Advising Statement

Being a doctoral advisor

My objective as an advisor is to help you become the best researcher you can be. I see my role as that of a catalyst: helping you to crystallize your ideas and bring your work to completion, in order to get you started on a successful career as a high quality academic researcher. It’s a role I take very seriously, and one that gives me a great deal of personal and professional satisfaction, but for it to work it’s important that you and I have aligned expectations on what that role entails. So here are some basic guidelines:

What I expect from you

Commitment: I expect you to be passionate about the question you’re trying to answer or the problem you’re trying to solve, and willing to put in the effort to get it right. I’m here to help you, but you’re the one who needs to put in the hard work.

Ambition: I expect you to want to take on important and interesting questions with the eventual goal of establishing yourself as a high quality academic. If a faculty position at a top research university is not your goal, I’m not the advisor for you.

Integrity: I will not tolerate deception, cheating, or plagiarism of any kind. If you make a mistake, admit it. If you’re not sure what’s appropriate, ask. I don’t expect you to always get to the ‘right’ answer, but I do expect you to get to the answer the right way.

Independence: I expect and encourage you to develop your own identity and research agenda, separate from mine. I’m here to help you do the research you want to do, not to get you to do research I would otherwise have done myself.

Regular contact: I do expect you to check in with me from time to time, though how / when / how often you do that is entirely up to you. Some students find it useful to schedule regular meeting times. Others would rather reach out when they’re ready or need to talk. I’m fine with either, but it’s up to you to initiate contact. I probably won’t bother to hunt you down if you don’t reach out to me, and if it gets the point where I have to, you’re in trouble.

Respect for my time: While I’m always happy to make time for you, I expect that when I do you won’t waste it. If I’ve given you feedback on something, I expect you to have worked on it before you come talk to me again. If you’re coming to me with a problem you’re facing, I expect you to have tried to find a solution on your own, and (ideally) to bring me potential solutions to discuss. My input is meant to complement your thinking, not substitute for it.

Open communication: I expect you to be forthright in your interactions with me. If you don’t understand what I’m telling you, say so. If you’re unhappy with me for some reason, or have a problem with something I’m doing / have done, talk to me about it. I have a thick skin and I’m always willing to do better as an advisor.

What you should expect from me

Access: I will make time to meet with you whenever you ask me to. The best way to reach me is always through email, and you can use that to schedule time with me. I mostly prefer to discuss things in person / on Skype rather than provide feedback via mail. I generally try to respond to email within 48 hours (provided I’m not on vacation / travelling) and schedule meetings within a week of being asked, though that may vary with my schedule. If you haven’t heard back from me in 72 hours feel free to drop me a second mail.

Judgment: I will always advise you to do what I believe to be in your best interest, both with regards to research or on other professional matters. This doesn’t mean I will always be right, but it does mean I will always give you thorough and carefully considered feedback that draws on my expertise and experience.

Endorsement & support: I will make every reasonable effort to get you the resources you need to succeed as a young scholar. I will endorse and defend you to other people, and will help you to try and find a faculty position that is a good match for your ability and interests. This does not mean that I will lie for you or misrepresent your progress; it just means that I will help you put your best face forward.

Honesty: I will always give you my full, critical, and honest opinion of your work. I will make no promises that I do not intend to keep, and having made a commitment to you I will make every effort to honor it.

What you should not expect from me

I’m not your boss. I suggest and recommend; I do not order or instruct. My advice is just advice: ultimately, you are responsible for your research, and all decisions you make must be your own.

I’m not your cheerleader. I’m not here to build your self-esteem or massage your ego. I’m here to challenge you and help you improve. I’m always going to look at your work critically, and I’m always going to push you to do better. If my feedback is not always pleasant to hear, keep in mind that I wouldn’t be bothering to give you any if I didn’t think you had potential.

I’m not your friend / family. While I’m a big believer in work-life balance, I’m also a big believer in keeping my professional and personal life separate. So while I encourage you to have a life outside of work, I don’t want or need to know about it. If you have personal stuff going on that’s impacting your work, you’re welcome to come to me and talk about it, and we’ll see what we can work out. Otherwise, I don’t really care.

I’m not your copy editor. I tend to focus my feedback on substantive issues: framing, logical development, research design, empirical analyses, etc. If I think your work is poorly written or could use more careful copy editing, I will tell you so, but I’m not going to go through your work with a toothcomb, correcting spellings, grammatical errors, and the like. This does not mean I think good copy editing is not important, it just means that you should get / hire someone else to help you with it.

What I do not expect from you

Obedience: If you disagree with me, say so. I’m always happy to engage in a debate, and always willing to admit when I’m wrong. If I ask you a question or challenge you on something you’re saying, that doesn’t necessarily mean I disagree with you. Mostly, it means I genuinely want to know what you think. When it comes to your research, no one knows it better than you, so don’t assume that what I’m telling you is always right.

Co-authorship: Being your advisor doesn’t make me your co-author. While I may co-author with you, that is a separate discussion and requires mutual consent from both of us. You don’t have to make me a co-author just because I’m your advisor; and you should not assume that I will co-author a paper with you just because I agreed to advise you. My preference is always to help you write a paper on your own, rather than write it with you. In some cases, it may be more effective / efficient for us to write a paper together, but I will always discuss that with you before we start, and you’re always welcome to say no. For your dissertation, I will typically not agree to co-author more than one chapter.

Exclusivity: Having me as an advisor doesn’t mean you can’t work with other people. You are welcome (and even encouraged) to pursue projects with others, and I’m happy to co-advise with someone else. I do, however, expect to be consulted if you’re planning to add someone to your committee / as a co-advisor, and you obviously can’t invite anyone to join a project we’re co-authors on without checking with me first.

Reciprocity: I’m here to help you, not the other way round. I judge the success of our relationship by how useful I am to you, not by how useful you are to me. I may occasionally ask you for a professional favor—usually because I trust your judgment or expertise—but saying yes is in no way a precondition for my continued support. If you don’t have the bandwidth and would rather prioritize your own research, just say so.