Hello students and graduates!
Welcome to PhD Lounge, the podcast of late-night interviews where PhD students have a drink and talk about their research topics.
I am your host Luis and a huge congratulations to you for concluding the academic year 2022/2023 by finishing your exams with a positive result. I know the road was long and challenging to reach its end, and if you completed all your modules of both terms, well done; you deserve to rest and enjoy yourself during summer. Seize your summer time by travelling to other countries you have never been to, whether with your parents or your friends, or save money from your part-time job to invest in something you like, or if you are working in a placement job, enjoy the experience to gain valuable skills when finding a job after your degree. If you still need to complete all your modules and have failed the first try of your exams, do not panic! There is another opportunity in August to achieve the grades you wish by studying smarter and not harder without feeling overwhelmed and stressed with the pressure you have on your shoulders to pass those modules you could not achieve. So, therefore, all the best and success in the exams! Speaking of which, I have to mark your exams lasting almost a month, having lots of pressure to mark them under a time limit whilst I progress in writing my thesis, working part-time, and having some spare time for the PhD Lounge podcast and my social life. Nevertheless, I am prepared and confident for this upcoming task to obtain more experience with these challenges, building my social network with different people within academia and industry, respectively.
I also want to share that I undertook the Swansea University 3 Minute Thesis final, the competition where I talked about my research topic toward a non-specialist audience in just three minutes. The experience was outstanding, with many people attending the presentations on different topics by all Postgraduate researchers that participated in that incredible final. Unfortunately, I did not win the final and the person who did, I think his PhD topic is in English Literature, but I am not so sure about it. Either way, congratulations to the winner as he will represent Swansea University in the UK quarter finals. During my stage performance, I think I left a great impression on all those who attended, being satisfied with my progress regarding my presentation and public engagement skills. I was motivated and felt confident to present my three-minute thesis, but then I hesitated and missed a few aspects of my research, becoming speechless, which cost precious seconds until I had to improvise during the rest of my talk. Despite not winning the 3MT final, I won a significant award for the PhD Lounge Podcast! Interesting story I must tell you: when the speaker was announcing different awards, the speaker said “late-night interviews and outstanding contribution to the PGR community and experience”. When the speaker mentioned late-night interviews, I was like: “That’s my podcast; what’s this? Who nominated me? And then, I was called to the stage to receive the prize, plus a voucher to spend on Amazon products, and, to be honest, I was surprised and unexpected to receive such an award as well as my peers and friends that laughed and commented on my admiration for such an outcome. But in the end, I thank whoever shared PhD Lounge and nominated me to earn the prize of outstanding community and experience to the PGR community of Swansea University and beyond, and also a big thanks to all listeners, whether you are a PhD student or not living in different countries across the world, who have been listening and enjoying PhD Lounge podcast. This award is not just mine but belongs to all of you who enjoy hearing the solo sessions and late-night interviews, contributing to the experience, education and entertainment of what it is like to be a PhD student and having a healthy lifestyle during the PhD degree. Thank you very much!
Now, let’s turn to the new solo session of the PhD Iceberg Explained series. In the last session, I shared some thoughts about the research proposal from the supervisor’s perspective, what the supervisor expects and what to do to make your proposal fit for the PhD programme you want to research. After you complete that step and are accepted into the PhD, it now turns to start writing your first PhD draft, which is the official beginning of your PhD journey, and what tasks you will expect to complete and show to your supervisor that you have potential and talent to become a Doctor of Philosophy!
So grab your coffees and beers, have a seat and let’s introduce the following session: The Challenges of the First PhD Draft!
Congratulations on being accepted into the PhD program with your outstanding research proposal! Your journey as a PhD candidate has officially begun, and you now have the opportunity to build your network with other PhD students and enhance your relationship with your supervisor. However, along with the range of emotions you share with your family, friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife, you will also have a list of tasks to complete in the first few months, depending on your supervisor’s requests and planning skills. These include creating a table of contents, compiling a preliminary bibliography, setting deadlines, and, last but not least, writing your first PhD draft. Yes! Writing your first draft of your PhD thesis is an essential step in beginning your doctoral journey successfully. A quick note to the listeners: The first draft is not a chapter. A draft consists of a written preliminary version that forms what your final chapter will look like. When you create a draft, you receive feedback from your supervisor regarding revising your researched evidence and reshaping your writing and structure to link to your main argument. This takes time, and once you have made your revisions upon consultation with your supervisor, you can consider that your draft is complete and ready to become a solid chapter.
