Suara Hati Ayahku

Salam (peace be upon you)

Today I want to write something on the importance of having a research diary.
I tried to get the experience from my PhD work from 2006 - 2009 activities.

2)  In this diary we are goingto jot down important ideas, plans, activities and some useful conclusion.  It is more than a Ghantt Chart.   You put the followings:

2.1    your yearly, monthly, weekly plan
2.2     your daily plan

It is important to plan what you are going to do in 1 day, 1 week or in 1 month (semester).  By doing so we can at least see whether we are doing research or just pretending to do research (laugh).

2.3  important points to consider
2.3.1  Your Thesis Chapter
       Where are you now?  Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings and Discussion, Contribution and Conclusion.

2.3.2  If you are still in the L.R. section, then jolly good.  Go ahead with reading some more books, journals but remember .. you must write the summary of each reading.  Then you must ask yourself this important question.  WHAT DOES THIS GOT TO DO WITH MY RESEARCH?  SO WHAT!

2.3.3 The biggest mistake is to read , read, read journals and s/he does not know where to stop becuase reading is the most enjoyable activity in ones life plus .. you are just reading the high impact factor articles from a journal which is full of mathematical formulae and programming notes on your bed.  The next step is to sleep with your partner, right?  Then REPEAT this style of research for the next 2 - 3 years.  RESULT:  PHD -  permanent head damage!

2.4  Reflections

After 1 week, 1 month, 3 months please check are you heading at the right direction.  If yes, CONGRATULATION!  else .. do something .. for example, simplify things up or you visit your supervisors and discuss your journey.

2.5  Writing papers/ journals/ proceedings

It is good to write for conferences, journals.  At least by doing so, we can express our aim, objective, methods for a few imprtant times and let this be read and commented by experts all over the world.  This is where you need a mastery in english.

My experience told me that if we write to a local conference.  The most chance is our paper will be accepted at the first 5 minute.  Why?  Because .. in the local conference , they may go for quantities.  The more the paper being accepted, the more money will be generated .  FULL STOP!

sometimes , the reviewers will look at the names after yours. If your suervisor is so much famous through out the world, they will accept it just now and then.  So simple.  They missed reading your brain and ideas.

2.5  Conclusion

It is imprtant to conclude a reaesrch with something simple.  Publish your thesis or a book.  If your thesis is accepted by the external examiners you will get your PHD. Else .. get your book published and sold in the open market.  At least you get yourself rich.  Hopefully?

That's it for today.  Good luck.

Wallahu aklam.