In Part I, I talked about the importance of starting the process of writing a research statement (or research plan, if you are not currently applying for a job) by focusing on your own desires without reference to the job requirements or other pressures you might be under.

If you did the exercise in Part I, you should have some notes to work from. You might even have two sets of notes: one on the stuff you’d like to be doing if resources (time, money, grad students, etc) were not constrained, and one on all the reasons why that is a pipe dream that isn’t even worth the paper you’ve written the notes on much less the time you took to do the exercise.

These notes are not your research statement or even a rough draft of it, but they will give you the basis of a really solid research statement.

What does a research statement need

The key thing is for you to be able to talk about the kinds of big questions that drive you forward. This helps people that aren’t working in exactly the same area see how you fit into a bigger field. Describing your past research and mapping out your research plans in relation to those broader themes gives your research statement some structure. You need to be able to articulate this clearly in one paragraph.

Then outline how your past research has contributed to moving that program forward. For recent PhDs, that’s going to be where the dissertation project gets summarized. For others, it might start with the dissertation but move quickly on to the other things you’ve been working on.

How much you write depends on how long they expect your statement to be, but this is an introduction to your current and future work. The purpose of talking about the past is to flesh out some of the themes. You are not writing a journal article.

You will then write about what you are working on now.

It is likely that what you are working on now is directly related to your past research. You might even think about it as the same project. Shifting your perspective to thinking of a program of work can help here.

The dissertation was one project within a larger program. The journal articles or monograph that you are now writing, based on your dissertation research, are a different project within the same program.

Journal articles that are lightly edited chapters of the dissertation could be considered wrapping up the dissertation project, but you don’t have to collect new data to start another project. New analysis, theoretical development, etc. all count as moving on.

Then you can focus on what you foresee coming next.

You should have a reasonable level of detail here. Vague plans don’t impress anyone.

Your ideal plan comes in handy here because if you get this job your constraints are going to change. So you don’t want to propose the thing you would do if you stayed where you are with the limited resources you have. You need to think a bit bigger. You can modify downwards later if necessary.

Look at your ideal situation as a long term goal and think about how you might build up to that. Maybe write a paragraph about what kinds of grad students you would like to attract and nurture. What kinds of relationships you would like to build with others locally, nationally, and internationally. Where do you hope this whole program is going to go in 10 years? You don’t need a lot of detail here but some indication of longer term thinking and ambitions.

You now have a first draft

The main thing it is missing is any connection to the job description or the particular department you are applying to. Those things are important but we’ll deal with them in Part III.

Put the document down.

The idea here is to let it go for a bit so you can come back fresh.

Feed children. Read to them. Have a bubble bath.

Have dinner. And a glass of wine.

Watch TV or go out for a movie.

What if the gremlins turn up again?

This is a distinct possibility. They love this kind of scenario. Gives them lots to do. Protecting you from rejection is a big job for them. It would be nice if that didn’t involve getting the confidence destroying talk in before any potential employer can.

They might start telling you that you shouldn’t even apply. That if you were any good, you wouldn’t be working at wherever you are now in the first place. Or that you would have a tenure-track job by now. That you are too late.

If necessary, keep a separate document open on your desktop while you are drafting your statement.* Write down all of their concerns in that document as they come up so you can get back to your task.

Good questions to ask them to keep them quiet include: Is is possible (theoretically) that I am good enough? Can I just try? Can you let me write this stuff out anyway and then make a decision about whether I even send it to them?

You want to quiet those voices but not ignore them. So writing down their concerns should help. You can even write down your responses. You might even agree with them that you are crazy to apply for this but you are going to write this research statement anyway, dammit.

Whatever. One doc for the journally stuff. One doc for the actual draft research statement.

*I got this idea from Janet at Mindful Time Management.

I can help with the gremlins.

Coaching is a multi-faceted thing.

My goal is to help you do the research you want to do, preferably without having to live in a cardboard box.

If you want some help with the gremlins, we can talk.

If you think it might be helpful to have a few sessions, to talk about gremlins, to get some clarity on the research and publishing plans, etc. there is a 15% discount if you buy 4. To find out more about how it works:

There has been a lot of discussion of the value of a humanities PhD. Thomas Benton’s An Academic In America columns in the Chronicle of Higher Education have made the case against particularly strongly.

In her reply to Benton’s most recent installment, Julie from Escaping the Ivory Tower points out that even when made aware of the dire post-PhD situation, many students are not dissuaded. As a sociologist, I am also quite partial to her analysis of the structural and systemic issues at the root of the problem.

So, in the full knowledge that you might ignore any and all of this information, I present you with some things to think about as you consider going on to a PhD.

