| [ UIUC ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): salsu ( 살~수랿) 날 짜 (Date): 1997년07월14일(월) 00시49분13초 KDT 제 목(Title): 지도교수를 선택할 때 한국 유학생들은 지도교수를 선택할 때, 전공분야에서 유명한 교수한테 가려고 하는 경향이 있다고 생각이 든다. 하지만 무턱대고 유명한 교수한테 가는 것은 위험천만한 일이 아닐 수 없다. 최대한 자세히 알아보고 자기한테 적합한 교수로 정해야 할 것이나 사실 무엇을 알아보야야 하는 지 막상 생각해 보면 잘 정리가 되지 않는다. 그냥 한번 읽어보면 괜찮을 것으로 생각돼서 올려봅니다. 다음은 UIUC 수학과 교수가 쓴 글입니다. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Choosing a Thesis Advisor. Choosing a thesis advisor is the most important decision of your life - perhaps more important than choosing a spouse - because your choice affects everything you will do in your career. Indeed, choosing an advisor is similar to getting married: it is making a long-term commitment. Unlike marriage, however, a good advising relationship should end successfully within a few years. Also, unlike, the relationship is essentially an apprenticeship; but, although you start as an apprentice, ideally, you should end as a colleague. As you consider which professor might serve as an advisor, you should first formulate your goals in undertaking thesis research. A thesis demonstrates your ability to make an original, significant contribution to the corpus of human knowledge. Through your thesis project, you develop skills useful in any career: critical reading of the scholarly or scientific literature; formulation and solution of a problem; and clear,written and oral communication of the results. Furthermore, you learn the practices of a particular scholarly community: theoretical frameworks and experimental paradigms, publication precesses, and standards of professional behavior. You learn how to present a paper at a seminar or a conference, and how to give and receive criticism. You should seek a thesis advisor who can help you meet your goals, and whose working style is compatible with yours. Here are some specific steps that you can take to find an advisor. Take a course with a potential advisor, possibly individual study. In an individual study course, you can learn about the professor's working style, with a limited, one semester commitment between you and the professor. The individual study course might involve directed reading, with goal of producing a survey article that could serve as the basis for a thesis. Or the individual study course might involve a small project in the professor's laboratory. Ask for copies of grant proposals that describe research projects of possible interest to you. A grant proposal states research problems, explains the importance of the problems in the context of other research, and describes recent progress, including the professor's contributions. Usually, a proposal includes references to journal articles and books that you can examine. You do not need the budget part of the proposal, which contains confidential information about salaries. Consider working with two advisors. If you are interested in an interdisciplinary progect, then you could engage two official advisors, one in each discipline. Even if you choose only one official advisor, you may occasionally seek advice from a second professor, who can provide an alternate perspective. Some departments institutionalize this practice by requiring that the chair of a doctoral committee be different from the thesis advisor. Discuss these arrangements with both professors openly, to minimize possible misunderstandings about each professor's role. Interview a potential advisor. What are the advisor's standards and expectations for the quality of the thesis, such as the overall length? Will the advisor help formulate the research topic? How quickly will the advisor review drafts of manuscripts? Will the advisor help you improve writing and speaking skills? Will the advisor encourage publication of your work? Will the advisor provide equipment and materials? Will the advisor obtain financial support such as funds to travel to conferences or research assistantships? Will the advisor help you find appropriate employment? Where have former students gone? What will your responsibilities be? Will you write proposals or make presentations to research sponsors? The most common problem in the humanities and social sciences is infrequent contact with the advisor. How frequently will you meet with the advisor? I meet with each of my own thesis students individually for one hour each week, in addition to a weekly group meeting. What are the obligations to the project funding source? How frequently are reports required? Are deliverables promised? Could publications be delayed by a patent filing? Are there potential conflicts of interest? How will decisions on co-authorship of papers be made? In engineering and natural sciences, co-authorship is common, but practices vary by discipline. Sometimes, the advisor's name always goes last. Sometimes, the order of names is alphabetical. Sometimes, the first author is the person whose contribution was greatest. Interview former students. Students who have graduated are more likely to answer your questions candidly than current students. Ask a potential advisor for names and e-mail addresses of former students, whom you can contact. Was a former student's project unnecessarily prolonged? Did anyone not finish? Why not? Many projects suffer unanticipated delays. Occasionlly, for various reasons, students do not finish theses and dissertations. How were conflicts resolved? When you work closely with someone else, disagreements are inevitable -- the key question is whether conflicts were handled respectfully, with satisfactory resolutions. If you have a major conflict with your advisor, first attempt to find solutions within your department, consulting another trusted professor, other members of your committee, or the department head. Should you be unable to find a solution by working with people in your department, be assured that we in the Graduate College are available to help mediate conflicts. Fortunately, major conflicts are rare. It is most likely that you will enjoy a successful, intellectually satisfying thesis project. Best wishes! Michael Loui Associate Dean in Mathematics Department. -----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^-----^ 살수가 무슨 말일까요? 한글 모드에서 'salsu'를 쳐보세요... --~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-----~-- |