Postgraduate Research

hmmm asik masuk lab nak buat researc jer.. tapi faham ke korang makna research dalam postgrad study.... aderkah research kiter ni untuk hasilkan sumtin' new sampai boleh dapat nobel prizeeee. adakah kiter perlu buat reseach bombastic??? Nemo berlainan kaler??? Amoeba mata 8??? sedimen lautan bermuda???? meh bacer info kat bawah ni....

from wikipedia...

Postgraduate research (commonly referred to as graduate research in the United States) represents a formal area of study which is recognized by a university or institute of higher learning. By definition, the notion of “postgraduate” carries the implication that the candidate undertaking such research has already completed a formal Bachelor’s Degree or Diploma at an accredited university or tertiary institution. The resulting qualifications arising from postgraduate research vary from traditional PhDs (Doctorates) and Master’s degrees through to “professional” doctorates or “higher” doctorates. The structure of postgraduate research programs can vary significantly from one country to another. In the United States, in order to enter into a PhD program, students generally need to have some form of prerequisite study, over and above their basic graduate qualification – this may be in the form of a Master’s coursework program, which acts as a qualifier for entry. In other countries, entry to Doctoral or Master’s research programs is solely based upon the academic track record of the candidates in their undergraduate degrees.

Many students confuse the notion of postgraduate research with “invention” and “discovery”. Postgraduate research ultimately represents an apprenticeship in the field of research. In his text book, "Key Factors in Postgraduate Research - A Guide for Students" Toncich explains that the objective of postgraduate research is not necessarily to make a breakthrough invention or, indeed, a major scientific discovery. It is, rather, a mechanism by which graduate students learn how to undertake a systematic investigation, founded upon the work built by peers in the field, and then to extend the current state of knowledge. In the context of assessing a postgraduate research program, it is generally the systematic process of research and investigation that is given more attention than the level to which knowledge is extended. The title "doctor" emanates from the Latin word "docera" - to teach. Hence there is an expectation that the recipient of a doctorate would go on to become some form of "teacher" in the broad sense of the word.

In the 19th century, postgraduate research was a rarity, with countries such as the United States only having a small number of candidates across their university spectrum. However, by the start of the 21st century, postgraduate research, and postgraduate qualifications, had become commonplace. In any one year, at a global level, there are hundreds of thousands of candidates undertaking postgraduate research programs. For this reason the nature of postgraduate research has also changed. At Doctoral level, there is some recognition that it is no longer reasonable to expect major research breakthroughs as part of a postgraduate research program. To this end, Doctoral research more commonly now represents an extension of knowledge, rather than some form of breakthrough. There is also some recognition that modern postgraduate research programs now have to be conducted in the light of massive amounts of previously published work, and hence the literature review process has become significantly more complex.

Postgraduate research programs generally result in a thesis/dissertation, which is assessed by independent experts in the field. The specific nature of the thesis varies from one discipline to another and from one country to another. In addition, some universities insist that students also undertake a “viva-voce” oral examination in which they can defend their research and processes before an expert panel.

The nomenclature associated with titles arising from postgraduate research vary from one institution to another and one country to another. Generally, the higher the level of the research degree the less association it has with a specific discipline. For example, at Bachelor's level, it would be common to receive a BSc(Chemistry). At Master's level, the corresponding degree would be an MSc (without the specific subdiscipline). At Doctoral level, the degree would be simply PhD with no discipline stated. This is intended to show that the recipient of the award has mastered techniques which are more generic than those which are encapsulated in a specific discipline or subdiscipline. There are some exceptions to this. In a professional Doctorate, where the objective is to demonstrate an in-depth research knowledge of a particular area, the discipline is usually included (e.g., Doctor of Business).

In some universities, it is also possible for candidates to achieve what is referred to as a "higher doctorate". This is generally an award bestowed upon people who have made a substantial contribution to their discipline through their research. Higher doctorates would normally be awarded after a significant research career and therefore those who receive such awards generally already have a basic PhD to begin with. Like professional doctorates, higher doctorates generally carry the title of the discipline to which the research contributions have been made - for example, Doctor of Engineering.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postgraduate_research"

after 9 months...