Do you want to study for a PhD?

I know this seems like an odd question to ask, but the first step is to actively make a decision about whether you even want to do a PhD. Not a “well, it seems like a good way to go and I have no idea what else I’d do” decision. But a real decision. One that you can look back on in 3 years time and say “Oh yeah, that’s why I started this thing.”

In many cases, the idea has been suggested to you by a professor. Or you are in an environment where that seems to be the expectation. Looking back on my own situation, the process of going on to a PhD was very similar to the process of going to university in the first place. It was the expected next step in the environment that I was in at the time.

I’ve been where you are. I know that the “real world” feels really scary.

You are really good at school. You study a subject you are passionate about, even if other people think it is obscure. There are more things you want to learn about that subject. You might even have an important contribution to make to debates.

Before you rush headlong into that next academic step, let’s step back and examine the terrain from a different perspective for a bit.

Interpret your professor’s encouragement as a compliment.

They are not making that recommendation based on an analysis of all the options open to you.

They are just saying, from the position of someone in the field, that you would make a good candidate. That’s all.

They think you are a good student with good ideas, someone who would make a good academic.

Have you even considered other options?

It is worth at least doing some research on other options. Just for information.

You are good at research. Consider it a little research project of your own.

You aren’t looking for a job. You are mapping out some possibilities.

Moving from this view

Photo from wildxplorer

to this one.

artwork by Christine Martell

Some places to start this research

The careers centre at your university will have staff who specialize in making decisions about career directions. Depending on your institution there may be someone who specializes in helping graduate students and/or someone who specializes in helping humanities students (or whatever it is you do). Their approach might not feel quite right but remember you are looking for information on possibilities.

The alumni association may be able to connect you with people who have studied the same subject or graduated with a similar degree.  You can then contact some of those people and talk to them about what they’ve done since they graduated. This will give you a better sense of what people actually do with a degree in whatever-it-is-you-study.

Your department administrator is also a potential source of this kind of connection. She may still be in touch with former students and may suggest people you could talk to.

If you were to pursue an academic career, where might you end up working? Can you have an information interview with a junior faculty member in a couple of those places to find out more about what it’s like to work there, what their experience of the academic job market was like, etc. It is often assumed that because we are in academic institutions we know what it is like to work there. But the transition from graduate student to academic is a significant one. Try to learn something about that now.

Brainstorm some areas where people might use degrees like yours and then use your connections (family, friends, the alumni office, etc) to find out more about what people who do those jobs really do and what backgrounds they have. You are more interested in learning about the individual experiences even if they deviate from the “standard path”.

You might look at a book like What Color Is Your Parachute?* to help you figure out how to do this kind of exploration and what an “information interview” might be. The approach in that book is basically to help you figure out what it is that you like doing and are good at and start from there to figure out what kinds of jobs people with similar interests and abilities do.

*That’s an affiliate link. But your public library will have copies. It doesn’t really matter which edition.

Why would you do a PhD?

In addition to getting a better sense of what your other options are, it is also worth really thinking about your own motivations for doing a PhD.

I know it is flattering to have someone you respect suggest it, but have you really thought about the reasons you would do this?

Get out a piece of paper or a notebook and list some now. You might find these questions helpful

• What do you think a PhD will involve?
• What do you want to learn?
• Do you have a research project in mind?
• What do you think you might do afterward?

You are making a map

At the end of the day, you can only focus on the bit of the road in front of you. You have a sense of where it might lead you, but you may never get there. And that is okay.

Nevertheless, it is useful sometimes to try to zoom out and look at where this road is on the map.

I believe that even if you don’t get an academic job afterwards, doing a PhD might be a good idea. I’m not trying to dissuade you from going forward. This might be a good road for you.

But I also think it is worth actually stopping the car and looking at the map before you decide to continue on this road. And to have a sense that this road could fork off in several directions. Knowing you have options makes it more likely that you will find the experience of studying for a PhD more satisfying, even enjoyable.

You are at a crossroads. You’ve finished (or almost finished) your MA. You could go down the PhD road but you might want to actually look at the other possible roads, too.

The bits of those roads that are immediately in front of you might be a bit potholed and unattractive, but those potholes might be worth driving over if they are going to interesting places. And who knows, there might be smooth new pavement not that far along.

Related Posts:

Should You Do A PhD

What Is A Doctoral Candidate To Do?

I’ve been helping a few people with job applications, both for first positions and for mid-career changes. And one of the things we’ve worked on is how to write a good research statement.

