You have landed your dream research supervisor. Congratulations. A research supervisor is your primary contact, leaning on which you will complete your master’s or PhD studies. Sometimes, it is very hard to get the most from your favourite dissertation supervisor, too. It may be because they are too busy doing other pieces of work or you are not doing enough to get the most from them. Whatever the case is, as a researcher and to write your dissertation on time, you must know some strategies about how to get the most from him.
The role of a dissertation supervisor is to guide you throughout your dissertation writing process and help you conduct good research. However, many supervisors find shortcuts to avoid doing their duty. In such cases, you need to know the strategies that you can employ to get the most out of him. Well, luckily, in today’s article, we will talk about those strategies and let you know how to use your supervisor’s knowledge.
Top Ways To Get The Most From Your Dissertation Supervisor
The key role of a supervisor is to provide academic, emotional, and personal help to his students. However, due to some reason, some supervisors cannot provide the required support to students. In this scenario, the students have to step up and employ the ways to get the most from their dissertation supervisor. As you are here reading this article, it means you also want to know about those ways. Hence, a brief description of all the ways is as follows:
Constant Meetings And Effective Communications
This may seem a very obvious point, but this is the first thing to do that most students do not. To get the most out of your supervisor, you should book regular meetings with him. If not twice a week, you must meet him once a week. In those meetings, effective communication is also important. Whenever you meet with your supervisor, put forward your research aims and objectives and ask for his input. Always remember your supervisor is going to email you to meet him. You have to arrange regular meetings with him.
Work With, Not For, Your Dissertation Supervisor
Undoubtedly, as a student, you are used to taking directions from your supervisor and doing things in exactly the same way. This can work at the undergraduate level, but it is not the way to go at the postgraduate or PhD level. At this level of study, you must take the dissertation supervisor as your teammate instead of a teacher who gives instructions to the students. Hence, try to work with the supervisor, not for the supervisor.
Engage The Supervisor Early
It is very beneficial to engage the supervisor as early as possible after choosing the research topic. Waiting for the deadline to come near will only cost you in the final assessment. It is an established fact that most supervisors do not care for your research work. It is you who have to engage with them and get the most out of them. Involve your supervisor in the research process from the start, i.e., from the planning stages. Ask him to review the plan or contents of the dissertation, which you intend to include.
Ask Him The Most Relevant Questions
The way no. 4 to get the most from your research supervisor is by asking him the most relevant questions to your dissertation. Do not visit the professor for useless and irrelevant questions, e.g., asking him about the word count limit of your dissertation and questions like this. Always visit him to clarify the technical aspects of the dissertation and get help for those. When you do this, he gets happy and loves to share knowledge.
Disagree With Supervisor – But Productively
There may be some situations where you disagree with your supervisor. There is nothing wrong with having a different point of view than your dissertation supervisor, but there is a proper way to do it. Always disagree with your supervisor productively. If you show some aggression and try to paste your view forcefully on the supervisor, you may face some difficulties. It may be possible that he will no longer assist you in dissertation writing due to your behaviour. So, be polite in your disagreement, too.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the dissertation you write is a reflection of the researcher and the dissertation writer inside you. This makes it inevitable that you get the most from your dissertation supervisor and write a dissertation full of quality ideas. Therefore, the 5 top ways to do this are mentioned above. Among all the ways, having routine meetings is the most important. So, read the ways discussed above and act accordingly.