PhD students โ€” 10 things to do in the first year of your PhD.

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PhD students โ€” 10 things to do in the first year of your PhD

๐Ÿ. ๐๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ: Many PhD students struggle to narrow down their research topic to a concrete research gap. Learn how to perform a gap analysis. Read more secondary studies. Make sure that you donโ€™t end up doing something that already exists.

๐Ÿ. ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ ๐š ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ: Understand how your supervisors work. If they expect something in a written form in each meeting, make sure to follow accordingly. Learn what are the best ways to communicate with them and clarify expectations.

๐Ÿ‘. ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐š๐›๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ: Certain skills and habits are quite common across all types of research. For example, how to read a research paper, how to be consistent, and how to do a literature review are basic skills/habits for a PhD. Develop them as early as possible.

๐Ÿ’. ๐๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐›๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ: This will really help you in the confirmation of your candidature if you have a paper published or at least submitted. Try to publish as soon as possible. If it happens, it will give a big boost to your confidence level.

What makes you an excellent PhD student??

๐Ÿ“. ๐Œ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก: The early you understand the importance of your mental and physical health in your PhD, the better it is for you. Donโ€™t think that if you never exercised before, you donโ€™t need it in your PhD either. You do need it.

๐Ÿ”. ๐ˆ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ค๐ž๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ:ย  Once your gap research a matured level, start identifying and following the most relevant researchers, conferences, and journals. This will help to be updated and understand the expectations.

๐Ÿ•. ๐ˆ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ : Within 6 months or so into your PhD, start reflecting on what skills I am lacking. These skills could include networking, collaborations, presentation, and so on. Start developing them from there on.

๐Ÿ–. ๐ƒ๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก: Some students take too much teaching load right away. Donโ€™t do it. It will impact your PhD progress. Once your PhD path is laid out, then you can teach in the later years.

๐Ÿ—. ๐ƒ๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฒ: Some students start in a very relaxed way โ€“ oh I have a lot of time. Start it with a full swing as later you might not be as energetic as you might be at the start. The first year is the most crucial year. Start it well and your life will be easy later.

๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ. ๐…๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ: At the start, most of the PhD students are directionless โ€“ what to do, whatโ€™s going on, days are passing by and I am not doing anything. Learn how to find your way forward right from the start.

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