Tahniah kepada Elissa Nadia Madi dan pasangan, Jefri kerana meyambut kelahiran cahaya mata pertama.

Alhamdulillah..

Diberi nama Qaseh ********, dilahirkan pada 3 Ramadhan di Kota Bharu.

Tahniah sekali lagi Elissa Nadia...

Baby girl berumur 1 hari :)

******* = undisclosed

Berita baik untuk semua penerima biasiswa di UMT

Assalamualaikum w.b.t semua (mode bulan puasa heh heh) dan salam sejahtera...

Anyway berita baik untuk semua siswazah / pemegang biasiswa NSF, PASCA atau SKS. Sebentar tadi telah diadakan sesi dialog antara Pengarah AKUATROP (Prof. Faizah), Dekan GS (Prof. Azmi) dan En. Safre dengan semua siswazah AKUATROP bertempat di bilik mesyuarat AKUATROP. Maka isu biasiswa yang masih belum di'release'kan selama 3 bulan itu telah dibangkitkan.

Menurut Prof. Azmi, masalah timbul akibat senat masih belum meluluskan result M/TM semester lepas. Ini berlaku kerana masih ada penyelia yang masih belum menghantar keputusan tersebut ke GS mengakibatkan penangguhan kelulusan tersebut. Menurut beliau lagi biasiswa hanya boleh di'release'kan setelah result tersebut diluluskan senat. Ini adalah prosedur so perlulah diikuti.

Walau bagaimanapun, Prof. Azmi menyatakan bahawa kesemua duit biasiswa itu akan dimasukkan kedalam akaun penerima selewat-lewatnya minggu ini atau minggu depan. Tetapi ini tertakhluk kepada penerima biasiswa yang keputusan semester lepasnya telah diterima GS. Oleh itu, anda semua (para penerima biasiswa sekalian) diminta menyemak di GS samaada keputusan semester lepas anda telah diterima atau tidak beserta statusnya sekali samaada M, TM atau TL. Jika result tersebut belum diterima, anda diminta untuk berjumpa dan berbincang sendiri dengan penyelia anda kerana difahamkan pihak GS telah pun banyak kali menghubungi mereka.

So kawan2 sekalian, harap korang semua berasa lega ok. Kalau dah dapat tu guna duit wisely. Jangan membazir heh heh. Aku dah check dah status result aku so korang gi la check sendiri takkan aku lak nak check kan kan???So semak-semak lah akaun anda minggu ini dan minggu depan ok!!

Postgrads official UMT e-mails

Yo all UMT postgrads.... tau ke anda bahawa anda kini mempunyai akaun email UMT. Ala maknanya korang punyer emai jadi @umt.edu.my la macam korang punyer supervisor. so camner nak acces ke akaun email ni?? ni la aku nak criter ni...

1. First skali gi ke website UMT. Tau kan alamat dier?? ke tak tau? saper tak tau gi tuko U lain ceh. takpela aku bgtau, http://www.umt.edu.my/ ala yg ader gambar aku tuh heh heh heh.

2. Second. kat muka depan laman web tu ader menu tertera student email. klik pada menu postgraduate. tgk gambar kat bawah. menu dier yg aku bulatkan tuh.

klik kat yang aku bulatkan merah tu. bukan klik kat gambor ni tapi kat website le. anyway nampak tak gambar aku sedang berjalan kluar dari DSM tuh hahaha.

3. Korang akan dibawa ke login page. Masukkan no matrik korang sebagai ID and IC korang sebagai password.

ni la ruper login page tuh.

4. Pastu masuk la. ha senang jer kan. alamat email korang akan jadi macam ni = ni aku letak email aku la sebagai contoh k: gsk0361@pps.umt.edu.my.

5. biler dah masuk tu korang tukar la jadi password baru. maknanya gantikan no IC tu kepada password baru. ala korang explore le sendiri yerk.

