1) Finding the “right” Advisor -- How to research an advisor or thesis committee member
“ideal advisor will be in the area you're interested in working in, will actively be doing high-quality research and be involved in and respected by the research community,…”
“Talk to other graduate students and recent graduates. Ask them how their relationships with their advisors are/were, how quickly the advisor's students graduate, and how successful (well recognized, high-quality) their research is.”
excerpted from How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors (Part 1 and Part II) by Marie desJardins and, if you cannot access Marie desJardins' article published in Crossroads (because licensed journals require valid UC/UCLA IP addresses) Bruin Online offers dial-up, proxy, wireless, and VPN access. You will need to obtain a UCLA Logon ID.
- How do you find an advisor’s students so you can ask these questions?
- How do you know if an advisor (or an author of an article or book you are reading) is actively doing high-quality research, involved in and respected by the research community?
- Use Web of Knowledge (Web of Science) to find how much their works are cited and who is citing them. In your search results, use
to obtain article text or call numbers.
- Read articles to see HOW other researchers are using their works, what research they have published, and in which journals. Use Article Databases appropriate to your discipline.
- Use Journal Citation Reports to evaluate a journal’s impact in a field of research.
