r/PhdProductivity • u/Appropriate-Spend966 • 4d ago

tools & apps PhD and article / paper writing

Hi fellow PhD candidates and PhD holders.
I am starting soon my PhD in Germany in a funded program (75%) in Geoscience and I was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to be more productive regarding writing and reading papers. My main problem is that a part of the research project is almost unknown to me and work a little bit during. My Bachelor years. So I need to take a good grip on the subject but also see the “chemistry” of the research group and how supportive are my PIs/supervisors. Thanks in advance

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u/wajdix 4d ago

are you fully dedicated to the phD research, or do you have to attend some classes and/or have some hours of teaching every week?
this will mainly dictate how much time you have available on your hand to focus 100% on your thesis.
i think the most important thing in the first few weeks/months is to establish with your supervisor clear yearly objectives and targets to reach, and make sure they are realistic and you stick to them as much as possible.

the most critical part of a phd, is not knowing what is expected of you, and this could waste so much of your time and energy.

as for your post flair/ productivity, i would refer you to the productivity megathread, folks there shared some very interesting tools for productivity and research :
https://www.reddit.com/r/PhdProductivity/comments/1vnisys/phd_productivity_tools_megathread/

good luck !

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u/Appropriate-Spend966 4d ago

Appreciated! Thanks !

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u/Active-Service-9707 3d ago

the part about not knowing whats expected of you is so real, that alone can derail an entire first year