As you begin your PhD journey, your first draft holds significant importance. It is the initial piece of your research, showcasing your topic, addressing inconsistencies within a broader context, and defining your project’s scope and methodology. Whether utilising pre-existing research methods or drawing others if you had professional experience before your PhD, your first draft is essential in demonstrating your academic writing skills and engagement with evidence. Furthermore, your supervisor will evaluate how your first draft reflects on your self-guidance and knowledge in searching resources, planning your thesis structure, and asking for guidance when necessary. And since this session is about the first draft of your PhD project, I ask this question which you probably know the answer to already, but let’s address it anyway: Have you ever wondered why is the first draft of your PhD project the first and foremost task to submit to your supervisor? I think the answer is crystal clear! Ultimately, the first draft serves as a test for your supervisor to gauge your abilities and sets the tone for your PhD project.
On the first day of my PhD program, which started on July 1, 2021, my supervisor requested that I write a two-page draft explaining the concepts of Hybridity and Third Space and their relevance to my research on ancient cities in the Near East. I understood that this was not only to introduce these concepts but also to evaluate whether I was following academic guidelines and engaging with evidence without plagiarising. However, I wrote about six pages in my first draft because these concepts are complex and require examples to contextualise them within my research topic. I provided examples to convince my supervisor of their usefulness in studying ancient cities and identity. As part of the PhD, I am responsible and evaluated for planning, structuring, and presenting my argument with detailed examples while receiving feedback from my supervisor for improvement. I think my supervisor was not bothered about the written pages when we had a meeting about my first draft, assuming what my supervisor really meant was to write what would be interesting about hybridity and third space and their significance, regardless of how many pages I would have written.
As it is the first draft and the first official feedback by your supervisor, we usually form in our minds lots of questions that we do not have answers to yet at the start of our PhDs. But, we have one that surpasses all of them, especially for our first PhD draft, which likewise reflects in other subsequent drafts. Where do I start? This primary question we create is often due to needing to know what articles, thesis or books from other authors we should use to start forming our first sentences. In short, writing our first PhD draft is hard for the candidate and the supervisor while analysing and giving feedback. And we should not blame ourselves as it is a typical characteristic that we have as PhD students because we ought to take time to think about what to write and what to reference for our supervisor to evaluate instead of writing spontaneously.
What should we consider when planning our first PhD drafts?
To get started, writing an outline for our first draft is necessary. But why is this important? An outline provides a detailed summary of our proposed structure, introduction, methodologies, case studies, and conclusion. Then, of course, we must consult with our supervisor and make adjustments as needed. By creating an outline for our first PhD draft, the PhD student presents the proposed approach to the project to the supervisor and demonstrates the ability to conduct research and take ownership of the project. According to Patrick Dunleavy, the outline is crucial in visualising what our final dissertation will look like, including the structure, references, and overall quality. Additionally, the outline keeps us on track and ensures that the student is not just writing aimlessly without a frame or direction.
Therefore, what should you include in your outline since this paper is treated as a summary? Your outline should have a structure of your first draft and the thesis as a whole. However, the structure has to be brief and consistent in terms of organising your compelling evidence, proposed chapters, proposed word limit for your first draft, research methods, writing style, proofreading, page limitation, editing, revision and deadlines. All of this is essential, but at the same time, it has to do with the guidelines your university has, the consultation and feedback from your supervisor, and most of it, your common sense on how you will set your realistic goals, difficulties in writing your draft and the failed attempts until you have a substantial piece of paper or definitive chapters.
After completing all the necessary steps to create your outline, it is time to start working on your first PhD draft. But wait! As PhD students, we frequently experience the stress of striving for perfection in our first draft. This can lead to frustration, fear and even harm our writing style, research habits, sense of humour, organisation, and mental health. It is important to remember that seeking perfectionism in the first draft may hinder your productivity and increase the likelihood of writing an unacceptable draft for your supervisor. Instead, focus on balancing quality writing with healthy research habits and expectations. It is normal to strive for high standards in the first stage of the PhD but do not let perfectionism become a common adversity that holds you back. As previously mentioned, your supervisor will review your initial draft to help you improve your research and writing skills and kickstart your PhD. However, note that the supervisor expects something other than perfection at this stage. Instead, the supervisor wants to get to know you as a student and identify gaps where you may need additional support. If your first draft has gaps or issues, you’ll be encouraged to revise it while continuing your research. It is a common misconception among PhD students that their first draft should be flawless and ready for evaluation. But the truth is, striving for perfectionism can actually hinder your progress and prevent you from going forward with your research. Being humble and recognising that your first draft needs feedback and revisions is essential. Focusing too much on perfectionism can lead to writer’s block, lack of momentum, and poor quality research. Instead, aim to produce a solid first draft and be open to feedback and revisions from your supervisor. This approach will help you avoid getting stuck in the drafting phase for months, ultimately leading to a stronger final product.
