{"id":2499,"date":"2014-09-29T06:23:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T00:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2018-05-21T01:21:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-20T19:51:08","slug":"six-things-phd-student-should-refuse-to-do-to-be-successful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/six-things-phd-student-should-refuse-to-do-to-be-successful\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Things Every PhD Student Should Refuse to Do in Order to Be Successful"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are several\u00a0things a PhD student must do to in order to succeed. There are also things a student must not<\/span> do if he or she wants to be successful. Here are six things you should\u00a0avoid.<\/p>\n

Fudge Data<\/h2>\n

Suppose you have performed\u00a0a reaction several times and cannot get the yield above 60%. Having a low opinion of your lab skill, your advisor tells you to write up the result for publication but change the yield to 75%. Would you do it? You shouldn\u2019t. Perhaps you could mollify him with the neutral description, \u201cin good yield,\u201d but don\u2019t fudge the data. If nobody is able to\u00a0reproduce your work, your reputation will suffer. Don\u2019t start out a career this way.<\/p>\n

Fake Research<\/h2>\n

This seems obvious but every year there are cases of formerly acclaimed PhD students brought down by revelations of faked research<\/a>. Some of these cases seem pathological, evidence of an underlying mental illness, but plenty of students with demanding advisors are tempted to make up some good news in return for a respite. Resist the temptation; the consequences will be dire.<\/p>\n

Be Discouraged<\/h2>\n

No research program is smooth sailing. When you venture out into the unknown there are sure to be reefs and storms and changes of direction. Learning how to overcome problems is part of the PhD program. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman considered it the most important part of doctoral training. At a restaurant I once opened a fortune cookie that read, \u201cYou will gain great satisfaction in overcoming difficulties.\u201d This prophesy is the ideal if not always the reality of a PhD program.<\/p>\n

Fear Public Speaking<\/h2>\n

The most common fear the average person has is speaking in front of an audience<\/a>. The best way to overcome this fear is to force yourself to speak in public. I know since this is a problem I had early in my career. Start small, asking questions in class or responding to questions. Join a Toastmasters<\/a> group. It\u2019s helpful and it\u2019s fun. I joined one group and two years later I belonged to three, was entering speech contests, and occasionally won them.<\/p>\n

Procrastinate<\/h2>\n

In grad school you largely set your own work schedule. Procrastination is a habit that will add a year to your time in grad school, if it doesn\u2019t keep you from getting a degree. \u201cDrive thy business,\u201d said Benjamin Franklin, \u201cOr it will drive thee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treat Grad School Like Work or College<\/h2>\n

Graduate school is not a 9-5 job where you can succeed by putting in your eight hours. And it\u2019s not like college where the main thrust is absorbing current knowledge. In a dissertation you must advance knowledge in a field, and that is a challenge. For some such as myself, grad school was akin to a monastic existence. Others find ways to balance research and private life. But grad school is a unique experience and one has to accept this and adapt.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are several\u00a0things a PhD student must do to in order to succeed. There are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1319,1336],"tags":[1510],"ppma_author":[1894],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-publishing","category-phd-cafe","tag-tips-for-phd-students"],"better_featured_image":null,"acf":{"faq_main_heading":"","faq_heading_one":"","faq_heading_two":"","faq_heading_three":"","faq_heading_four":"","faq_heading_five":"","faq_heading_six":"","faq_description_one":"","faq_description_two":"","faq_description_three":"","faq_description_four":"","faq_description_five":"","faq_description_six":""},"views":516,"single_webinar_page_date":null,"single_webinar_page_time":null,"session_agenda":null,"who_should_attend_this_session":null,"about_the_speaker_field":null,"co-webinar-sec":null,"co_webinar_sec_one":null,"speaker-name":null,"webinar-date":null,"webinar-time":null,"webinar-s-image":null,"custum_webinar_category":null,"authors":[{"term_id":1894,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daveishan","display_name":"Enago Academy","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png"},"author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources on academic research and scholarly publishing to all levels of scholarly professionals: students, researchers, editors, publishers, and academic societies. It is also a popular platform for networking, allowing researchers to learn, share, and discuss their experiences within their network and community. The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}