PhD Supervisor: The Perfect One Doesn't Exist, So Where Else Can You Find Help?

Photograph: Alamy

by Gwen Boyle, The Guardian.com: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/mar/27/phd-supervisor-university-seek-help-online-communities

 

If you're struggling to get the support you need from your PhD supervisor, there are online communities that can help fill the gap, says Gwen Boyle. 

 

Overworked PhD students can struggle to get support - but online communities offer valuable help.

 

Supervisors are not superhuman. Some give brilliant writing guidance, but are ineffectual when a student reveals that they are depressed. Others become best friends with their students, but never motivate them to put words on the page.

I was fortunate to have a great PhD supervisor who was attentive, communicative and extremely helpful. However, supervisors are often as stressed as their students - disconnected and overwhelmed by their own work. In the rare, worst-case scenario, a supervisor dislikes and undermines a student.

If a supervisor can't help, where can a student find support?

Fellow students are an option, but online communities, blogs and forums are also increasingly popular (and anonymous) sources of advice. What can students gain from online resources that might be missing from the supervisor-student relationship? 

Unlimited practical advice

The ideal supervisor has infinite time and unparalleled knowledge. She is patient and always available; she is understanding and constantly supportive. Unfortunately, she doesn't exist.

Supervisors have classes to teach, assignments to mark and meetings to attend. They won't always have time to explain the mechanics of MLA citation … again. However, there are many online resources devoted to the practicalities of research and writing.

During my PhD, I collected and bookmarked advice from respected academic blogs such as Explorations of Style and The Thesis Whisperer (which boasts over 2m page views, and counting).

When I got stuck on a practical issue, such as how to structure my thesis introduction, these sites were my first port of call.

Twitter hashtags such as #phdchat and #ECRchat allow students to reach out for advice in a way that would have been impossible even a few years ago.

Twitter's egalitarian platform breaks down barriers between students and established academics, making it easier to seek informal help from experienced researchers. 

Emotional support

Recent discussions of mental health in academia revealed that many postgraduate students suffer in solitude and silence. The remarkable explosion of online comment about the issue indicates how much it touched a nerve.

Sadly, students cannot always turn to their supervisors or departments when facing mental health crises.

I personally know students who avoid mentioning these issues to a supervisor for fear of seeming lazy or uncommitted.

In anonymous forums such as PhinisheD and PhDStudent early career researchers can openly discuss depression and emotional barriers to work such as lack of motivation, impostor syndrome and fear of failure.

The ever-popular PhD Comics lampoons the postgrad under pressure: drowning in confusing advice, fighting off demanding undergraduates and surviving on noodles.

It's too close to the truth for some. Facing job market fears, low adjunct pay, crushing workloads, debt and uncertain futures, some PhD students are exhausted, poor and miserable. Even lurking on a forum where others express their academic worries can be cathartic. 

Honest discussion

In my final year, especially, I noticed friends who were also completing PhDs questioning aspects of academic life. Is this the best way to write my thesis? Do I have to do all this extra conference-organising to get ahead? Will I be able to get a job when I graduate?

Your supervisor won't necessarily be able to advise you on these issues. It might be decades since they personally encountered the job market, for instance.

Discussing your concerns with colleagues might precipitate awkward questions. Online communities express concerns that students dare not speak aloud.

This is evident in the burgeoning network of blogs and forums that explore life beyond academia. Honesty is king here, from the excoriating 100 Reasons not to go to graduate school to the more restrained How to leave academia and the practical VersatilePhD forum. These present alternative voices and viewpoints that are not often found within academic departments. 

Complementing, not replacing

Online communities are enlightening, but I don't believe that they can replace supervisors. Supervisors are the human link between the student and the university. They are personally invested in your progress and prepared to fight your corner - or at least, they should be!

A good supervisor is a guide and mentor, not an encyclopedia or a self-help book. Supervisors and online resources are very different entities, and can happily complement one another in a student's academic life.

Gwen Boyle is a freelance writer who recently graduated with a PhD in American literature from University College Cork, Ireland - follow her on Twitter @gwen_boyle.