April 7, 2013
It really is hard to believe that it is one year since registering at Surrey. It went by quickly and I have achieved less than I had anticipated. However, when I consider that I took on a full-time job in July last year it is probably no surprise that I slowed down on the PhD project. Today my achievement is a draft chapter one which I know will change 100%. Effectively this puts me exactly where I started a year ago… but…
It was very much a year of discovery. From knowing nothing about motivation, to knowing a lot more than the average human should. I have read (or looked at) every book on the subject and am slowly working my way through key journal articles. My aims and methodology are not clear but as I read more and more I am becoming familiar with what needs to be tested – and more importantly how to test it. I have also begun to understand the academic world and the process of research at a whole new level. I am asking and enquiring as I read and critique. This is the part that I enjoy most: learning to have an opinion.
In short, I have nothing tangible to show for my first year – but I am supposed to hand in a draft of my literature review by the end of April. If I do that, I would be very happy and with it I will be able to stay at my job and switch my PhD to a more realistic part-time programme. The next meeting with my supervisors will be in May. Until then I need to spend all the hours God gives me to finish my literature review.
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March 24, 2013
It was a busy start to the week with preparations for a meeting and a whole day with clients in Reading. The last few days have been wonderful. The first time I really knew what I was doing with my writing and I was able to make a good start on the structure of my chapter as well as the headings. Now it’s about filling in the right theories and presenting the relevant studies within the right headings. Relatively simple but very time-consuming.
It has been great to be back at Imperial. The library is well stocked with good internet coverage and comfortable working areas. It’s also not very far by underground from where I live – which is a great bonus. It’s going well. I know I have a few business trips and engagements when I return. I will take a week off in April to catch up with my family (I have seen very little of them) during the day and with my writing in the evenings. It’s probably the only empty slot I have left until the end of April when my literature review is due.
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February 28, 2013
The more I get involved in this project, the more I realise that an hour here and an hour there (even if they add up to half a day) are not the same as a good chunk of time taken together. I took the opportunity of national day holidays to go to London and be alone with my research. I managed to do a lot of reading before meeting my supervisors.
My review was a little more positive this time, and my next milestone is to hand in a draft literature review about motivation by the end of April. ’It’s about 500 words a day’ said my first supervisor. Easier said than done with work and travel. It also looks like I will be switching to part time in April. We will make the final call then if I’m still working.
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December 12, 2012
Reading at record speed recently. I am having to slow down now and then when work is especially busy or when I travel. Family and friends time is also suffering but I am going through a lot of material with some good progress on learning my area of research and linking the main theories together into a model that is starting to actually make sense.
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October 11, 2012
Although there were words on paper that described – in detail too - what I wanted to do with my research, I was not quite sure what it actually meant. What did I mean by ’testing a theory’? It took me long enough to grasp the significance of theories and how they draw the pencil lines for management systems that come years (sometimes decades) later. My draft of the Literature Review is forcing me to put down the little I have learned over the past few months into sentences and paragraphs. My supervisors who have left me alone to get on with it thus far explained in our last meeting that my aims would become clearer after I finish the Literature Review. Like many things I am learning in this process, I chose to ignore that and tried many times to adjust my aims to make it into a ‘real doctoral research’. I kept asking them and my wife if there was enough there… Well, today I have finished my Literature Review plan (which is yet to be appropriately filled) and my God it is all making sense. I almost know what I meant when I wrote my proposal over a year ago. It should not be a celebration – but it sure feels like one.
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September 25, 2012
I should probably call this post paperless because Papers helps achieve this almost instantly. I spent a significant amount of time reading through what researchers do to ensure a good workflow of reading, collating and referencing articles and books. Had I not seen my wife’s trees of papers blocking doorways and becoming the size of furniture pieces, I would not have even imagined it would be an issue. In the same way many projects fail because logistics are underestimated, I felt this was something of a weak link that needed addressing.
My target was, and remains, to have the ability to work on a flight, in an office, at home or in a cafe with everything – yes everything – to do with my PhD on me or accessible online. I am pleased (and cannot believe) that with an iPad and a few apps this is truly possible. It is not the only app I use. I have a page on my iPad dedicated to my PhD apps. The synchronisation of DropBox and Pages is very useful and apps that help with searches in journals are always welcome.
The only other thing I carry is a small notebook and a pen. Whilst there are notebook type apps, I’m still more comfortable doing that the normal human way.
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September 3, 2012
I was not sure where to start and I was told by my supervisors that the best way to write one is to read a few Literature Reviews and not books on how-to… It is good advice and I am reading a few examples from theses online. Howver, there is so much information online that I had to see something about the structure. I wanted to make sure I am not falling into traps that other authors may have fallen into. The best (and shortest) guide I came across is by UCSC and is available on their website:
How to Write a Literature Review
Update 11 October 2012: Here is another good one.
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