Even if you aren’t applying for a job, you might find this exercise helpful. Think of it like zooming out when you are looking at an online map — sometimes it helps to see your current project in relation to a wider body of research. Getting this kind of perspective can then focus your activities so you get more done, help you write better grant proposals, and figure out which conferences and other networking activities are really worthwhile.

Focus on what you want to be doing for the next 10 years.

This will make it a more useful exercise whatever the outcome and lead to a research statement that is more realistic and easier for you to talk about in an interview.

And if this more detailed description of your research doesn’t fit with the job as described or the departmental research profile, you have learned something useful. This might not be the job for you.

Even for experienced and successful researchers, this process can be difficult. You are an intelligent person who is capable of writing coherent and engaging prose. However, there are likely to be some emotional blockages that might get in the way.

Imagining your research under different conditions

Currently you work under particular conditions.

Maybe you are a PhD student with limited resources, specific demands from your committee, and a deadline to finish the PhD.

Or you are employed as a sessional lecturer and need to work long hours to earn a living. You have limited time for your research. You are not eligible for research grants. And you have little or no support for research activity. Basically, you have few resources for research.

Or perhaps you are in a tenure-track or even tenured job. You have teaching responsibilities, service responsibilities, and resource constraints particular to your institution.

Whatever your situation, your research plans need to consider the possibility of different conditions. A lower teaching load. Or more financial resources. Or supportive colleagues.

Even if you don’t get this job, planning in that frame of mind can help you identify other strategies for ameliorating some of your conditions to better support your research.

An exercise to get you started

Try to find one hour for this exercise. You are going to try to imagine what you’d like to do in ideal circumstances. This will probably work better if you close your eyes.

• 2/2 or lower teaching load*
• excellent graduate students
• strong relationships with other academics, and relevant non-academics
• money is not an issue

* In my experience 2/2 is a pretty standard teaching load at a research intensive university. For those not in North America, this means 2 courses per term for 2 terms a year.

Dealing with the gremlins*

You might need to take a few minutes to really sink into the imagined scenario so that the gremlins who are screaming “You can’t have that” or “But that’ll never happen” quiet down and let you think.

You know the gremlins I mean, eh? Some people call them more neutral things like “the gang” or “the voices”. The important thing is that you can treat them as characters who can be engaged with.

If necessary, tell the gremlins that this is just an exercise. You know they are right but can they give you 60 minutes to just imagine this scenario anyway. You can negotiate a bit. If not 60 minutes, maybe 30 minutes.

If that doesn’t work, tell them you will write down their concerns and seriously consider them later. Then write them down. Take your 30 or 60 minutes with quiet, if sullen, gremlins in corner.

The gremlins are quiet. And you are imagining yourself in this wonderful ideal world where you get to do the research you really want to do.

*I’m drawing on a few things I’ve learned from Havi at The Fluent Self when I say this. She calls them monsters. What Havi teaches is that these voices are not us but they are trying to protect us. Unfortunately they are often kind of mean. But we can talk to them. If this isn’t helpful to you, that’s okay, but even if you treat this monsters stuff as a purely intellectual exercise it sometimes helps clarify things.

What are you working on?

List the projects.

• Your projects.
• Your list of “if a masters student wants to work with me and needs a project, they can pick off this list” projects.
• Your list of projects the doctoral students are working on under your supervision.
• What your imaginary post-doc is working on.
• Who you are working with on collaborative projects.
• What kinds of workshops and seminars you are holding.

This can be scrappy. Write it in a notebook. Or on the computer. Do it in a dark room so you can hardly see. Do it in a new space so you don’t have reminders of the fact that you don’t live in your ideal world.

This is NOT your research statement. This is a list of all the dreams and stuff you have about what kind of research you want to do.

I think you should be writing fast and not thinking too much. Try to get down as much as you can about your ideal situation.

• How big is your team?
• How much do you travel?
• What kinds of sources are you using?

But if some of the details are foggy, that’s okay. Write down all the details you can see clearly. And most of the ones that are faint shapes in the fog.

If the gremlins start jeering

The gremlins might have let you do all that in relative peace but those big ideas might get them upset. They’ll probably start shouting and jeering.

Don’t try to ignore them, that only makes them angrier. And even though the jeering is a little hard to take, underneath it is usually a genuine concern for your well-being. And they might have some good points that would help you write a better plan.

So I recommend getting another sheet of paper or turning to a fresh page in your note book and writing down their concerns. If there are multiple gremlins you can ask them to appoint a spokesperson or take turns. Don’t try to argue with them and whatever you do don’t tell them they are wrong. Pretend you are a court reporter or something and just take notes.

