Tips for PhD students

On this web page you will find the answers to all the questions we have asked ourselves during our research as a PhD student. Questions about how to get it started and how to get it finished, but that we have never dared to ask. Besides this we have included links to some useful tools we have discovered along the way. Please, contact us if you want to add more.

• Frequently asked questions
  • When, how and where do I submit my first abstract?
  • How do I write a paper?
  • How do I prepare a talk?
  • Do I have to spend all my time reading and writing?
  • How, when and where do I submit my first paper to a journal?
  • How do I write my thesis?
  • What do I have to do for my PhD defense?
• Useful links

FAQ

• When, how and where do I submit my first abstract?

You are starting your 4-years tenure, you are reading papers, you are enjoying yourself while doing it, you see the others writing and you wonder when it's going to be your turn, right? Try, try it now! You are not going to learn how to write by only reading. Take a (small) problem that made you think while reading or attending a course and try to make clear what you think about it and why. Few ideas clearly written will be enough for your first abstract. In the worst case you will learn a lot from the reviewers. Here is more information we have found on the net: How to write a good extended abstract by William Pugh.

If you still don't know where to submit your abstract you can find information about conferences via mailing lists. We list some of them here:

• Colibri,
• Linguist,
Subscribing to them will keep you informed about what's happening in your field. Note that not all conferences are on the same level, there are some major ones where everybody dreams to go, e.g.

• SALT;
• COLI;

But when starting you might want to try minor ones. There are some organized especially for students, e.g.

• Uiltjes
• ESSLLI Student Session
• ConSoLe


• How do I write a paper?
  We found the advice by Tony Roberts pretty handy. Go and have a look Write Right for Research.
  
  
• How do I prepare a talk?
  To some question has been asked to Patrick Blakburn who gave us the answer at ESSLLI 01. How to give a good talk
  
  
• Do I have to spend all my time reading and writing?
  When you get familiar with this process of submitting papers, you might want to learn more about what is behind the workshops, conferences you have been taking part in. You might want to have a look at them from the inside. Again, try this out! You can contribute to your field by being involved in the organization of workshops as well. You could start proposing meetings with your research group, or with your fellow-students. This will also bring more variety in your work and you will get to know your colleagues. It will be good for your CV and it might be good for your mood as well. If you want to give it a try but you don't know how, read Tips on Organizing Workshops and Symposia by Marie des Jardins.
  
  
• How, When and Where do I submit my first paper to a journal?
  The process of publishing papers in a journal is much longer than the one you have experienced with conferences. It may take years. Anyway it is worth a try. Sometime papers published in proceedings of conferences can be selected by the editors for special issues in a Journal. Otherwise you can decide to submit your paper yourself to the Journal your paper is suited for. In this case there is no call for papers you have to wait for, but you have to follow the general instructions given by the Journal you are thinking of.

More information on the topics above can be found at http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~tw/phd/!

• How do I write my thesis?
  Well, this is a hard question indeed and none of us know the answer yet, but John W. Chinneck, has written something about How to Organize your Thesis
  
  
• What do I have to do for my PhD defense?
  We are working on it! For now you'll have to make do with the booklet the OGC has published on the subject, at their website (in Dutch).