Suka aku ingatkan disini ialah once korang dah tuko password email tu, password untuk UMT wireless authentification gateway tu pun akan berubah tau ikut password email yg korang ubah tu. So pas ni biler korang berwireless dalam kampus, biler time pasword tuh ko tulis la password yg korang ubah tuh ader paham???

aku dah try nak tuka username supaya GSK tu jadi namer aku supaya lebih glamer tapi takleh. alamat email tu akan tetap GSK0361 huhu. so aku harap korang guna la dengan berhemah yerk. pasni gi present kat seminar tuh leh la pakai email ni tak gitu. asik pakai @yahoo jerk orang kater macam tak rasmi jerk macam memain jerk. aku dah banyak kali kena dah.

so till than...ADIOSSSS.

P/S: kepada mod blog ni yg lain. dah banyak dah aku post. korang biler lagi nak sumbangkan artikel?????

The History and Definition of Postgraduate Study

k la bijan dah marah dah tu pasal tak updet. maner tah go mod-mod yang lain huhu. takper bia la aku, mod akuatrop ni updetkan yerk hehehe.

Korang ni semua belajar postgrad. buat master. aper yg korang tau pasal postgrad. dah faham ke korang pasal postgrad?? So pe kater kite bacer skit artikel bawah ni yang aku amik dari wikipedia pasal sejarah postgrad. kena la tau kan skit sejarah dan definisi post grad....

from WIKIPEDIA...

History

Although systems of higher education go back to ancient Greece, China, India, and Africa, the concept of postgraduate education depends upon the system of awarding degrees at different levels of study, and can be traced to the workings of the medieval Islamic madrassahs and European mediæval universities.

The origins of the postgraduate degree, specifically the doctorate, dates back to the ijazat attadris wa 'l-ifttd ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal education system, which was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course" and at least ten years for a post-graduate course. The "doctorate was obtained after an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses," and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose" which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of faqih (meaning "master of law"), mufti (meaning "professor of legal opinions") and mudarris (meaning "teacher"), which were later translated into Latin as magister, professor and doctor respectively.

The practice of postgraduate education was later adopted and expanded in the universities of medieval Europe. University studies took six years for a Bachelor degree and up to twelve additional years for a master's degree or doctorate. The first six years taught the faculty of the arts, which was the study of the seven liberal arts: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The main emphasis was on logic. Once a Bachelor of Arts degree had been obtained, the student could choose one of three faculties — law, medicine, or theology — in which to pursue master's or doctor's degrees. Theology was the most prestigious area of study, and considered to be the most difficult.

The degrees of master (magister) and doctor were for some time equivalent, "the former being more in favour at Paris and the universities modeled after it, and the latter at Bologna and its derivative universities. At Oxford and Cambridge a distinction came to be drawn between the Faculties of Law, Medicine, and Theology and the Faculty of Arts in this respect, the title of Doctor being used for the former, and that of Master for the latter."Because theology was thought to be the highest of the subjects, the doctorate came to be thought of as higher than the master's.

The main significance of the higher, postgraduate degrees was that they licensed the holder to teach ("doctor" comes from the Latin "docere", meaning "teach"; "magister" is Latin for "master", and is also the root of "magistrate").

Definition

In most countries, the hierarchy of post-graduate degrees is as follows:

Master's degrees (Postgraduate)

These are sometimes placed in a further hierarchy, starting with degrees such as the Master of Arts and Master of Science, then Master of Philosophy, and finally Master of Letters, and a DEA in France. In many fields such as clinical social work, or library science in North America, a Master's is the terminal degree. In the UK, Master's degrees may be taught or by research: taught Master's include the MSc and MA degrees which last 1 year and are worth 180 CATS credits (equivalent to 90 ECTS European credits), whereas the Master's by research degrees include the MRes (Master of Research) which also lasts 1 year and worths 180 CATS or 90 ECTS credits (the difference compared to the MA/MSc being that the research is much more extensive), and the MPhil (Master of Philosophy) degree which lasts 2 years (and is often granted to failed doctorates).

Doctorates (Postgraduate)

These are often further divided into academic and professional doctorates.

