And what are the intellectual and counseling factors of this relationship? The importance of relationship between faculty member (as a supervisor) and the student in thesis and dissertation preparation.
Ideally the relationship between the supervisor and students at the dissertation stage should not be compromised. It is so important to build a good working relationship in the early stages of supervision regardless of the programme the student is on, so that the supervisor can get to know the student strengths and weaknesses and also the student gets to know what the supervisor can offer in terms of guidance, knowledge, and direction towards a successful thesis and or Viva voce. Writing of the thesis is always a tense time that rarelyy brings out the best in people. It is at this time that the student needs to be able to rely on their supervisor for the additional support whether it be practical or emotional. The supervisor's job includes the provision of guidance and focus so that the student can actually make their own decisions based on sound knowledge, making the choices that are right for them in their study.
There are many factors; the most important to me is for supervisor to listen to the studentfirst and allow them to explain, verbally, what problem they wish to address, what area. Supervisors can then share some knowledge of similar work and lead to some readings or alternatives. Then leave the student to go and reflect, read and bring a draft concept note. The supervisor can then guide on what a concept note needs to have, and with more `conversations` a proposal will emerge. The main danger is for the supervisor to direct the student on what is important to research on which may not be their interest. A long process. A lazy student can be a big burden. In such case impose an annotated bibliography to be done on the student`s area of interest, then evaluate, guide, proceed
Agree with Kalafunja O-saki. As a Master student, I do need all the directions and pointers that I can get but more towards how to do things and not what to do exactly. It is important to let the students come to their own conclusions regarding ideas and concepts. A supervisor's job would be to provide guidance, focus and other how-to(s), so that at the end of the day, the students can appreciate their own thought and work process as well as their supervisors' assistance. Of course, some students need more guidance or even push than others. Each individual should be addressed according to his/her perceived or displayed capacity level. As such, a wise supervisor is one who can evaluate and distinguish these inherent qualities.
Ideally the relationship between the supervisor and students at the dissertation stage should not be compromised. It is so important to build a good working relationship in the early stages of supervision regardless of the programme the student is on, so that the supervisor can get to know the student strengths and weaknesses and also the student gets to know what the supervisor can offer in terms of guidance, knowledge, and direction towards a successful thesis and or Viva voce. Writing of the thesis is always a tense time that rarelyy brings out the best in people. It is at this time that the student needs to be able to rely on their supervisor for the additional support whether it be practical or emotional. The supervisor's job includes the provision of guidance and focus so that the student can actually make their own decisions based on sound knowledge, making the choices that are right for them in their study.
I think the role is slightly different for thesis versus dissertation preparation. A thesis is usually the first true attempt at producing a (semi-)professional scientific piece. As such there will be a need to teach the student how to pull together all of the different aspects (e.g. literature search, reference management, figure and table preparation, how to approach the different section of the thesis). Draft writing by the student and correctional feedback by the supervisor is very important. This is when the student will start gaining some insight into the supervisor's approach and thinking process involved in scientific writing. At this stage, the supervisor could be the professor or a senior member of the research group if qualified to do so - this will sometimes depend on the size of the group and how busy the professor is. As a student, this is something that you should ask members of the group before joining.
By the time a student is writing his/her dissertation, they should have much more experience in scientific writing due to manuscript writing. Now, one of the supervisor's role is to help bring all of the research together into a unified theme. This is often hard to due for student since they are intimately involved in the research details, and often lose track of the big picture. The student also is given more freedom in their dissertation because it should be in their voice and reflect their own thought process. By this time, the student's supervisor should be the research professor. Again, as a student this is something want to know before your final choice in a research group.
For both preparations, thesis and dissertation, the supervisor should educate the student about ethics and enforce them. Ethics play a role not only in the conducting of experiments and data collection, but also in the writing (e.g. proper citation, honest survey of previous work). By the time the student graduates with a Ph.D., their ethical standards should be unquestionable.
Guidance in true senses, monitoring each parameter, liberal ways of works, coordial and cooperative relations/atmosphere, enthusiastic and boosting ways, transferring of all technical and editing skills, reviewing of literature and updates discussions, checking and time bound finishing the writing and analysis part.
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