151Appendix
Afterword
The creation of How to Write a Better Thesis has, in part, been an outgrowth of
my teaching of research methods. For a long time my approach was to present it
as a series of tasks such as starting the writing process, designing experiments,
and interpreting results. But as a supervisor, and a participant in a variety of stu-
dent progress committees, I had found myself asking questions about the students
I encountered, about why they did or didn’t do well in their studies. I noticed that
their strengths and weaknesses—the things that led to success or failure—often fell
outside the topics I was teaching as research methods.
For example, one question I asked was What were the qualities that I admired in
the most successful students? Brilliance, sometimes, but more often an ability to ‘get
the job done’; that is, the quality of battering at problem until it was defeated. Bril-
liant students may get there faster, but a determined, careful student will find a range
of ways to approach a problem and methodically work through them, often to equal-
ly good results. What was it that led me to judge them ‘successful’? Strong or numer-
ous publications, sometimes, but more often perseverance in the face of difficulty, a
determination to work around their own shortcomings. That is, often these students
were not at first glance the most talented, but had a spirit that made them able to do
first-class research despite gaps in their abilities. Which leads to What really are the
key skills of a successful student? Ability, sometimes, but more often a combination
of hard work, exploratory thinking, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
Other questions were less positive, but equally pressing. Why do good students
sometimes fail? Why do some student–supervisor relationships break down? Why
is it that the experience of being a research student is so stressful for some people?
It seemed to me that such questions, in contrast to questions about the mechanical
steps of getting it done, were not discussed often enough. This book is, in part, an
attempt to answer these questions, and to help students succeed in the face of dif-
ficulties and challenges.
How to Write a Better Thesis is also a response to my experiences as a supervisor.
Looking back at the many PhD students I have supervised or worked with, there are
several aspects that are striking. One is the diversity of experience and background that
D. Evans et al., How to Write a Better Thesis, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04286-2,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014