Authoring a PhD

On University Studies
, to
Francis Bacon’s musings in 
The Advancement of Learning
, and
before him to some significant reflective writings of the
medieval thinkers and the ancient Greek philosophers.
4
Now, as
in those earlier times, scholars and students are not (cannot be)
immune to external influences and rationalization processes. In
modern conditions universities can privilege their existing
modes of generating and transmitting knowledge only so long
as they are demonstrably the best of available alternatives.
Of course, completing a doctoral dissertation is also too per-
sonal and too subtle a process, too dependent upon students
and supervisors or advisers, too variable across thesis topics, dis-
ciplines and university contexts, for any generic advice to
encompass more than a tiny proportion of what a given doc-
toral student needs to help her develop as an author. But cover-
ing this fraction in a systematic way can still be very valuable,
time-saving and perhaps inspiring. PhD students know their
own situation better than anyone else in the world. They can
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build on a small amount of ‘ready-made knowledge’ (as
Schelling termed it),
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picking and choosing those elements of
this text that are relevant for their problems. I hope that this
book may also help thesis advisers (with knowledge of a range
of doctoral projects in their own discipline) to extend and sys-
tematize their thinking and guidance to students about author-
ing issues. So this book is written as a foil for students and their
supervisors, as a grid or a framework which they can set against
their own situations and experiences.
I have written up this advice in a modest but not a tentative
way, because I know no other style that will seem honest or
convincing. For some readers there is a risk that my suggestions
may come across as overly slick or didactic, as if I am seeking to
dictate what squads of PhD students should do. But I am
acutely aware that readers always will and always should con-
struct their own personalized versions of this text, adapting and
domesticating what works for them, and setting to one side
what does not fit. I have written like someone devising a menu
for a restaurant, wanting to offer a treatment that is challeng-
ing and convincing, and an experience which is consistent and
as complete as possible. But I am conscious that no one (in their
right frame of mind) will pick up and consume more than a
fraction of this menu at a time.
Lastly let me stress that this book is to a large extent a con-
duit for the ideas of many student and staff colleagues, whose
wisdom and suggestions I have jotted down, adopted, tried out
and probably shamelessly purloined over the years. I owe my
heaviest debt to some 30 people who have worked with me on
their own doctorates across two and a bit decades. They have
taught me so much as they developed their ideas, not just about
their thesis topics but also about our joint profession.
6
In dif-
ferent ways, each of them will know the frailties and limitations
of supervisors all too well, and I can only ask their tolerance of
any gloss on their experience which this volume inadvertently
gives. My next biggest debt is to colleagues at the London School
of Economics and Political Science who have co-supervised
PhDs with me or co-taught the School-wide seminar on PhD
writing.
7
From their very different styles of teaching and encour-
aging, I have learned much. I am grateful also to a wide range of
other colleagues, who may recognize their own ideas and inputs
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scattered across these pages. Lastly I would like to thank the stu-
dents from 18 disciplines who attended my PhD writing course
at LSE over more than a decade. Their questions, challenges and
innovations have consistently stretched my knowledge, and
convinced me that we could do more to help.
I hope that the enterprise of gathering these ideas together in
one volume will seem justified for most readers, and that if it
does you will contribute to the book by e-mailing me your com-
ments, criticisms and suggestions for changes or additions. For
me, even in our rationalized times, the doctorate still remains a
crucial vehicle for developing new and original thought in the
humanities and social sciences, especially amongst young peo-
ple, who (as Plato said) are ‘closer to ideas’.
8
If this book strikes
even a few positive chords among new generations of scholars
and supervisors, then writing it will have been worthwhile.