The complete guide to a PhDfor new PhD students
by slightly less new PhD students
Sylvia Qinghua Liu & Adrian Ruf
Outline
Getting startedPhD ApplicationNorwegian Language Courses
Working as a PhD StudentThe Thesis DefencePresentationsReadingWriting
PhD Application
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
PhD Application
http://mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
Norwegian Language Courses
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
Norwegian Language courses
Learn Norwegian
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
Norwegian Language courses
Learn Norwegian– you can fit five consonants into one syllable:
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
Norwegian Language courses
skjelmskt
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
Norwegian Language courses
NORIR NORA Intensive summer course3 h/w 6− 8 h/w 15 h/w
8 weeks 14 weeks 6 weeks
http://uio.no/english/for-employees/employment/international-researchers/arrival/language-courses/
PhD Application Norwegian Language Courses
The Thesis Defence
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
The Thesis defence
I Trial lecture (45 minutes)
I Defence (30 minutes + 10 minutes + ∼ 30 minutes)
(∼ 115 minutes)
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
The Thesis defence
I Trial lecture (45 minutes)
I Defence (30 minutes + 10 minutes + ∼ 30 minutes)
(∼ 115 minutes)
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Presentations
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Don’t overwhelm the audience
doi:10.1007/s00033-017-0863-z
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Don’t overwhelm the audience
Only one idea per slide
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Include less math than you think
(X , dX ), (Y ,DY ) metric spaces, f : X → Yf continuous in x ∈ X ⇔∀ε > 0∃δ > 0∀x̃ ∈ X : dX (x , x̃) < δ ⇒ dY (f (x), f (x̃)) < ε.
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Include less math than you think
Let (X , dX ), (Y ,DY ) be metric spaces and f : X → Y be afunction.Then f is continuous in x ∈ X iff f satisfies the following property:For each ε > 0 there exists δ > 0 such that dY (f (x), f (x̃)) < ε forall x̃ with dX (x , x̃) < δ.
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Include less math than you think
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous function
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Include less math than you think
a discontinuous function a continuous function
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Include less math than you think
Should I include math?
Is understanding this math
essential to the idea?
Is there no way to use
plain English instead?
Is there no way to
use a diagram or
analogy instead?
Is it infeasable to infer the
concept with examples?
Include math Don’t include math
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Don’t present a paper – present an idea
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Don’t present a paper – present an idea
http://matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Practice
I Practice a lot
I at least once with a group
I focus on the opening
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Practice
I Practice a lot
I at least once with a group
I focus on the opening
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Practice
I Practice a lot
I at least once with a group
I focus on the opening
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
Skimming vs. reading thoroughly
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
How much should I read?
0.3− 0.9
Matt Might:
40
my second. supervisor:
beeminder.com/mewmew/papers
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
How much should I read?
0.3− 0.9
Matt Might:
1 40
my second. supervisor:
beeminder.com/mewmew/papers
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
How much should I read?
0.3− 0.9
Matt Might:
1 40
my second. supervisor:
beeminder.com/mewmew/papers
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
I Read critically
I Read creatively
I Make notes
I Try to summarize the paper in a few sentences
I Compare the paper to other works
http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
I Read critically
I Read creatively
I Make notes
I Try to summarize the paper in a few sentences
I Compare the paper to other works
http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
I Read critically
I Read creatively
I Make notes
I Try to summarize the paper in a few sentences
I Compare the paper to other works
http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
I Read critically
I Read creatively
I Make notes
I Try to summarize the paper in a few sentences
I Compare the paper to other works
http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Reading papers
I Read critically
I Read creatively
I Make notes
I Try to summarize the paper in a few sentences
I Compare the paper to other works
http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Writing
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Writing papers
Write a rapid prototype
http://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/write-a-rapid-prototype-first/
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Writing papers
Try to lose the reader as late as possible
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Writing papers
”If you can save the reviewer one minute of their time,by spending one extra hour of your time, then you have the
obligation to do so.”
Eamonn Keogh – http://cs.ucr.edu/∼eamonn/Keogh SIGKDD09 tutorial.pdf
The Thesis Defence Presentations Reading Writing
Helpful resources
I ”How to get a Ph.D. in mathematics in a timely fashion” –Essay from Sara C. Billey 1
I Blog of Matt Might 2
I Blog of Terry Tao 3
I ”Me and my research” 4
1https://sites.math.washington.edu/∼billey/advice/timely.fashion.pdf
2http://matt.might.net/articles/
3https://terrytao.wordpress.com
4http://meandmyresearch.blogspot.no/2012/09/how-to-succeed-as-phd-student.html