“The Researcher's Bible”

Debate and Conversation in English

September, 2011

● The Researchers' Bible

Alan Bundy, Ben du Boulay, Jim Howe and Gordon Plotkin. 1995

Gives advices about various aspects of getting a Ph.D.

What is a thesis?

● The Ph.D. Candidate must demonstrate that he is capable of pursuing original research in his field of study.

● Must be original work making a significant contribution to knowledge.

● Contain material worthy of publication.

Pitfalls for postgraduate students

● Pick research goals which are too ambitious.

Source of ideas

● Further work sections of papers

● Re-doing bad work

Having chosen a topic

● Read the literature● Talk to people● Tackle a simplified version of your

problem● Write down your ideas● Give a talk to a small group

Computer bum

● Your program must be explainable at a higher level than code.

● Plan your program theoretically before going to the terminal

● If people don't understand it is your fault● If you really believe that existing

languages are inadequate then write a paper on it

Micawberism

● Make sure what class of result you are attempting to establish

● Talk to people● Imagine the experiment finished● Don't keep running experiments in the

hope that something will turn up

● Keep in touch with the state of the art in releated fields

● Talk to other people about their research● Attend selected seminars and lectures

Misunderstood genius

● Try to rephrase your ideas using ordinary english

● Your solution won't be trivial to other people and should anyway be used as basis for further work

● Motto: Do the easiest thing first, then stand on shoulders and do the next easiest thing etc.-a better infinite loop

● Do it the simplest you can● Tackle the abstract property in a concrete

situation● Do something simple● The readers and examiners are interested

in the general arguments in favor of the idea

Mental attitude

● Belief in what you are doing● You must be prepared to modify your

ideas if they are wrong● Doubts about your own ability can lead to

research impotence● You will have to learn to differentiate

between valid and invalid criticism

Cold start

● Make yourself a regular working schedule● Make sure you leave some non-

threatening, attractive task to do first

● Only try to prove a theorem if it is clearly relevant to your overall purpose

● The sooner you subject your idea to the acid test, the sooner you will discover its limitations

Choosing a research project

1. You must be enthusiastic about it

2.Solving the problem must be worthy of a Ph.D.

3.It must be 'do-able' in three years

4.There must be someone willing to supervise it

● Beware of choosing an area new to you

● Find someone whose interest lie in this area and who is prepared to advise you

Research methodology

1.Think of a scenario

2.Hypothesise what processes ,ight achieve such a scenario

3.Think of further scenarios

4.Choose the programming language that fits your needs

5.Find some examples you have not previously considered – Modify your program until is robust

6.Testing it on some examples – Keep statistics on its success/faliure

7.Describe your program using language independent of your particular implementation

Writing papers

● You should make writing a regular part of your life

● Keep records of everything you do

Guide to writing

● Your paper should have a message● Cannot be misunderstood● Stick to the main message and only

include what is essential to that● What is the problem?, what did you used

to tackle?, what result followed?

● Have a particular reader in mind

decide what your reader has to know in order to understand the central idea

● Use worked examples to illustrate a procedure

● Clearly state what is new or better about what you have done

● Do no define a new term unless you really need it

● Ask several people to read the draft versions

Relevant to thesis writing

● Should not be a 'core-dump' of all you know about everything related to the topic

● You should write your ideas and results up as a series of notes

● Build your thesis message:– Should serve as a guide to the title,

abstract, summary, conclusion and the whole body of the thesis

– Should answer: what have I done? And why does this work deserve a degree?

Guide to reading

● Staying in touch with related research is the main subgoals of obtaining a Ph.D.

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