PostGrad Forum

Your supervisor is probably the most important person you will come into contact with during the evolution of your PhD.  You need to feel that they understand your work and that they will be able to really help you over the coming years.  Depending upon where you do your PhD, you may or may not see your supervisor regularly, thus it is doubly important to know that when you do meet the sessions are going to be relevant and useful. 

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It is likely that you will see less of your co-supervisor than your supervisor.  However, they often play an important role in complementing the advice that your supervisor gives you and may bring particular insights.  In some cases, a student’s co-supervisor has given more contact hours than the supervisor although this is not usual.

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This varies hugely from university to university.  Make sure that you know what you are letting yourself in for, and how much work you are expected to do.  For instance, if there is a critical component, how long will it need to be?  With the creative work, it might be relevant to ask how many poems you will be expected to write.  It’s important to know that whilst some of the answers may be readily forthcoming, others may involve a degree of debate and negotiation between you and your supervisor.  With this in mind it is useful for you to spend some time working out what your preferred balance might be and to retain a degree of flexibility in whatever your ‘ideal’ PhD scenario might be.

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It may not be appropriate to ask this before you have begun your PhD, however, it would be really helpful to ask it soon after commencement.  Most universities will have a preferred style of referencing for research work.  If you know from the outset which one it is then you can be much more efficient in the way you take notes and keep an account of all sources that you consult.  Two of the most common styles are Harvard and M.L.A.

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It will be useful to know how many other students are in your department doing a PhD in creative writing.  This will give you some sense of the community that you are about to enter.  Practically, it is good to know if there is a common room for senior students and whether or not there are any organised activities or seminars that you might be able to attend.  There may be an internet forum that you can access and where you will be able to ask other students about their experiences at the university before committing to apply for, or accepting a place there.

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There are advantages to being a part of a community of students and, of course, any writer will also know the advantages of solitude.  You need to work out what your own needs might be so that you can find a course that suits you.  If you need company and support, then you might be better suited to a university with a larger creative writing department.  If you enjoy a lot of solitude, then this may not be so important and you may be able to broaden your consideration of where to study.

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There is quite a lot of pressure upon an applying student to come up with a feverishly original idea that will change the world forever.  It must be remembered, however, that the whole point of embarking upon a PhD is to make discoveries and find out things that were not previously known.  In this way, the ‘question’ can be seen more as a springboard and it is perhaps important to realise that the question and your work will change and evolve as you and your work develops.  Again, though, it will be crucial to discuss this with your potential supervisor because each university will have different requirements and each supervisor will probably have a different style and approach.  This emphasises the point made in question one that highlighted the importance of choosing your supervisor with care.

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This is one possible way of earning some money whilst you are undertaking your PhD.  Check before you apply whether or not you might be offered the chance to do some teaching within the university.

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Talk to other students, your supervisor, your friends.  Undertaking a PhD is a marathonesque task: there will be ups and downs, dull times, exciting times, fruitless times, breakthrough times.  It’s often really good to have someone else to help you work out which kind of time you might be going through.

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You can begin to do your own research on-line to answer this question.  The answers are not always wholly clear, but again, your supervisor should be able to help you with this.

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NAWE have produced an invaluable benchmark statement with regard to this.  Download the pdf file on the right of this page, or contact the NAWE office for a printed copy.

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