First of all let’s start with what you achieved so far and congratulation for reaching this stage in your studies! This implies that you have a (more or less) clear idea on what you would like to do at the end of your thesis/studies and that you have a thesis topic that is triggering your curiosity and you would like to know more about. If that is not the case you may want to read this article that suggests you how to take the most from your thesis. Also, please note, this is not instructions on “how to write your thesis” but limits itself in the preparatory work that you need to do before start working at your thesis.

When interacting with your supervisor you have to understand the following:

• He/She is probably mentoring several students at the same time.
• He/She is probably more busy then should be and is probably dedicating  50-60 hours/week to his/her job.
• He/She maybe doing other things like teaching and research while supervising you.

Consequently, without a proper set of communication tools with your thesis supervisor, your email may be “lost in the chaos”. He/she may not read your emails and attachments with various version of your thesis may just “contribute to the noise”. On the other hand, if you will make an effort in keeping the material that you plan to share with him/her ordered, he/she may be able to quickly follow what you are doing and the majority of the time that you will spend together will be actually spent in improving the state of your thesis.

Improve your #mentorship experience: setting up proper #communication #tools with your #thesis's supervisor allow you to optimize the time that you will spend with your #mentor
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Sharing a folder is one of the best communication tools with your thesis supervisor that I was able find. Obviously, the tool itself is not sufficient and how you will structure the material inside plays a crucial role as well. Probably this is not new to you and you may have your own way to do that: maybe using Google Drive, Dropbox, SharePoint etc. However, you want to check if and how your supervisor currently operating because, as he/she is probably supervising several students at the same time, adopting one system for each student is simply unmanageable. What follows is what I usually recommend to my students. I personally use Dropbox but these recommendations can be easily generalized.

Why did I choose Dropbox? Because is free and I like the idea of having a folder that is the same in every computer that I use. In case you do not have an account this is an invitation link https://db.tt/ALnJBcdQ that will give you 250 MB of free space on top of the 2-5 GB that you will normally have. Nevertheless, let me say again that this is just how I personally operate and is important that you will check with your supervisor how he/she would like to set up the proper communication tools with you!

Communication tools with your thesis supervisor step by step

Step 1: Download and install Dropbox in the computer that you will use for your thesis.

Step 2: Create a shared folder in Dropbox. The title of the folder should have your name and the word “thesis” in it, so that it will not be confusing with potential others.  It like having a normal folder in your computer with the exception that will be shared with your supervisor. In other words every time you will change the files inside the folder your supervisor will see it and you will see the changes that he/she will make as well.

Step 3: Invite your supervisor to the shared folder. Just ask for your supervisor’s Dropbox id and follow the proper procedure.

Step 3:  Create the following structure into the folder.

• Articles: will contains all the scientific articles that you will be reading and you believe are relevant to your thesis.
• Data: if your thesis will be collecting data. This folder will contain information on how the data are structured and the data
• Thesis-Proposal: you probably had to write a thesis proposal to pitch for an internship and/or to validate your preliminary idea. This folder should contains “everything that you have done” before starting the thesis.
• Presentations: relevant PowerPoint presentation.
• Chapter-1: You probably are not going to write your thesis “all in once”. If you will break the thesis in chapters you will have the possibility to finalize once chapter and ask to your supervisor for an early feedback.
• Chapter-2: see chapter 1 comment.
• Chapter-N: yep, as many as you need. I guess the last one should be conclusions
• Appendix: in case you plan to have multiple appendixes consider adding sub-folders into this folder
• Final-Thesis: should contains your “final draft” and your camera ready thesis.

The structure should be as self-explanatory as possible. Obviously, you are welcome to arrange the folder in the way you prefer and to add other sub-folders. Nevertheless, this is the minimum structure that I would like you to consider and always (did I said always? let’s do it again: always) agree with your supervisor on the proper structure. You think that you are sharing folder but in practice you are sharing “mental categories” with him/her.

Final remarks

Setting up the proper communication tools with your thesis supervisor in the end will save you time and will allow a more effective communication. Communication will probably happen via email and/or Skype; nevertheless, you can always point to the shared folder for additional explanation: “I just finished chapter 2, can you please have a look?”. “I found this article in google scholar, is it really relevant?”. “What do you think about visualizing the data in this way?”etc.

The post Setting Up the Proper Communication Tools with your Thesis Supervisor appeared first on Francesco Lelli.

Let’s start from a step back. Instead of start from a research topic, ask yourself the following question:

“What would you like to do when you will grow up?”

Is a difficult question and you have infinite possibilities but let’s simplify it and consider the following 3 categories:

• (i) Are you planning to look for a job in a company?
• (ii) Would you like to become an entrepreneur and start your own company?
• (iii) Are you consider an academic career?

The idea is that you will tune the thesis for your objectives and you will use it for helping you in advancing your goals.

Let’s consider the first case (i). If you would like to join a company, your first priority should not be the thesis itself but finding a proper and relevant internship. The thesis will be part of the internship itself and you will discuss it with both your supervisor and your mentor at the company that will offer you the internship. Whatever you are planning now is not relevant as your mentor will have his/her opinions and your work should be integrated in their activities.

At the same time, your thesis will be an opportunity for “putting a foot into the door”, test the working environment, understand if this is what you really want to do for the next years and, obviously, prove yourself as a valuable asset for the company.

Once you will graduate, if you decide for a different company, this experience will be valuable and your CV will have something that will help you stand from the crowd.

In the case you would like to become an entrepreneur (case ii), you want to first join an incubator and/or a business network meet, your new friends and colleagues and, only after, seek for an entrepreneurial supervisor that is willing to discuss a possible thesis that can help you validate/disqualify some of your entrepreneurial ideas. Instead of focusing to writing a sound proposal you should focus on identify your “target professor” as early as possible and involve him/her in a discussion that will lead to your research proposal.  An internship is “neutral”; some may help you acquire new skills but at the same time you will be working at someone else projects and you will spend your time not focusing in finding your own path.

Finally, in the case of an academic career (iii), your goal should be to pursue a PhD; anything that you will be doing before joining a PhD program will not be really relevant for your future academic career. Consequently, all your activities should be focusing in “getting points” for being accepted in one. Your thesis can help you in that more than you think. An easy way to stand out from the crowd is understanding the scientific method and make a thesis that has potential for been published in a scientific journal. In choosing your supervisor, you want to focus on one that is currently doing research in an area that you believe is interesting and you can potentially picture yourself investigating it for the next 3-4 years.

Use your #thesis for kick start your #Careers and differentiate yourself from the crowd. #careeradvice
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Once what you want to do when you will grow up is clear you will find that to take the most from your thesis is relatively easy to achieve. You should also be ready to have a constructive discussion with your potential supervisor and you can choose the one that is more compatible with your character and what you would like to do in the future.

Yes, I said “compatible with your character”; in the end, both students and professors are human beings and do what they do following “their own style”: you want to be sure that you are compatible otherwise, you risk to waste time that you can spend somewhere else.

In case you are considering me as a possible mentor for your thesis I invite you to read this post first.

This article ( Take the Most from Your Thesis ) is part of the miniseries on how to do a good thesis, you can see the full list of post at the following links:

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