✦Research · 12 recordsFirst year of a PhD

The first year is not for results. It is for arriving at a question that is genuinely open, and for building the reading, note-taking and writing habits that have to survive three more years. Both are easy to postpone into year two.

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Goal

End the year with a question worth three more Month 10

A defensible question and habits that survive to the end.

Find the question Month 7

Open enough that nobody can just tell you the answer.

  • Write three candidate questions and take them to my supervisorDo firstWeek 3
  • Read around each until one of them survivesMonth 5
  • Write the question up properlyDo firstMonth 7

Set up how I work Month 3

Reading, notes and writing, built while the volume is still small.

  • Decide where notes live and how papers get filedDo firstWeek 2
  • Write a summary of every paper I read for a monthWeek 6

Routines

  • Read a paperdaily
  • Write something, however roughdaily
  • Weekly review of where the question standsweekly
✦ It comes with a note

Year one is not for results

It is for arriving at a question that is genuinely open, and for building habits that have to last three more years. Chasing results early usually means answering a question nobody asked.\n\nThe notes you take now are read in year three by somebody who has forgotten the paper. Build the system while the volume is still small enough to change it.

✦ Questions

First year of a PhD, answered.

A defensible question, a working knowledge of the literature around it, and habits you can hold for three more years. Results are not the point yet, and chasing them early usually means answering a question nobody asked.
Somebody who knows the field should be unable to immediately tell you the answer or point you to it. The reading project exists mostly to establish that, which is why it comes before any commitment to a method.
Because the notes you take in year one are read in year three by somebody who has forgotten the paper. A system that survives that gap has to be built while the volume is still small enough to change it.
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