As the YouTuber and author Jenna Moreci says, and apologies for mispronouncing her surname, writing the first draft is overwhelming, which may lead the student to be stressed and stuck at the start of the PhD. By the way, I am not advertising Miss Moreci and her YouTube channel on the PhD Lounge; I am only referencing her on my show notes. However, in case you are interested, you should check her content on her YouTube channel Writing with Jenna Moreci, as there are great videos about writing advice for beginners, which also falls into the category of PhD researchers.
After creating an outline and avoiding perfectionism, you can finally start writing your first draft. As mentioned above, deciding the best first sentence we should write is challenging and consumes time. Screenwriter Frank Dietz’s screenplay advice on jotting different ideas onto the paper can also be applied in writing a doctoral draft. Essentially, the first draft is about putting thoughts onto paper in an unsystematic way, which will be organised into a cohesive argument later. While writing the draft, our brains generate multiple ideas and pieces of information simultaneously, leading us to include various arguments and methods from different sources without considering their relevance to the first draft and the thesis entirely. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the brain operates differently than a computer, and it is normal to become stuck and indecisive in writing the first draft with so many ideas. External distractions such as social media or our surroundings, whether gazing out the window or observing our pets, can also influence writing performance, research, and valuable time. For example, as I delved into the complex topics of hybridity and third space for my project on Hellenistic-Roman Near Eastern cities and identity, I grappled with the challenge of arranging my myriad of ideas into a coherent structure for my first draft. Despite my best efforts, I spent excessive time scouring plenty of research materials instead of focusing on my original thoughts from the first sources I gathered. I also blame myself due to the added pressure of my full-time job, now as a part-time employee, and various distractions that compounded my struggles in writing the draft. I then realised that I needed to revisit Homi Bhabha’s work, The Location of Culture, to comprehensively understand and apply these concepts to the ancient world context and in my thesis’ subject. Since the first draft was a shorter one required for the probation period I had last year’s October, I ultimately produced a document of nearly 15 pages. I had six when I started, but then it became more for the probation. I currently hold a draft of almost 30 pages regarding both concepts, and I fully intend to expand it by adding something more about the context of the Ancient Near East.
While I was checking several topics on writing faster for PhD students, I found some interesting ideas that could reflect well for our PhD dissertations. The ideas I researched come from novelists, journalists, filmmakers and screenwriters, historians, independent researchers and fiction writers. However, it is up to us as PhD students to find which writing method fits our research agenda and typing ideas onto our first drafts since each PhD student is different and has their own ways of researching and writing their topics. So, what writing ideas could you find to write your first and subsequent drafts? When starting your first PhD draft, writing short paragraphs summarising your arguments, methods, or examples of evidence can be helpful. This technique, recommended by theproofreaders.com, can make your writing easier to follow and help you identify spelling and grammar mistakes to correct them faster for your text to be coherent, punchy, structural, and logical. Personally, I find this method to be helpful when I lack the inspiration to write longer sections. By focusing on writing smaller paragraphs, around 100-150 words each, and reviewing them for spelling and grammar mistakes, I can prepare my work for analysis and supervision.
Next is setting goals for your writing. This method is the most common among PhD students, as to keep ourselves motivated and have writing habits, we very often use this hack for our writing milestones to achieve greatness. But does it work all the time? Setting goals depends on the mood you feel, the different time scales you have, how realistic you want to set your goals and the number of words you set out daily or weekly for your first draft, and also having that consistency for the next drafts. For example, if you want to target your weekly goal of 1000 words per week, which is 200 words per day without counting Saturday and Sunday, encourage yourself to do it and feel that writing pace and accuracy. On the other hand, if you want to increase your writing productivity by implementing 5000 words in two weeks, making 2500 per week and 10000 per month, that is also fine. One thing to be sure of here though is to be realistic in setting goals for your first draft concerning the timing of your writing performance, consistency and dedicating yourself to other things outside the PhD to clear your mental health. Many PhDs listening to this session are likely working part or full-time at their jobs unrelated to university and they build small or mid-term milestones for their PhDs, prioritising themselves and their PhD workflow. Setting goals is essential, but making them rationally and bearable for your agenda is gold.
