Although undergrad studies are a big step on from GCSEs and A-Levels, they are still, to a large extent, tutor-led. You go to lectures and seminars where the agenda has been set by the teacher who is standing at the front of the room. You can pick which essay to write from a list of titles, but those titles are set by someone else. You\u2019ll have a reading list and a revision timetable, term dates and reading weeks.<\/p>\n
Things get a little different once you\u2019re doing postgrad work. As a master\u2019s or PhD student, it\u2019s your job to set the script. You will be the one deciding what you need to read and when. You’ll be making decisions about where your research should go. This might feel daunting at first, but when you get used to it, the freedom can be liberating and inspiring.<\/p>\n
Of course, you won\u2019t be flying entirely solo, as you will have a supervisor who is experienced in your topic area and can mentor and guide you\u2026<\/p>\n
Photo by Colin Lloyd<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n The relationship you have with your postgrad supervisor is unique. Ideally, they will be experts in either the methodology you\u2019re using for your research project or the topic area of your research question \u2013 or both, if you\u2019re lucky. Your supervisor\u2019s job is to guide you through the postgrad process, helping you to identify and overcome challenges, and giving you advice about your research and writing.<\/p>\n You should have regular research meetings with your supervisor and be able to email or call them with questions when they arise. Eventually, you and your supervisor are likely to co-author peer-reviewed papers together. It\u2019s common for supervisors to take an interest in and help the careers of their students for a long time after the postgrad course has ended (I benefitted hugely from my supervisor Jonathan A Smith\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0mentorship long after my PhD had ended), so it\u2019s worth staying in their good books!<\/p>\n It is not your supervisor\u2019s job to give you a grade, as you will have been used to up until this point, to rewrite your work or give you \u2018the answers\u2019. Something to bear in mind is that supervisors are often busy, stressed-out members of university staff, so they might not be able to stick to the deadlines that have been originally set or give you as much feedback as you want.<\/p>\n Of course, if you\u2019re doing a qualitative social sciences project and would like more feedback than your supervisor can give you, you can always book a VC or some written feedback with PGPR. Our friendly team of experts is always happy to help.<\/p>\n Photo by Immo Wegmann<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Undergrad courses are made up of lots of modules, essays, exams and projects. In contrast, a postgrad course tends to be one big research project, based on a single research question. While an undergrad degree is about getting a good grounding in all aspects of your discipline, postgrad work is about becoming an expert in the specific area that interests you the most.<\/p>\n This means it\u2019s worth thinking carefully about what you want to research for your postgrad work. Is your potential topic something that genuinely fascinates you? Postgrad work can be gruelling and lonely, so if you\u2019re working on a project you find boring, it might be hard to stick with it. Your postgrad findings are likely to set the stage for your academic career, if that\u2019s the direction you decide to go in.<\/p>\n Your outputs will be your thesis plus the research papers and conference presentations you create based on your findings. If you need proofreading help with any of these pieces, we\u2019re here for you.<\/p>\n Some undergrads disseminate the findings from their research projects, but this is rare. However, once you become a postgrad student, turning your findings into papers and presentation conferences is par for the course. We\u2019ve got some helpful blogs about writing up papers which you can find here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sharing your findings with the world is exciting but can also feel scary at first. You are likely to encounter rejections and tricky feedback from reviewers, which can feel upsetting when this is work you\u2019ve poured your heart and soul into. It\u2019s OK to find this difficult, but it might be useful to remember that every single academic has faced the same problem. I\u2019ve been publishing papers for many years now (you can see my Google Scholar page here<\/a>) and I still get tough reviews. These days, they bother me a lot less as I know I can either action the suggestions that have been made to genuinely improve the paper, or make a convincing argument for why I disagree.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re struggling to turn your lovely, detailed findings section into a shorter research paper, you can contact PGPR for some feedback, proofreading and\/or word reduction help.<\/p>\n Photo by Jaime Lopes<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Something that can be hard to get used to when you transition from undergrad to postgrad is that deadlines become a lot more flexible. When you\u2019re studying for a BSc, exam days, essay deadlines and term dates are set in stone. It\u2019s not like that when you\u2019re a postgrad. Sure, the university will be closed over Christmas, but otherwise you\u2019re unlikely to be taking long breaks from your work. (However, you can decide to set your own holiday dates, which is a big bonus.)<\/p>\n You also might have a beautiful timetable written out for exactly when you plan to recruit your participants, do your interviews, analyse your data and get feedback from your supervisor \u2013 but real life doesn\u2019t tend to pan out so beautifully. It might take longer to get ethics approval than you\u2019d hoped. Your supervisor might go off sick and take longer to get back to you than initially planned. You have to learn to roll with these punches.<\/p>\n This flexibility in postgrad deadlines is why we don\u2019t book clients\u2019 work in advance \u2013 we have learned from experience that students often struggle to meet the deadlines we have worked out between us. That\u2019s absolutely fine and as it should be. Once your work is ready for proofreading and\/or feedback, send it over to us and we\u2019ll work on it and get it back to you as soon as we can.<\/p>\n If you need help with feedback, proofreading or word reduction, get in touch with us via the box below to ask any questions or book a service.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"http:\/\/postgradproofreader.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/colin-lloyd-4oOW885Aoj4-unsplash-683x1024.jpg\")
Undergrad work is a step up from A-levels, but postgrad studies can feel like a big leap into the unknown!<\/em><\/p>\nRelationship with supervisor <\/strong><\/h5>\n
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They might be vastly different from your teacher at school but your supervisor should be on hand to guide you through the postgrad process.<\/em><\/p>\nOne big project<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Presenting at conferences and publishing papers<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Presenting your findings can be nerve-wracking! But it’s all worth it in the end, we promise!<\/em><\/p>\nChanges to deadlines <\/strong><\/h5>\n
Contact PGPR<\/strong><\/h5>\n