RESEARCH METHODS

Workshop: Part 3 on adding value to your post-grad studies

28 January 2013

What added value?• Writing a Master's degree dissertation is a lot of hard work, but very little of it is visible.

• You can read for days and then write only a paragraph or two.

• The same is true for empirical analysis.• Even when you have finished up a chapter, only you and your supervisor know about all the effort that went into it.

• The question is, is a Master's degree about obtaining certain knowledge and skills, or about signaling.

What added value?

• It is probably a bit of both, but finishing up with the degree certificate and a book that 4 people have read may feel a bit disappointing.

• Your supervisor will probably ensure that the knowledge and skills are developed, but you have to work at strengthening the signal.

• There are a few ways to add value and also prepare yourself for the job market:• Make your work visible.• Become part of the academic community

Visibility

• Why should you make your work visible?• You are in a process or reading, writing and revising.• In this process you are learning to analyse, synthesise and

evaluate.• But you want to demonstrate these competencies long

before the dissertation is finished.• Showing what you can do, and how you have done it, will

make funding applications and the eventual job search much easier.

• It also helps with sanity: sharing the progress, getting feedback will help you to keep going.

• And it helps with becoming part of the academic community.

Visibility

• How can you make your work visible?• You can talk about it with friends and family, or get them to read

some of the stuff that you are writing.• But the best is to start a blog for your research:

• Start with a basic page: what is your project about, why is it relevant, how will you tackle it.

• Compile a bibliography – as you read papers, put them in a list and link to source. This comes a resource to share.

• Link to news stories related to your topic – helps with showing relevance.

• As you read and write, blog about it – say what it is that you are writing about, simply and in your own words.

• Maybe you will develop a data set, or software code for a specific application – share it.

• If you are presenting your proposal at a colloquium, share your slides.

Visibility

• How can you make your work visible?• A blog is best:

• It keeps you writing and that helps with thinking.• You don't need to have a whole chapter done before someone looks at

it, you can post your thoughts on the paper you read last night.• You are establishing yourself as a voice in a certain field.• You can link to and share resources in one place.• You may get feedback.• Use Blogger, WordPress or whatever - the platform and the look

matters less than the quality of the posts.• Then look for some examples of what is possible and get going• E.g. check out Mr Wait's blog for his PhD.• Or Nic Spaul (at US) for his research blog.

Academic community

• The second important step is to get out there and mingle:• Don’t sit on your own, working in the library all day, you have to talk

to fellow students and staff to get ideas, share ideas and resources.

• This means seeing you supervisor regularly.• Coming to the School for a cup of coffee with other staff members. • Attending the seminars – ask questions and comment.• Making a road trip to a seminar at UP, UJ, or Wits.• Maybe, apply for an ERSA workshop.• Or you can even attend the Economic Society's conference.

Academic community

• There is also an electronic part to this:• Make the blog the first place where people find you and your work

on the web.• What do prospective employers find when they Google you?

• But don't forget to build your professional network on LinkedIn – connect with other researchers or practitioners.

• You can use Twitter to follow people working in your field, to find and share resources.• Tweet smartly and establish your self as a voice in your field.• Again, look at how @RequierWait and @HenriBez is doing it.

Workflow• Finally, I think that you should integrate all this into an

electronic workflow.• I recommend Mendeley and Dropbox: