This document discusses the toolbox of a PhD researcher and the PhD research life cycle. It provides information on several tools and resources for conducting research, including databases for searching information like Google Scholar and Sci-Hub, data analysis tools like Praat, PsychoPy, SPSS and R, and writing tools like Purdue OWL and Zotero. It also mentions different phases a PhD researcher goes through like a dreamer, lost, problem-solver and achiever. Overall, the document outlines key resources and steps to help PhD candidates in their research journey.
1. Doctoral Day
« Les Défis du Parcours du Doctorant »
May 3, 2018
The Toolbox of a PhD Researcher
Marwa Mekni Toujani
PhD Candidate
Higher Institute of Languages, Tunis
marwaISLT@gmail.com
6. Search for Information
a) Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/
b) Wiley Open Access
www.wileyopenaccess.com/
7. Search for Information
c) Directory of Open
Access Journals (DOAJ)
https://doaj.org/
d) Library Genesis
libgen.pw
libgen.io
gen.lib.rus.ec
8. Search for Information
e) sci-hub
sci-hub.cn
sci-hub.ga
sci-hub.gq
sci-hub.hk
sci-hub.is
sci-hub.nu
sci-hub.tw
sci-hub.ws
f) ResearchGate | Share
and discover research
https://www.researchgate.net/
9. Data Collection and Analysis
a) Praat
http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/
b) PsychoPy
http://www.psychopy.org/
c) SPSS
https://www.spss-tutorials.com/spss-what-is-it/
d) R
https://www.r-project.org/
e) Youtube tutorials
LearnR
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcJNrQyW3Ge7w9-dmijW9Q
statisticsfun
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClD8c_piy1nrJySPJUgyivg
statslectures
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAw1xA2HV7NNq7aq-OSuE4g
Etc.
f) Forums
10. The writing Phase
a) Purdue OWL
https://owl.english.purdue.edu
/owl/
b) Zotero | Your personal
research assistant
https://www.zotero.org/
http://www.chikaboo-
designs.com/2013/10/20/zoter
oessentials/
This presentation aims at highlighting available resources that help PhD researchers collect their own data, analyze it and report it in spite of the different problems they encounter (e.g., scarcity of resources available, absence of funding, etc.). It concludes with providing some advice to enrich academic research in Tunisia.
If you google “a PhD thesis”, you will find a plethora of books and resources on how to write a PhD. Here are some examples.
The majority of them basically focus on the PhD research life cycle. They present pieces of advice on research topic choice, research design i.e., needed equipment, materials, procedure to be followed, how to carry out research how to sample, how to implement quantitative and qualitative techniques, how to collect data, how to analyze it, how to draw charts, tables, how to interpret results and come up with new interpretations, and how to prepare the PhD viva. However, they do not focus on the principal agent who is the PhD researcher.
Therefore, by analogy, we can talk about the PhD Researcher life cycle. Actually, as PhD candidates we start as dreamers. After convincing our supervisors by our topic and after being accepted by the doctoral committee, we are illuded by the idea that we have a clear direct path to go from our research topic to our final dissertation. Life is rosy and no clouds on the horizon. Yet, our path is not as straight as we expected, it is full of slopes and bumps and we end up in the lost phase. Lack of resources, technical problems, statistical problems, etc makes the PhD researcher journey gloomy. The cycle ends up by the achiever phase. We have 4 steps in this phase. The first step is finishing the first draft. The Second step is submitting the thesis. The thirst step is the oral presentation and the last one is when you are officially declared as a doctor. However, the movement from lost to achiever is not rapid and smooth if the PhD candidate does not develop a problem-solving attitude characterized by autonomy and collaboration.
The lost phase should not be so long if we move quickly to the problem-solver stage.
In this presentation, I will reveal some of the techniques that I have personally found effective during my journey.
Those techniques are the toolbox of an effective problem-solver PhD researcher. In this toolbox, we find an effective study plan. Because we have 3 to 4 years, we can divide them as the following first year reading and taking notes, second year designing and implementing the research as well as analyzing data. The third year and probably the fourth year should be devoted to writing. Then, we should have practical tool to facilitate the PhD research steps stated earlier. Open access information facilitates our search for information, open source software promotes smooth data collection and analysis as well as writing. Finally, we find collaboration which is crucial for me.
Here are some of those tools that helped me from my first step of research till the writing phase.
Here are some open access tools to faciliate our search for information
My favorites
Researchgate community does not only provide us with articles, it teaches us collaboration. You can ask questions to researchers and you can seek advice from researchers in your field.
Purdue OWL: PURDUE ONLINE WRITING LAB helps you organize your thesis according to the MLA or APA style.
Zotero functions as your virtual library. You can group your articles under different categories using your own keywords. You can easily create your references under different styles. Zotero also encourage collaboration as you can share your virtual libraries with your fellows.
We should look at PhD research as science production. We are contributing to scientific community. Therefore, our researches are the building bricks of scientific development which aims at improving our world and benefiting others . We should cooperate to reach such end and we should not just seek personal development because this is not the role of a real researcher. My success does not mean your failure and vice versa. Thus, both collaboration and autonomy leads us to achieving our final goals.