Reassure them that these notes are going with the other notes in your file of things to help you write a good research plan/statement.

This might be easier with audio

Since closing your eyes or working in dim light might make it easier to block out the real-world constraints that you work under, I have recorded an audio file to guide your thinking and note taking.

Right-click (on a PC) or Ctrl-click (on a mac) to save this file so you can put it on your MP3 player and go sit in a more comfortable place while you do this exercise. I’ve left some silences for writing things down but it is hard to judge how much time you might need so feel free to use the pause button as much as you like.

Imagining Your Ideal Research (MP3, 2.2 MB, 10 minutes)

Now go do something else

You’ll need a bit of distance from this to turn it into a real-world research plan/statement.

Put your notes somewhere you can find them again. Make sure you have both the ideal situation notes and the transcript of the gremlins’ objections.

Schedule some time tomorrow or in the next few days to return to your notes and take the next step.

I’ll have some ideas about how to do that in Part II.

I received the following question from a reader that I thought would be of interest to a wider audience.

My MA is completing end of August this year, and I plan to go on to PhD.  My department has recommended I apply for SSHRC and other grants. I am completely green when it comes to applying for grants/scholarships, and have no idea where to start. There are very few people specializing in my field, so that makes it a bit of a challenge even finding a potential supervisor. What type of advice can you offer to someone in my position?

Figure out what you are doing first

The fellowship (any fellowship) is going to be adjudicated on several criteria. And things like the quality of the proposed project, and fit with proposed supervisor are going to make a difference.

So if it is challenging to find a supervisor, figure out that challenge first.

One way of doing that is to try to write a one page summary of what you think your doctoral research project will be. And what you want to get from doing a PhD. Trying to clarify this will also help when you come to apply for fellowships.

You might find that there are potential supervisors/programs in related fields that actually suit your needs better. A supervisor doesn’t have to be working on exactly the same thing. They need to know the broader field you are in and be able to guide your formation as a whatever-it-is-you-are. And it is often helpful if they use a similar methodology and/or theoretical approach.

The institution has an interest in you securing funding

Wherever you end up going to do your PhD, the institution has a considerable interest in you securing funding.

It may be that they offer some internal funding and that securing funding from other sources frees up internal funds for others. Or simply that having students who are funded by nationally (or provincially, or internationally) competitive fellowship programs increases the prestige of their program.

Whatever their interest, this fact means that there are people in the institution that will help you with applications (and even in identifying potential sources of funding).

Those people are unlikely to be academics. While some academics are going to know about sources of funding for doctoral students, this is not their job. Speak to someone in the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies or in Student Services. Or as the department administrator who you need to talk to about financial support.

And when you ask for help, remember that it is in their interests. You are not wasting their time or making unreasonable demands. Be polite but confident that you are entitled to some support from people more familiar with these fellowship programs than you are.

Keep in mind that the institution where you did you MA also has an interest in you securing a fellowship in a competitive program. The prestige of their masters program is enhanced as is the prestige of your supervisor. So don’t hesitate to ask for your supervisor’s help in appropriate ways.

Details are probably available online

Most organizations offering doctoral fellowships will have a website with details of their particular program.

You will want to pay particular attention to the following details:

• mandate of the organization and objectives of the program
• evaluation criteria and their weighting (if the latter is available)
• information about who adjudicates applications: disciplinary committees? multi-disciplinary committees? committees that include non-academics

If there is a name and contact details for a program officer or administrator then it is part of that person’s job to answer questions from potential applicants. Read all the information available on the website first but if you aren’t clear about your eligibility, or what you need to put in the application, or whatever, you can contact them and ask.

The contact person administers the program. They are probably not involved in the actual choice of who gets the money. Their interest is in ensuring that the program gets a good field of high quality applications. This increases the prestige of their award. So they are not their to trick you or mislead you. They are there to help you put in a good application and to make sure that you understand the rules.

You only have control over some of the criteria

Most fellowship applications are going to put considerable weight on your academic record. Your grades are what they are. You can’t change them. Same with past awards.

And this is a competitive process. So if there are a lot of people who have better grades at undergraduate and Masters level than you are, you are at a disadvantage.

This might suck. I think there are a lot of reasons that the people with the best grades might make absolutely awful academics but I don’t rule the world. So you have to live with the fact that there are parts of this process you can’t control.

You can ensure that your recommendation letters are as strong as possible. If you don’t know how to ask for a recommendation letter and ensure that it is going to be a good one, read this article from University Affairs (they also have a forum) or this post from the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies at Dalhousie University.

