Points to ponder for completing a Thesis .. you can feel good about

A Thesis can be a lot of fun .


There can be no statement as untrue as this. If you want to differ ask someone who has just tread the path.


Its a long as in LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOng process. There are few reasons in between to cheer , be happy or party about. There are few things to compete for (it seems). There are few guiding stars and you are unlikely to end a thesis without many guardian angels.


From the editing of chapters in the end to the conceptual diagrams at the start and the suggested readings all along, inputs to a thesis come in various shapes and sizes. Sometimes the most unexpected people give the most valuable tips and the most silly things can lead to the most valuable insights. There is however seldom an advice better than what my guide gave me early on... "The only way a building is made is brick by brick.."There is rarely something as true as this for a PhD or a full blown research.


So here is a small collection of principles for completing a Thesis you can feel good about.


a) Open up.. talk about your work.. to the right people and get their views ... while you talk .. talk less and listen more.. the only reason you want to talk is to get inputs from all possible. All research intends to ultimately find a universal law.. if yes then start with accepting universal diversity.


b) Close down...reduce the amount of diverse things you do in work and concentrate on few things.. the focus is not on diversity of things you do but on the depth and ability to complete the things that you do.. in the case of the thesis these are the various tasks of the thesis.


c) link laterally .. A thesis is a huge task like a mega project comprising of numerous small and odd tasks .. making them link up and scheduling them seems next to impossible at the start. so don't try to link up too many activities.. try to link up friends who can help you with them.. a do-it-ALL-yourself PhD is not a good idea for completion though a great idea for learning. The more you link to people the better ideas you will get and the more you will end up learning. The idea is not to do everything but be capable of doing everything yourself.


d) Having good people with whom you can share your emotions is important to complete the process. The process is like a fellowship of many different tasks and good people are the binding material.


e) You have the ups, downs, lateral links, the binders, and the filling? yes what do you fill the PhD with.. Nothing but Hard Work.


f) The PhD is a process of learning the process of doing research till you can produce a complete finished product. The stress is on learning the process... complete...finished...product.. and think if you were evaluating a thesis .. what would you want to see to convince you that it was a finished and complete and final product and that the process had been learnt on the way.. clearly the last can not be evaluated and is left to the guide so guides at times have to be harsh.. and for the same reason the examination committee gives you some amount of work to check the process learning.

g) Your THESIS will be evaluated and not YOU. so choose people to guide you towards completing a THESIS and examiners who know what to evaluate.

h) The only way to complete a Thesis is to KEEP GOING ON . Only when you keep going can you ever reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

These are neither necessary nor sufficient and neither comprehensive nor exhaustive and each one of us might add our own rules to the list..or even i may revise this in a few days time . However i expect these to be helpful to most PhD Scholars who want to feel good about their own Thesis.