The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research: book review

Petre, M. and Rugg, G. (2010). The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research (2nd edition). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Recently I went to a very inspiring webinar for those embarking on the PhD journey over the age of 50. The speakers (who all happened to be women) included those who had completed their doctorates and those still in the middle of their studies, and they shared their difficulties, successes, and tip for survival. Along the way there were some book recommendation which I decided to follow up, and the first of these was the 2010 second edition of Petre and Rugg’s The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research. I was intrigued by the title; was there a whole body of knowledge that I was oblivious to that I might otherwise learn the hard way in pursuit of a doctorate?

It’s certainly true that this book has made me think a little differently about my PhD. It employs the useful metaphor of an apprentice cabinet maker who seeks to move from keen beginner to master craftsman. In this analogy, research training is much like developing skills in making neat joints or smoothing surfaces, all with the aim of producing a beautiful, admirable cabinet: the masterwork. The postgraduate student learns from their supervisors, their formal PGR training, and from peers and informal mentors, with the aim of producing their own “masterwork” dissertation and being able to defend its thesis at viva voce. The thesis, then, needs to be as elegantly crafted to show off your research skills, the breath of your knowledge and understanding of the theory and literature, and the clarity of your thinking, as a piece of exquisite furniture. This book seeks to help you on the path.

It covers a lot of things you might expect in a guide to academic development, including sections on reading, writing, publishing and research design, but it also covers softer skills such as networking and getting the best from your supervisors. This book wants you to be the absolute best you can be, and to lay the groundwork for your postdoctoral career. This requires getting yourself noticed and building a solid reputation which feels like a big ask if you are bogged down in the minutiae of your PhD, and if you’re doing your doctorate for personal satisfaction rather than to lay the ground for a career in academia, this might all seem a bit much.

For me, the most useful section is the chapter on critical thinking. It made me stop and question some of the assumptions about my planned research – something that I probably should have done prior to now! – and encouraged me to take different perspectives on my research question. Inspired, I generated a mind map of questions I needed to answer before I continued, which I pinged off to my supervisory team. I was slightly worried that as she had laid the groundwork for my first study, my lead supervisor would be a little offended (of course she had thought all these questions through!) but in fact I raised some questions she had not considered, particularly around epistemology and Petre and Rugg’s suggested “what am I not seeing?” The authors provide a really useful list of ways of taking a new perspective on your research (p. 127) which should help prepare you for challenges which could be thrown at you by examiners, reviewers or critics.

All in all, I thoroughly recommend this book. I particularly appreciated the authors’ dry humour – they certainly don’t take themselves too seriously, even when topics get heavy. If you’re not focussed on a particular career path you might just want to skim over the sections on networking and reputation-building, but above all read the section on the viva if, like me, it’s something you’re a bit clueless about.

You can purchase new copies of this book on Amazon, but I got an excellent condition used copy from World of Books more cheaply with no postage charge.

If you’re interested in the PhD Beyond 50 event and its outcomes, the organiser Adeola Eze can be found on LinkedIn and has set up both a LinkedIn and a Signal group for networking and mutual support. Do drop her a line if you’re interested in meeting other people doing a PhD later in life.