researcher's bible
TRANSCRIPT
“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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