An academic doctorate can be awarded as a PhD (Philosophiæ Doctor), or as a DSc (Scientiae Doctor). The scientiae doctor degree can be also be awarded in specific fields, such as a Dr.sc.math (Doctor scientiarum mathematicarum, Doctor of Mathematics), Dr.sc.agr. (Doctor scientiarum agrariarum, Doctor of Agricultural science), etc. In some parts of Europe, doctorates are divided into the PhD or 'junior doctorate', and the 'higher doctorates' such as the DSc, which is generally awarded to highly distinguished professors. A doctorate is the terminal degree in most fields. In the United States, there is little distinction between a PhD and DSc. In the UK, PhD degrees are often equivalent to 540 CATS credits or 270 ECTS European credits, but this is not always the case as the credit structure of doctoral degrees is not officially defined.

Typical professional doctorates include the Juris Doctor and Medicinae Doctor, as offered in the United States.

In the UK and countries whose education systems were founded on the British model, such as the U.S., the master's degree was for a long time the only postgraduate degree normally awarded, while in most European countries apart from the UK, the master's degree almost disappeared. In the second half of the 19th century, however, U.S. universities began to follow the European model by awarding doctorates, and this practice spread to the UK. Conversely, most European universities now offer master's degrees parallelling or replacing their regular system, so as to offer their students better chances to compete in an international market dominated by the American model.

In many countries, the master's degree is an undergraduate degree instead of a graduate degree.

-so dah faham pasal nih...baru leh jadi postgrad yang baik kan. dah-dah gi masuk lab buat keje....

GANTUNG (nya biasiswaku)

Lagu tema PostGrad Miskin...

Gantung (nya bisasiswaku)
By: Melly Goeslow
Nyayian semula: Koir PostGrad Miskin
Gubahan Semula: PostGrad Geram

Ku harus mendapatkan duitku (menemui cintaku)
Mencari tahu status duitku (hubungan kita)
Apa masih ada atau belum diurus (telah berakhir)

Chorus:

Kau menggantungkan biasiswa (hubungan) ini
Kau diamkan aku tanpa sebab
Belum mesyuarat (Maunya apa) ku harus bagaimana
Kasih.....

Sampai kapan kau gantung
Duit Biasiswaku (Cerita cintaku) memberi harapan
Hingga mungkin ku berhutang (tak sanggup) lagi
Dan meminta dari bapaku (meninggalkan dirimu)
Detik-detik waktu pun terbuang
Teganya kau menggantung biasiswaku (cintaku)
Mesyuaratlah (Bicaralah) biar semua pasti

Chorus:

Gantungnya biasiswaku olehmu (hubungan cinta denganmu)
Membuat ku sakit
Hingga mungkin ku tak sanggup lagi
Dan mencarutkan dirimu (meninggalkan dirimu)

enjoy hahahaha

Interesting.... for all.. a motivation

I've recently received an interestingpaper that study the behaviour of phD's student but I think it is usefull to all of us no matter we are still undergoing our masters. I will published the extract from time to time but if u wish to read the full version... just email me at: lokmanorhakim@yahoo.com. i will email the pdf full version.

Innovation in PhD completion: the hardy shall succeed (and be happy!)
Hugh Kearns*, Maria Gardiner and Kelly Marshall
Staff Development and Training Unit, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
(Received 30 September 2005; final version received 18 February 2007)

Abstract

What is it that makes a PhD such a difficult process, and prevents candidates from completing
on time? In this paper, we propose that self-sabotaging behaviours, including overcommitting,
procrastination and perfectionism, have a role to play. At Flinders University, we have developed a program in which we work with PhD students to help to reduce these behaviours
and give them the strategies and attitudes they need to successfully (and happily!) complete
their thesis. The program utilises cognitive–behavioural coaching, an evidence-based strategy
that we claim leads to significant and long-term behavioural change. An evaluation of the
program indicates that it is very successful, improving students’ ability to manage their time,
set specific times for writing, and show work to their supervisor regularly, and that these
behaviours were associated with lower levels of stress and improved ability to complete.

Keywords: cognitive–behavioural coaching; PhD completion; PhD students; self-sabotage;
stress

The secret life of the PhD student

You’re sitting at your desk ready to start writing; it’s 9.30 a.m. You think, “I’ll just check my
emails for 10 minutes and then I’ll get started on my literature review.” You open up your email
and find there’s one from your supervisor asking if your draft is ready. You quickly send it to the
trash and check the next one. It’s from an honours student in your department saying they can’t
find a particular reference and since it’s your field do you know where to find it. You think, “It’ll
only take a few minutes, I’ll just do a quick check.” So you log onto to the library electronic journals.

