The Graduate Student's Backpack

The new graduate student must select a graduate committee, plan course work, find an original research topic, and design a research plan that ultimately leads to a defensible thesis or series of publishable research articles. Whether a graduate student plans a research career or not, he or she typically must complete an original, independent, analytical study, even though few beginning students know how or where to begin. A little help would be good, right? This process-oriented manual holds the fundamentals students in the sciences need to trek the graduate school path—it is their “backpack.” Open it and see what it can do for you. Foreword vii

PREFACE ix

Chapter 1
The Beginning 1

First, You Need Advisors—and They Need Students 4

Next, You Need a Research Topic and a Strategy 13

Some Personal and Practical Points 17

Major Hurdles: Preliminary Exams and Final Defense 32

Chapter 2
On Definitions and Dualities 37

What Is a Thesis and What Is Research? 39

A Brief History of Scientific Research Philosophy 41

Definition Dualities: Thought Tools for Research and Problem Solving 48

Definition Dualities: First Principles 49

Definition Dualities: Design 67

Definition Dualities: Outcome 75

A Triad: The Testable, the Trusted, and the True 81

Chapter 3
Research Planning 91

The Research Plan Explained 97

Research Grant Proposals 125

Chapter 4
Reading and Writing 129

Reading and Evaluating Scientific Reports 131

Hints for Scientific Writing 134

Free Writing 141

Preparing a Literature Review 143

Writing for Scientific Publication 154

Chapter 5
Keeping Track of Things 159

The Research Notebook 160

Your Personal Diary 163

Free-Writing Notebook 163

Chapter 6
Presenting Your Work and Yourself 165

Oral Presentations 167

Poster Presentations 178

Résumés or Curricula Vitae and Cover Letters 180

Chapter 7
When It’s All Over 185

References 189

Index 193

Ronald Taskey is a soil scientist at Cal State Polytechincal College.