Starting out
Start even before the beginning of term.
Successful graduate programs often begin for students and supervisors informally before the beginning of term. Plan to spend more time than usual in the first meetings, and anticipate needs and potential problems and processes based on what you know of each other. When the first term begins, students can be ready for coursework and already thinking ahead research-related tasks and other activities.
For supervisors: strategies for before and after a student's arrival
Prior to a student's arrival
If you haven’t thought about your own expectations of supervising then you might want to read a McGill supervisor’s handout to all his supervisees [pdf, link].
You may wish to review this First meeting checklist [.pdf] available on the Oxford Research Supervision website in preparing for the meeting. The following recommendations may also be helpful:
- Allocate more time for the first meetings with students
- Be aware of students’ cultural backgrounds
- Provide sample agendas including expectations about money and hours (if applicable)
- Clarify preferred means of communication
Strategies such as the following may be useful to prepare students before arrival:
- Give students some directed reading before the students arrive, so that they are in a good position to begin discussing their research topic straight away.
- Suggest to students that they review the online faculty and departmental regulations and requirements in order to prepare to discuss them with you.
Regularly during the degree
Strategies such as the following may be useful to support induction and develop good working relationships. These strategies enable you to create a contrast between the necessary, formal focus on student progress, and ongoing informal interactions which occur frequently in the lab, at team meetings, or during seminars.
- Ask students to send you an email after each formal supervisory meeting. This email should briefly summarize what they perceive as the main outcomes of the meeting (see "meeting minutes" below). Written records such as these are valuable not only to correct any miscommunication but also as a record of earlier review and discussion of student progress and development. This is particularly important if there is any disagreement "down the line."
- Tell students you intend to use completion of the Graduate Student Research Objectives Report Form [link] and Graduate Student Research Progress Record [link]as an opportunity to revisit with them your mutual expectations of supervision, the effectiveness of current lines of communication and any impediments to the working relationships, and also to identify any anticipated learning needs.
- Make action plans at meetings and ensure that the students know what to do next.
For students: meeting minutes, self-reflection, and advice from senior students
As a student, in addition to any orientation events, you might find the following useful as you start.
- "Meeting minutes": As soon as possible after any formal supervision meeting with your supervisor, write a brief descriptive text that summarizes the direction of the discussion including what was clarified, ending with next tasks and timelines. Send this to your supervisor to verify that you have understood exactly what has been agreed. Writing these regularly provides you with a log of your progress.
- Reflect on your progress in the past week or month and make action plans for upcoming weeks or months. You may use this reflective log [.pdf] if you like.
- There is advice for new graduate students from final-year students in the Oxford Learning Institute's I wish I’d been told earlier [.pdf] document. Useful hints and tips from those who can be expected to know what it's really like!
How future-oriented should my plans be at the start?
The question applies equally to graduate students and supervisors. Both groups sometimes focus too narrowly on immediate concerns and neglect not only other requirements of a degree, but also extra-curricular and postgraduate issues. And yet graduate study requires intense focus on gaining or advancing discipline-specific knowledge, and this can create a false sense of being sheltered from time.
The conflict between devoting oneself entirely to research while considering other demands will not easily be solved, but it can be eased when supervisors and supervisees engage in discussions and planning before the start of term when many graduate students are drawn into their studies. It is wise to peruse the online publications that help to put graduate education in perspective. For examples:
- This story on a Grad school survival guide from Inside Higher Ed offers some funny and yet bracing perspective.
- An even more bracing perspective is available from the Chronicle of Higher Education: If you must go to grad school.
- An essay entitled Short term, long term, also from Inside Higher Ed, can serve to remind people to think not only of immediate concerns.
Transitions from undergraduate to graduate
Students who gain their undergraduate degrees and then become graduate students often face a "culture shock" even if they are native to the predominant culture of the university in which they pursue a Master's degree or a PhD. They face the challenges of increased competition, self-directed research, and creating a student-supervisor relationship that is professional and mutually beneficial.
Frequently mentioned in the literature is the problematic transition from being an undergraduate or graduate student in a taught program (i.e., non-thesis programs) to a doctoral candidate. Often the individual has been a "star performer" and now takes on the new role of doctoral candidate as a novice researcher where most others are equally star performers. Another transition is moving to a learning context that is not as structured once students have completed their coursework requirements. Research has indicated that the post-coursework years are when doctoral students start to acquire research independence and become more independent researchers. For those who come with years of professional experience, however, the issue is often that of being treated like students rather than professionals. International students need to make adjustments for a new culture and a new language. Regardless of the backgrounds of students, there is the expectation of growing independence over time in becoming an academic peer. This involves learning that constructive critique, even when "negative," is a key feature of academic work which can be taken up positively given its potential to improve performance. Critical to all these transitions is developing a good working relationship with the supervisor as well as a support network (composed of, for example, friends, colleagues, labmates, other members on the advisory committee, other professors in the department or school) while dealing with the many personal changes occurring simultaneously, for example, often a new institution, new culture and sometimes language, the absence of personal networks, etc.
The text of this page was based on:
- Gardner, S. (2008). "What's too much and what's too little?" The process of becoming an independent researcher in doctoral education. Journal of Higher Education, 79(3), 326-350.
- Hall, L., & Burns, L (2009). Identity development and mentoring in doctoral education. Harvard Educational Review, 79,1, 49-70.
- McAlpine, L., & Amundsen, C. (Eds.). (2011). Doctoral education: Research based strategies for doctoral students, supervisors and administrators. Amsterdam: Springer.
- Sambrook, S., Stewart, J., & Roberts, C. (2008). Doctoral supervision. a view from above, below and the middle. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 32(1), 71-84.
A graduate degree at a glance
The graduate degree can be divided into periods marked by “milestone” events. At McGill, graduate students experience the following milestones before completing their studies:
- Completion of coursework
- Passing the comprehensive examination (or its equivalent) (for doctoral students)
- Initial submission of the thesis or dissertation
- The oral defence of the dissertation
Students are usually required to take some courses during the first 1-2 years in the program before carrying out their research. For policy regarding coursework, see the Regulations section in the University Regulations and Resources website. Following the coursework, doctoral students need to pass a comprehensive exam (known as the “comps”). See the Ph.D. comprehensives policy of the University Regulations and Resources for further information. Students should also check with their program director and the supervisor for requirements and timelines that are specific to the department or school. For example, in some departments a research proposal is required in addition to the comprehensive exam. An advisory committee is usually established prior to the comprehensive exam to guide students towards the exam and evaluate their work in it. Again, students are encouraged to check their departments or schools for composition and responsibilities of this committee.
McGill has a time limitation policy for degree completion, and there is a system for tracking students’ progress. See also the Policy on graduate student research progress tracking. Tracking forms can be found in the Research and exams section on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website.
Students may check the Handbook on Student Rights and Responsibilities (also known as the “green book”) and FairPlay: A guide to academic integrity (also known as the “red book”) for information about their academic performance.