Eventually, with a sense of great satisfaction, it’s found and emailed off to the grateful
honours student.

It’s 10.15 a.m. “Well,” you think, “I may as well just get the rest of these emails cleared”; glassware not cleaned in lab yesterday – send back saying it wasn’t me; astronomical society bash tonight – send back saying sorry, can’t come; interesting reference from co-supervisor – send back saying thanks, and go look up reference – feel very satisfied when found, printed, stapled and put in pile with 40 other articles. It is now 11.00 a.m. “Well, it’s been a busy morning, surely it’s time for a cup of coffee.” You meet a few friends in the coffee room and chat about the latest techniques for grafting boils to blue tongued sleepy lizards. It’s 11.30 a.m. As it’s only an hour until lunch you think there’s not much point in trying to start the lit review now, so you organise some references and put them into Endnote. It’s 12.30 p.m. and, with a sigh of relief, you head off for lunch. At 1.30 p.m. you come back and now feel a little tired, so think ‘I’ll just do something a bit easy until I feel more motivated.’ It’s 2.30 p.m. and another PhD student knocks on the door and asks for help with calibrating her super-sensitive bio-liquid. You are really good at this so you help and, after all, she’s helped you with Endnote in the past. After this you rush back into your office. It’s 4.30 p.m. You’re late, so you shut down your computer, grab your bag and rush out.

Your supervisor walks past and asks you how your day was. You say, “Great – very busy, did a lot”, but you have to rush now because you’re late for a meeting of the Faculty Higher Degrees Completion Committee and you are its representative!

This story is, in our experience, typical of some PhD students. They’re busy, but at the end of
some days, they don’t seem to have made much progress on their PhD. In recent years, there has been a push to get PhD students through faster, increasing the pressure on them to progress at a quicker rate. This was accelerated by the release of the Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs’ discussion paper, New Knowledge, New Opportunities (Kemp, 1999b), and the policy statement, Knowledge and Innovation (Kemp, 1999a). Among many other developments, these papers resulted in the introduction of the Research Training Scheme (RTS). The RTS dictated how universities were to receive a proportion of their funding. Under this new system, the bulk of performance-based funding was now dependent on ensuring the timely completion of postgraduate research students (Barnacle & Usher, 2003). Coinciding with this, the whole PhD process was undergoing a transition, from the traditional model of scholarship to a newer framework, focused on research training and the development of skills (Deem & Brehony, 2000). This was to forge a closer alignment between the education system and national economic goals (Leveson, 2000).

Subsequent to these policy changes was a dramatic increase in the number of Generic Capabilities (GC) programs provided by Australian universities (Borthwick & Wissler, 2003).
Although the area of GC training has been fraught with problems of inadequate definition (Gilbert et al., 2004), Borthwick and Wissler (2003) describe generic capabilities as skills desirable for a smooth transition from a degree to the workplace, but which may not be learnt during the traditional attainment of a research higher degree. The increased pressure to ensure candidates complete on time in order to receive additional funding, as well as the emphasis from the government on developing skills relevant to the workforce, saw the need for programs designed to aid completion of students’ degrees, and which would also assist in their transition to the workforce (DDOGS, 1999), hence the push for GC training. Borthwick and Wissler (2003) conducted a thorough review and analysis of GC programs in Australian universities. Their review showed that in 2003 GC programs existed in the majority of universities surveyed. The most common types of GC programs were leadership, communication, and project management, although other types of programs included self-development, stress management, and team work. Despite such programs being well liked and well attended (Borthwick & Wissler, 2003; Gilbert et al., 2004), there is little objective evidence for the effect or value of such programs to the students. This is not surprising, given the relatively short time frame in which these programs have been operating.