You can write a strong research proposal. Make sure the potential contribution to knowledge is clearly stated, that you’ve summarized the debates to which you are contributing, and that you give a clear indication of your theoretical framework and research approach. This is hard to do in a couple of pages. Assume you’ll write several drafts and ask others to read and comment on your drafts. Asking your supervisor (or even your MA supervisor) to read and comment on the draft is not unreasonable.

This is where the importance of who adjudicates comes in. Make sure your proposal makes sense to the kinds of people that will be reading it and making a decision. If it is a multi-disciplinary committee you may need to articulate things that would be obvious to people in your own discipline. The mandate and objectives of the funding organization are also important. You meed to make sure your objectives are compatible with these and make that compatibility clear.

You have some control over the fit with the proposed program and supervisor. That said, there are lots of reasons you might decide not to attend the best program. You do need to take responsibility for those decisions though, and the impact they might have on your competitiveness for certain types of funding.

Your lack of planning is not someone else’s emergency

Just because there are lots of people out there who’s job it is (at least partially) to help you, doesn’t mean that you can expect people to drop everything and provide comments, information, letters of recommendation, or whatever to a tight deadline.

If you respect other people’s time, give clear requests, and negotiate reasonable time frames for getting things to you, you will get better quality support.

Specifics about SSHRC doctoral fellowships

For the Canadians in the audience … SSHRC administers two doctoral fellowship programs in one competition: the Canada Graduate Scholarships and their own doctoral fellowships. The evaluation criteria are basically the same but some of the eligibility criteria differ.

The adjudication is in 2 stages, and the first stage is done within universities (though SSHRC runs a first-stage adjudication for those with no institutional affiliation at the time of application). Each institution has a quota of how many names they can forward to the national competition. Because the first stage of adjudication is done at the institution, it is important that you get information from your Graduate Studies office and attend their information meetings. They will have better information about how that adjudication works.

Information about the program is available on their website.

I have not a competitive bone in my body.

When I play (recreational) sports, I don’t even know the score most of the time.

People who are competitive find this odd. They wonder how I get motivated to play well if I don’t care about winning. But I go out there to have a good time and play my best. And I care about how the rest of the team plays and that we all get an opportunity to make our best contribution.

If we’ve played well, I’m happy.

You can imagine how annoyed I am by the Olympic coverage.

Even if people aren’t talking about sports, they are still talking competition. And the ideals of competition.

Hell, the competitive Olympic spirit has even infiltrated the knitting community.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I don’t subscribe to the Olympic ideals. Not for sport. Not for knitting. Not for anything else.

And while I get that competition (whether against others or against themselves) inspires some people to reach new heights, I resent the idea that competition is necessary to get there.*

*I enjoyed this week’s edition of Tapestry, for example, but I disagree profoundly that the point the guest was making is generalizable to all of us. It’ll air again Thursday if you’re interested.

For some people, competition demotivates.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.

It occurred to me today that a lack of competitiveness or lack of commitment to competitive values and the things that flow from them is part of the problem some of you have in making your best contribution academically.

After all, if competition is demotivating you, you might feel like you are just not cut out for this.

If you aren’t competitive, why should you publish in the “best” journals?

If you aren’t competitive, why would you even consider applying for funding when it is so hard to get (and competitive).

How do you go about looking for an academic job when the advice you get seems to be all about getting a job at one of the “best” institutions and you don’t really care about that?

I get it.

And I don’t think that not being competitive is an impediment to being a successful academic.

Yes, sometimes you are going to have to compete. If you want to get funding, for example.

And other people are going to compare your work to others and treat the whole thing like a competition whether you want them to or not.

But if competition isn’t what motivates you, then you don’t have to think about competition.

You need to think about making your best contribution. Doing your best work. Your calling, or whatever it is that got you interested in research and academic life to begin with.

You need to figure out how you are motivated to do that work. That is the basis of your work plan.

Maybe just knowing that is enough.

Maybe you just need permission not to care about the competition. If so, I hereby give you permission not to give a damn about competition.

But if that isn’t enough. If you think it would be helpful to talk to someone who gets this non-competitive thing in order to work out what motivates you and help you figure out what the road you want to be on looks like…

I can help.

Yes, I’m going to charge you. If you think that my help is valuable to you, then I need you to demonstrate that in the culturally appropriate way of giving me money. It’s not a perfect measure of value but it’s what we’ve got.

Or you can hang out here on the website reading all the free stuff in the light of your new knowledge that I get the non-competitive thing.

Whatever you choose, I’d love to hear your reaction to these thoughts on competitiveness. Comment on this post on the website. E-mail me at jove@jovanevery.ca. Or tweet me @jovanevery.