Another idea for your first draft is to enjoy yourself by writing it faster or at your own pace, free of judgement, fear, anxiety and worry! This writing idea sounds confusing, but it has meaning, as when you start writing your first sentences on your draft, your perfection issues begin to fade. In a YouTube video, scientist emeritus from the University State of Geological Survey, Dr Karen McKee, compares her PhD first draft to a first-time ski riding experience. She uses this analogy to explain that your draft is like building a story with your ideas, thoughts, and experiences. You can write freely without worrying about judgement, panic attacks, or anxiety. Do not worry about using jargon, unclear language, or finding the “perfect” words since you know already that you will polish and restructure your draft later with the correct vocabulary to make your ideas flowy and understandable.
Think about an experience you had alongside the topic you are researching, such as an experience in sustainable travelling volunteering, the emergence of veganism, or the modernisation of football. Through your experience, ask yourself what led you to choose that research, what inspired you, what answers you hope to find, and why your work is significant. Write your first draft as if it is a story that can help you relax, have fun, and experience discomfort without fear and worry. You can also use bullet points before refining your draft to help you take notes and organise your ideas. While this writing method may not work for everyone, some students who enjoy writing stories as a hobby may find it beneficial to reproduce conversational bullet points as an idea for their research draft. The website writingclearscience.com.au has a page dedicated to bullet points if this method appeals to you.
The last thought I want to share in this session concerns moving forward and returning to your first draft after some time. You have sent your draft to your supervisor and eagerly await a response, feeling impatient and wanting feedback ASAP so you can refine your draft and submit it again. At the same time, you are worried that your draft may not be good enough and need a significant overhaul. However, your preliminary version could be great for both you and your supervisor with some improvements, and you spent weeks going over your text and feel like you could use more time. While it is normal to feel anxious when waiting for feedback, especially when working towards a PhD, remember to move forward and plan your subsequent drafts. Consider not wasting time revising your first draft every time your supervisor gives feedback. Instead, leave it for some time and concentrate on planning your next drafts. This will save you time and help you reshape and connect them to your first text structure. Moreover, it is also important to remember that your supervisor has other students to work with and have other commitments. If you were in their shoes, you would want to clear your workload quickly and have some breathing room, but you have to give feedback to your PhD students. Those feelings of having some rest would go over your students, and the feedback you gave would be sent, for example, within six weeks. In that instance, try to understand the workload of your supervisor and think about not putting unnecessary stress on yourself and your supervisor by repeatedly submitting the same draft.
After submitting your first draft of your PhD thesis, continue researching and planning new versions. Even after receiving feedback from your supervisor, it is an excellent idea to revisit it and make revisions as necessary. Remember that your initial draft is just the beginning of communicating your research engagingly and coherently, and it will be evaluated and refined based on how well it is received. By committing to ongoing investigation and revision, you can ensure that your thesis is the best product it can be.
In summary, plan your structure with your supervisor, find your writing methods, set up your own word limit and deadlines, write your first PhD draft like you are telling a funny story or personal experience to someone, and move on to your next drafts and go back to your initial version whenever you need to without the feeling of being overwhelmed!
And with this last paragraph, I wrap up this Iceberg Explained session! This session was a bit shorter, I think, but I wanted to share some thoughts that could be more impactful and honest when you officially start your PhD. I even had some difficulties writing this script and finding relevant information I could collect to make an interesting topic for you. But nevertheless, I hope that you enjoyed it and had some thoughts on what to consider when you go through this significant challenge of your first draft for your PhD.
This session of the Iceberg Explained series is set to be launched in June, so stay tuned for it when it reaches your favourite podcast platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Anchor FM, and others. And following this solo session, my next session is to have a late-night interview, as the last one was in February, and I am currently contacting PhD students who are interested in having an interview once this episode becomes available to you.
If you enjoyed hearing this new session, please and thank you for leaving a review either at your favourite podcast platforms or on my website: phdlounge.co.uk, to help the PhD Lounge grow and reach the podcast algorithm. Consider also following the social media: Facebook: phdpodlounge Instagram: phdlmf, and Twitter: phdloungecast, supporting it as well by clicking the Buzzsprout and the coffee mug on the top left side of the website. And last but not least, if you are a PhD student listening the PhD Lounge and would like to have an interview, you can send me an email to luisphdlounge@gmail.com
Thank you all for tuning in, it has been a pleasure!