At Flinders University we have developed a GC program that focuses on providing skills to
PhD students that will enable them to complete their PhD faster but which can also relate to various domains beyond their candidature. As part of the program, we have also implemented an evaluation strategy to determine the objective benefits of such a scheme. As a foundation for our GC program, we have drawn extensively on the literature examining factors related to timely PhD completions. Much of the research in this area has examined the effect of demographic or situational factors on completions. For example, it has been found that those in the science-based disciplines (Seagram, Gould & Pyke, 1998), studying full-time (National Centre for Education Studies, 1996), on scholarships (Seagram et al., 1998), with prior research experience (Latona & Browne, 2001) and with high-quality supervision (Dinham & Scott, 1999; Seagram et al., 1998) are more likely to finish faster.

Manathunga (2002), however, took a more psychological approach to identifying factors
related to time to complete. She identified four ‘warning signs’ to indicate that students were not
making progress on their PhD. These indicators include: constantly changing topic, avoiding
communication with their supervisor, isolating themselves from their department and other
academics, and not submitting their work for review. Ahern and Manathunga’s (2004) work
extended this, discussing the concept of ‘academic procrastination’, which relates to putting off
academic tasks, a behaviour commonly displayed by students who are ‘stuck’. Their research
focused on ways of helping these ‘stuck’ students to get moving again. They suggested that these
blocks occur in one of three domains: cognitive, affective or social, and that by investigating these blocks, supervisors can attempt to resolve the issues and improve the student’s progress.
In our research, we focus on cognitive and emotional blocks, specifically the underlying
thoughts and feelings that prevent students from making progress on their PhD. As such, we
have adopted a program of generic skills training that focuses specifically on developing cognitive
and emotional skills for PhD students. These include programs titled: ‘The Seven Secrets of
Highly Successful PhD Students’; ‘Self-sabotage: What it is and What You Can Do About it’;
‘Your PhD: The Emotional Roller Coaster’; and ‘The Life Cycle of the PhD’. One particular
program, which was formulated around a variety of past evidence-based courses including
cognitive-behavioural principles (e.g. Gardiner, Lovell & Williamson, 2004), was developed
specifically for PhD students. The program, known as ‘Getting Your Thesis Finished: Defeating
Self-sabotage Intensive Series’, has been completed by 63 students over the past 3 years.
The aim of the program is to teach students the underlying cognitive strategies and attitudes
needed to complete their PhD on time, reduce stress, manage their time and workload better,
and generally improve their psychological hardiness and resilience. In other words, to avoid the
academic procrastination and other ‘blocks’ discussed by Ahern and Manathunga (2004) and
which the student in the opening vignette displays abundantly. These skills, which we term selfmanagement skills, are designed to not only help students to complete their PhD more quickly and with less distress, but also to impact positively on their long-term career and life goals. The particular theoretical principles that underlie the program relate to the concepts of
academic procrastination, as discussed by Ahern and Manathunga (2004). Specifically, we address the idea of self-sabotage (or self-handicapping), the process of creating obstacles to your goals – whether real or imagined – so that if failure occurs you have a plausible excuse (Berglas & Jones, 1978). Martin and colleagues (2003) suggest that in competitive environments such as academia, in which a high level of performance is expected, self-sabotaging strategies are highly likely to occur. In addition, Greenberg (1985) found that people are more likely to self-handicap when the task involved is very important to them. The PhD process is a prime example of these conditions and may increase the likelihood that self-handicapping will occur throughout candidature. Although not examined specifically in PhD students, studies have shown that up to 95% of university undergraduate students display some form of self-handicapping (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; Onwuegbuzie, 1999; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Self-handicapping is also associated with negative outcomes for students, such as academic underachievement (Garcia, 1995; Zuckerman, Kieffer & Knee, 1998), poorer study habits (Zuckerman et al., 1998) and poor time management strategies (Garcia, 1995). Self-handicapping in academia is likely to manifest in many different ways. From the extensive literature on the topic, we have compiled a list of self-handicapping behaviours commonly displayed by PhD students. These include: overcommitting (Koszegi, 2000), busyness (Silvera, 2000), perfectionism (Greenberg, 1985), procrastination (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; Martin et al., 2003; Onwuegbuzie, 1999; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), disorganisation (Norem, 2001), not putting in effort (Bailis, 2001; Urdan & Midgley, 2001), and choosing performance-debilitating circumstances (Sanna & Mark, 1995).

To Be Continued...