How to deal with your supervisor?

Advice by Ankita Agarwal on March 5, 2012 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

Supervisor or mentor happens to be the heart and soul of the completion of the dissertation. In order to successfully complete a dissertation, it is essential to please the supervisor so that his confidence can be gained. Below are few points that can help you deal with your supervisor:

Don’t bombard the supervisor with unnecessary communications, but don’t be terrified to get in touch if one really desires guidance.
It’s better to avoid the booking of the first appointment with the supervisor without having done some preliminary thinking of the research. It’s not fair to turn up and expect the supervisor to ‘present’ with an idea or topic.
Always keep in mind that the supervisor will have many other things to do apart from assisting you so never expect them to be available on demand.
Make sure you have done the task you were asked to do before the next meeting with the supervisor, and never ask for postponement of any work, as this may leave a clear indication that you are not on the top of your project.
The feedback received from the supervisor should be taken seriously and the same should be evaluated and implemented.
Always try to gain the confidence level of the supervisor and make them feel that they have chosen a right candidate; rather never make them regret for taking your responsibility.
A supervisor is a person who gives guidance, so remember not to treat them as a proof reader, rather check, re – check your work several times so that the simple mistakes of spellings and grammar can be avoided.
Never get into the habit of postponing either the meeting or the topic.
It may be advantageous if your ideas and methodology is not revealed at the very beginning itself because then the supervisor will get a chance of reading your arguments and ideas as if it’s for the first time.
Keep your mind open, take ideas and suggestions from the supervisor, but the supervisor will be impressed if the thoughts from your mind also reflect in the work.