fun fact: this inspired me to go back to my own phd writing and see if i was overambitious (turns out i never really wrote anything that could be considered a thesis proposal lol), which led to rereading my thesis, which led to noticing an odd little detail in one of my figures and now i think i have a new project idea
Humanities scholar here so there are some key differences but in general, yes, I spend a lot time reigning students in. I think part of the problem is mistaking breadth for brilliance and underestimating the value of competently and tightly constructed argument that unfolds in an organized fashion. Also they also tend to want to a write a dissertation like X person's and X person's book is often their third meaning they've earned a certain leeway towards writing a different more wildly ambitious monograph.
You mean in applications to get into grad school? My recommendation would be to only give a big-picture perspective of what a student may want to do, not a detailed, worked-out research proposal.
fun fact: this inspired me to go back to my own phd writing and see if i was overambitious (turns out i never really wrote anything that could be considered a thesis proposal lol), which led to rereading my thesis, which led to noticing an odd little detail in one of my figures and now i think i have a new project idea
I'm glad I could be helpful. ;-)
What did you do your phd in?
microbiology
Humanities scholar here so there are some key differences but in general, yes, I spend a lot time reigning students in. I think part of the problem is mistaking breadth for brilliance and underestimating the value of competently and tightly constructed argument that unfolds in an organized fashion. Also they also tend to want to a write a dissertation like X person's and X person's book is often their third meaning they've earned a certain leeway towards writing a different more wildly ambitious monograph.
In phd applications, often a question is to describe your research objectives ; how much do you think advice in this article carries over?
You mean in applications to get into grad school? My recommendation would be to only give a big-picture perspective of what a student may want to do, not a detailed, worked-out research proposal.