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there was no point in having the oral examination or in allowing a
resubmission. She returned to her country sadder, if not wiser.
Sophia s case points up not only the problem of inadequate supervision,
but also the problem that she was not aware of the deficiencies under
which she was working. As we discuss in Chapter 9, these are issues that
overseas students may find more difficult to cope with. All students, how-
ever, must ensure that they discuss their work with several academics and
with their peers, and that they regularly read accepted PhD theses in their
field to discover the standards that are required.
Overestimating supervisors, often with best of intentions, is also a
problem. Here is an example.
Professor Shepherd is a supervisor very few of whose students finish
their PhDs. This is surprising, because he is a well known academic in
his field, has a lively intelligence and an outgoing personality
which is why he continues to attract students to supervise. But Pro-
fessor Shepherd believes in treating research students as adults, as he
puts it, forgetting that students are babes in research terms. He
believes that it is the supervisor s job to challenge his students, to
shake them up mentally, to bombard them with new ideas. He goes
on doing this throughout the duration of the research, even when
more convergence, more limitations are required to complete the
study. Because of this overestimation, many students find they have
taken on too large a project, which they do not see becoming more
focused. They get disheartened and drop out.
Losing contact with your supervisor
As we said above, the penalties of failure are greater for the student than
for the supervisor. The relationship is not one of equality, so the student
has to work harder to keep in touch with the supervisor than the other
way around. As we discussed in Chapter 3, the nature of the PhD process
requires continual input from the supervisor if the student is to learn the
craft of research and how to apply it to the particular topic under study.
The details of managing this interaction fruitfully on both sides are
covered in Chapters 8 and 11. Here we will just illustrate the inevitable
catastrophic effect which results if contact is lost.
Tony got bogged down 18 months into his project. After a long
HOW NOT TO GET A PhD 41
session with his supervisor he decided that he wanted to change
direction. His supervisor said that it was impossible to do so at this
stage and he should carry on even though it was now clear that
more work would be required than originally envisaged, with a
weaker outcome anyway. Tony did not agree and tried to persuade
his supervisor to allow greater modifications. His supervisor
explained that this was not sensible within the available timescale,
and pressed him to carry on with the original design. They saw each
other less and less because Tony felt that they were talking at cross-
purposes. After four months they ceased to have any meetings; after
six months Tony was observed rushing into a lecture room to avoid
his supervisor whom he saw coming towards him along the corridor.
He never submitted his thesis.
David s supervisor, Professor Dickinson, was one of the leading aca-
demics in Britain in her field. She died tragically when David was at
the end of his second year. His supervision was taken over by an
experienced researcher whose range of concerns was different and
who had only a general interest in David s topic.
David did not think it necessary to tell his new supervisor in any
detail what he was doing, having it clear in his mind that Professor
Dickinson would have given her approval. He thus worked without
supervision for a further 18 months. When he came to submit his
thesis the examiners felt that he had suffered from lack of supervi-
sion, which in the circumstances should be taken into account, but
that they could award him only an MPhil, not a PhD. He appealed,
but in due course the university confirmed the decision.
David s enforced change of supervisor was due to a particularly tragic
event. Supervisors leave for happier reasons too, and often it is necessary
to be handed on to another supervisor. In these circumstances it is par-
ticularly incumbent on the student to make good contact with the new
supervisor, whose knowledge and skills are a crucial input to getting a
PhD.
Not having a thesis
Words develop in meaning, and the word thesis is nowadays commonly
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