Survivors guide to graduate research

Conclusion

As you conduct your research, you will undoubtedly suffer from the perennial condition of all graduate students—constant, paralyzing guilt. When you are not working on your research, you are agonizing because you should be.

Unfortunately, guilt also keeps you from doing many other things, like cleaning house or simply relaxing. The good news is that guilt usually disappears within a year after you take that final walk across the stage and shake the dean’s hand. The cure is painful, but worth it.

We have presented some ideas that worked for us, in hopes that they will work for you. Perhaps these ideas will cause you to consider a factor that you may not have considered before. Perhaps some small suggestion will provide you with a solution to a nagging problem, or simply remind you that some of your frustrations are a natural part of the dissertation or thesis process.

For additional information on this topic seeHow to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertaion, by David Stemberg. The chapters on “The Unfolding Dissertation: Diplomatic Relations with your Committee” and “Down in the Dissertation Dumps: How to Get Out” may be especially useful.