to someone at your university, I believe there is always a way. Your supervisor, they are likely to have dealt with such situations in the past and they are likely to come up with a solution.  

Feel free to share your experience or current concerns in the comments 😊