Top tips for Researchers (from Researchers!)

Top tips for studying for research (from those who have survived it!)

  • Enjoy the PhD. It is a strenuous process, but it is also a wonderful process
  • Use your brain. The PhD is a good period to exercise your brain as much as you can and find out your limits.Write something every day
  • If you find yourself panicking and staring at a blank page, try handwriting a couple of paragraphs instead of typing
  • Congratulate yourself on achievements – remember that you don’t need to be working all of the time and in fact it makes good sense in the long run to give yourself a break
  • Use as many library resources as you can lay your hands on – electronic, going to Senate House, using the British Library reading rooms
  • Get involved in the wider research community by participating in reading groups and attending seminars – you never know what you might learn!
  • Do not expect to be treated as an undergraduate or masters student. You are not. Prove that you know how to conduct research and that you can find your ways around the problems arising regarding the research.
  • Subscribe to the PhD Comics. You will feel a lot of times that these postings are just for you
  • Have “thirsty Thursdays” and go to bars. At least I did!
  • Read the Thesis Whisperer Blog– it’s super helpful!
  • Follow #PhDchat on twitter
  • If you’re a scientist, use Research Gate.
  • Use Fig Share to make what you’re doing visible

Do you have any top tips you’d like to share? Let us know and we’ll add them to our list!

Read our interviews with other researchers about their experiences: Fiona, Laura and Nancy