Dr Ivan Jeftic

You have been accepted into a PhD program. Obviously, you have done a lot right to even be offered a position. And yet, so many of those things that you did right to get offered a position become lost when you start. Maybe it is ongoing burnout from the Honours / Masters program you finished, maybe it is thinking now that you’re in that you have made it. There are probably 100’s of reasons why; anyway, the point is: there are a lot of things you can already do properly when you start a PhD—even if the major jump in quality occurs during your PhD. So, this blog focuses on those things, it focuses on the skills you already possess that will make (1) your life easier, (2) your supervisors’ lives easier, and (3) your progress more efficient.

Lesson 10: Put a Bow Tie on it.

I call this lesson / tip “put a bow tie on it” because you can always add small touches to any task to elevate quality. There are a few broad areas that you have already gained competency in before you start a PhD—and I want to note that this tip also applies for people currently doing a PhD and have gained even further competency in these areas. As the spine of these PhD Lesson blog posts has been to treat a PhD Candidacy as a job, I want to stress that putting an extra 5% effort in is a great way to be noticed by your supervisor, and a great habit to build for any future workplace endeavours. I say an extra 5% effort, but it really isn’t even 1% effort; it just seems like it when you are exhausted, stressed, burnt out, and just want to finish whatever task is at hand. During a PhD there are two main times that I found occur often enough for you to add these touches. Firstly, whenever you are sending off a written piece of work that requires revisions. This could be a proposal draft, manuscript draft, annual report, ethics application, or anything the leans towards formal communication. Secondly, everything regarding meetings—scheduling meetings, conducting them, or post-meeting tasks. So, what little touches am I really talking about?

Drafts

So, what are these things? I’ve been talking about things that a PhD student should be able to do from day one for two paragraphs. Well, each student is going to have competency in a variety of tasks (e.g., writing skills, lab work, data analysis… etc.). For the standard pathway PhD student, there is one task that you have all already done. Written a thesis—whether it be Honours, Masters, or Undergraduate degree… you’ve previously written a thesis to get into a PhD Course. You have experience in writing a thesis, that taught you a lot of soft skills. These include:

1. Styling. In my field, generally we lean towards APA styling. Which means sections / paragraphs / tables / and references are formatted consistently. Your field may use a different standard. When you’re sending out a piece of work for revisions, your life and your supervisor’s life will be easier if it is styled correctly. And you’ve done it before, so it really isn’t a hard task! And, to help you out, at the end I have a bunch of links to different styling guides.
2. Referencing. No, I’m not talking about referencing style, that is covered above. I am talking about the reference you use. Make sure to use up to date and high-quality references, and in general you would rather over reference than under reference. Much easier to delete references, and be better off for the knowledge gained, than go hunting for them!
   Note: Sometimes an older reference is the best option. Just because it is recent, does not necessarily mean it is more valid. Wrongly citing research in published work can be found; BUT it is still your responsibility to ensure that you cite appropriately.  

Make sure you nail the things you already can. Put that bow tie on the first draft.

Meetings

The other area that you have experience in is meetings. Meetings with your supervisor, your research team, and potentially internal and external collaborators or funding bodies. There is a professional way to conduct a meeting, and it is surprisingly quite easy. It requires a little bit of work before, during, and after a meeting, that elevates the meeting from a student chat with a supervisor to a quality time efficient meeting. More probably than not, during your previous research endeavours you have had meetings to discuss research, you may have presented during the meetings, and likely your involvement in the meetings has grown as you have. Only some students will have conducted these meetings with great efficiency and direction though—both of which will be thoroughly appreciated by attendees. They are usually very busy people so if you have an efficient meeting then there may be more time build closer relationships (e.g., through banter), supervisors may offer you additional tasks—you don’t always have to accept—and at very least you will have more time on your hands. And time is precious. So how can you, using your existing experience make a meeting better? Below, I’ve gone through it from a before, during, and after perspective.

Before: A few suggestions here, and they do not apply every meeting (e.g., weekly catch ups with a supervisor might be a lot less structured).

1. Scheduling. A meeting requires scheduling, and most likely your research team is a (very) busy group of people. So, if you want a meeting—that isn’t reoccurring—I would suggest at least a two-week period to schedule it. It will take one week for people to respond to when they are available, and by that time that week of theirs is full. When deciding on a time, there should be a brief (~3-4 quick dot points) summary of the meeting. When a time is agreed upon, book it in their calendars. Don’t forget to book a location to meet!
2. Meeting Files. The next task is to send meeting files, usually this happens at the same time you send a calendar booking email. Firstly, write up a quick agenda. A meeting agenda structure will look different for each meeting, but it must include a summary of the events since the last meeting, and a semi-detailed plan of items to discuss in this meeting. Secondly, attach any files that will require reading by meeting attendees. This should happen one-week before the meeting, give people time!
3. Reminder. Immediately after sending the files/calendar invite, set a scheduled email for 24-hours before the meeting. Just a quick reminder with the files reattached. Easy.

During: It is your meeting, you are the organiser, and you should at very least take on a chair role. This involves a few things…

1. Refreshments. No. These are not required. It is ridiculous to expect a PhD student to provide refreshments! Sorry supervisors, but PhD students are usually very tightly budgeted. If this is an important meeting with individuals that need to be wooed, then speak in advance with your supervisor if there are funds for refreshments. But, if you want to provide refreshments, the simple stuff is great—a pack of chips or candy, and some water.
2. Meeting Structure. This is an important role; you have a set amount of time in the meeting with your supervisors. You want to get the most out of it. That means to keep everything running approximately on time. It can be hard in a room full of academics, especially when seniority and idea generation start ploughing ahead. Assert your dominancy… no don’t stand up and beat your chest like a gorilla, but kindly say “hey team, this is all useful information, but we have other pressing matter to discuss. I have noted that this issue will require more time in our next meeting to finalise, can we move onto the next agenda item”.
3. Note Taking. Take as many notes as you need, in whatever format you prefer. There are “more efficient formats”, but you do you! It’ll make it a little easier to build this habit if you do it in a way you enjoy. It is a tricky task, as you become more experienced in meetings you will spend less time taking notes because you will identify the information that requires note taking. Initially, until you become more confident with note taking, take more notes rather than less. You can ignore useless information, but you and everyone else may struggle to remember something useful if not written.

After:

1. Follow Up. Here, we can use AI to our advantage! Take your notes and write them up on a computer (if you haven’t already). Open an AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Bing, etc.) and enter those notes in with the prompt “write me an email that summarises these things”. Quickly edit the email, add in the tasks you want to achieve, and send this out. Now you have a record of what was achieved, what you need to achieve, and can refer to this email for the next meeting.

Deliver an effective, efficient meeting. Put that bow tie on meetings.

I mentioned I had a list of style guides, here they are, it’s not an exhaustive list but if you google “____ Style guide” they’re usually near the top.

APA: https://apastyle.apa.org/
MLA: https://style.mla.org/
Chicago: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/
Oxford: https://www.ox.ac.uk/public-affairs/style-guide
IEEE: https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/conferences/style_references_manual.pdf
MHRA: https://www.mhra.org.uk/style/