Drafting the Phd: the basics

 

It is very important to have a good note taking system when you do your PhD. Note taking is the basis of your PhD. Without a good system, you cannot do a PhD. You need to approach this differently to however you have done research / reading / note taking throughout your other degrees because on a PhD, you can be asked to prove your data is yours, your arguments are yours, and since you are claiming an original contribution to knowledge, you need to take special care in how you go about amassing and then using information.

Storing material

Note taking and collation / organisation of material can be on-line, or on paper. It is best these days to have all your material on-line though, and there are a variety of programmes you can use for this purpose which allow you to scan in, attach and clip from the web, upload audio tracks, as well as download and attach articles and so on. I use Microsoft OneNote mainly because it was free with my University software and even though I am primarily a Mac user, this has worked just fine.

Use a cloud based storage system so that you can back up, work on the go and not lose your material. 

However you decide to store your notes, you must be meticulous with your organisation and consolidation of materials. You can organise your material in any number of ways: by chapter ; by theme; by task (i.e. data; data collection; literature review etc). However you choose to organise, it is imperative you spend time working out a system that makes sense to you and is intuitive. Do not use this organisation as a procrastination tactic. It needs to be done well and once.


How to take notes

A proper note taking system is crucial because it prevents plagiarism occurring. You should never ever cut and paste material from journals/on-line sources into your notes and from the notes into your working document, no matter how tempting that shortcut is. At the end of the PhD, your thesis will be run through software to check for replicated text, and it is catastrophic to be accused of cheating - whether you meant to or not is irrelevant. So to prevent inadvertent plagiarism, you need to make sure that you take notes from material in your own words (paraphrase), and you distinguish clearly between notes from material, and then your analysis of that material.

This can be done really simply - you can use separate folders for your analysis versus your notes, or if that seems a bit messy, you can either highlight your thoughts directly under note taking [literally in a different colour] or ** paragraphs that contain your thoughts as distinct from the information and thoughts of the author in the piece you are reading.

So in one file or page you can have a section [FACTS] - this is where you are simply taking information from an article or source material (x theory is xxx). Then a section headed [AUTHOR ARGUMENT]. This is the argument of the author of that source material (x argues xxx). Then a section on [MY ANALYSIS/ ARGUMENT.] These are your thoughts on that author’s argument or the information you extracted from the article. In this way you can always track which material needs citing, and which is your original argument. This is a pretty basic note taking system, but it will get you started: here is an example of what I mean.

This is where the PhD is different from a Masters. On a Masters you are engaged in synthesis - bringing the material of other people together. On a PhD we are interested in your critical insights into the literature / data, in addition to the synthesis exercise. Your original contribution. You are building on the work of others, but not copying their work. You are bringing new data/ methods or theory to the table.

If you are currently trying to incorporate critical analysis into your literature, this begins with the note taking phase: please see the more detailed module on critical analysis in the shop for guidance.

Getting this note taking system right is critical. It will prevent so much stress in the long run.

TODAY I WILL:

  • Find a note taking system and method of organisation I can use throughout my PhD and start organising it into relevant folders and putting whatever material I have already in their allotted place;

  • Ensure when note taking, I am meticulous about storing my analysis of material separately from the information or argument contained in that material which belongs to the person who authored it;

  • Review my time audit. How honest was I? How much time do i waste? How much time can I, in my real life, commit to writing and researching my PhD. A PhD is a full time job - have a created enough space to finish this in three years?

  • Write according to my scheduled slots for a minimum of 2 hours;

  • Schedule one slot in a place other than my favoured writing place.