Study skills
Study support
It is important to remember that the relationship you develop with your supervisor will be unique, so don’t expend too much energy on what you see as the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ supervision experience. Focus on what is possible, and how you want the supervision to work for you. Keep in mind that supervisors will expect you to make suggestions about how you can best work together. Here are some general questions to consider.
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Generally supervisors are keen to establish a climate of confidence and open interaction. So, even if you have had little contact with your supervisor in the past, approach your initial meeting with a willingness to share your ideas and ask questions. It will be most important in the first few meetings to clarify mutual expectations – expectations that both you and your supervisor see as reasonable and realistic.
Research shows that postgraduate students have very different and wide ranging expectations of their supervisors. In general, students expect their supervisors to be:
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The Guide to candidature provides information about the induction program offered by your school or faculty. This will be an excellent introduction to research in your discipline and to school and university facilities and programs. However, throughout your candidature, regular one-to-one sessions with your supervisor will give you a high level of ongoing support. These meetings can focus on a broad range of issues, but initially they represent an important learning opportunity. The discussion during these meetings may be about the overall direction of your thesis or about one specific aspect of your research.
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In your initial meetings with your supervisor you will need to focus on how the supervision process is going to work. You and your supervisor will both have preconceived expectations of the process, but you should both clarify how you plan to work together. This will involve negotiating expectations at the outset, and re-visiting and re-negotiating them as the research project progresses through various stages. Suggestions about how to approach a discussion of mutual expectations is provided in the checklist entitled Clarifying your expectations.
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To get the most benefit from supervision meetings you need to think about what you would like to achieve during the time available. Have a clear idea about the questions you need to ask or issues to discuss, and take notes during your meeting so that you can re-visit the discussion in your own time. Keeping a more formal journal of your supervision discussions can provide you with a helpful tool for reflecting on the development of your ideas as you progress through your research project. If you expand on your rough notes you can further clarify your thinking, and these expanded notes can also be the basis for further reflective writing.
During initial meetings your supervisor will explain the purpose of the Candidature Agreement. This document represents an agreement between you and the University. It includes the names of your principal supervisor and associate supervisor and describes their roles. It is completed during the first three months of your candidature, and you will ‘sign off’ on the recorded details, although it can be changed at any time, subject to agreement. It should be reviewed annually as part of your review of progress.
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The checklist on Early Issues can be used to prompt discussion during supervision meetings. It includes questions around some of the issues highlighted in the Candidature Agreement. Check the resource on Planning in the Getting started section for more on developing a thesis schedule as part of the Candidature Agreement.
Keep in mind that making the supervision process work well is a joint responsibility. Completing the checklist on Clarifying your expectations will help you think about the roles you think your supervisor might play. By discussing some of the issues highlighted in this exercise, you might find that your supervisor has very different ideas about a number of key priorities. The challenge would then be to agree upon an approach, and set some initial ground rules, which are workable for both you and your supervisor. Getting some initial agreement is best done early in the supervision process, so that you avoid a mismatch of expectations and potential misunderstandings.
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Becker, L 2004, How to manage your postgraduate course, Palgrave Macmillan, New York. (Chapter 5).L . 2004, How to manage your postgraduate course, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, (Chapter 5).
Elphingstone, L & Schweitzer, R 1998, How to Get a Research Degree, Allen and Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, (Chapters 2 and 3).
Holly, M 1997, Keeping a professional journal, Deakin University Press, Geelong, Vic.
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