Getting going

First doctoral training workshop today was full to standing space only since all the new PhD and the MRes students were there.

Why are we doing this?
Reasons included:

• vanity
• curiosity
• the money
• career

We divided these into essential reasons, such as following up interesting ideas, and some supporting reasons such as career development.

What the examiner will be looking for:

• good style and presentation
• proficiency in research methods
• initiative and independence of thought (Masters)
• significant (distinct at Masters) contribution to knowledge
• material worthy of publication (PhD)
• able to pursue further research without supervision (PhD)
• able to argue and discuss research (PhD viva)

We had a short discussion on what ways we expected our research to be original and what various streams accepted as originality. Apparently, whereas for instance a new criticism of something might be original in some disciplines, in others it is merely a review.

And we finished up with some mention of resources such as DVDs and web sites. I think I'll try del.icio.us for my social bookmarking - I've given up with scuttle.