Two metaphors
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This document provides metaphors to describe the doctoral journey. It compares PhD students to the seven dwarves at different stages - shy and quiet at first, then sick, tired and irritable in the middle. It advises students to look to more experienced colleagues for guidance and warns that motivation may fluctuate throughout the process. A second metaphor compares completing a PhD to creating a series of artistic masterpieces through each milestone. Students are expected to demonstrate deeper knowledge and more polished work at each stage. The document aims to prepare students for the challenges of the doctoral path.
![[not completely true: someone keeps being angry … but that’s life]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/twometaphors-191228115520/85/Two-metaphors-9-320.jpg)
![To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
[Chinese proverb]
A TIP: LOOK AROUND YOURSELF AND
EXCHANGE VIEWS WITH YOUR OLDER
COLLEAGUES](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/twometaphors-191228115520/85/Two-metaphors-10-320.jpg)
Two metaphors
- 1. THE DOCTORAL PATH (A SEVEN DWARVES METAPHOR)
- 2. At first, PhD students are like Dopey (Cucciolo) …
- 3. … and Bashful (Mammolo) …
- 4. In the middle, they are usually sick (Sneezy)…
- 5. …, tired (Sleepy), …
- 6. …, and irritable (Grumpy).
- 7. In the end, they’re called Doc, …
- 8. … and then they are Happy
- 9. [not completely true: someone keeps being angry … but that’s life]
- 10. To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. [Chinese proverb] A TIP: LOOK AROUND YOURSELF AND EXCHANGE VIEWS WITH YOUR OLDER COLLEAGUES
- 11. A WARNING: YOUR MOTIVATION MAY … SWAY Motivation 1. Uninformed optimism 2. Informed pessimism 3. Crisis of sense 4. Defeat and depression 5. Informed optimism 1 2 3 4 5 By: Stefan Kostianev and Victoria Sarafian, Rector and Vice Rector for Research at Plovdiv University; from their slides presented at the 9th Thematic EUA-CDE Workshop about Doctoral Supervision – practices and responsibilities Delft, The Netherlands, 19-21 January 2016
- 12. ANOTHER METAPHORE PhD as an ARTWORK
- 13. suppose this is THE WHOLE KNOWLEDGE The picture is «Trichotillomania, Bulimia Nervosa, and Major Depression», morgan
- 14. suppose this is Your area/field of work THE STATE OF THE ART of your field: this is the first thing you are required to realize/write
- 15. THE STATE OF THE ART IS A PICTURE It is the picture of your Research Area from your point of view and you are expected to become a master in this painting
- 16. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your MILESTONE ZERO is a rough (but effective) picture, like a neolithic cave painting (Lascaux) You will be the authors of a picture at an exibition (your writing, its clarity, the completeness of your references …) and the actor who present it to a very exigent audience. In every milestone you will perform a piece of creative work
- 17. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your MILESTONE ONE picture is expected to be rich like a medieval painting and you to be gold-optimist
- 18. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your RESEARCH PROJECT in your MILESTONE TWO is expecte to shine CLASSIC ICONIC BEAUTY
- 19. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your MILESTONE THREE to paint all the contrasts and conflicts in your research (and may be your … sacrifice)
- 20. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your MILESTONE FOUR (thesis project) is expected the show lights and the full detail of your research landscape
- 21. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your MILESTONE FIVE (first thesis draft) is expected to paint the brutal reality of your research question and its IMPACT
- 22. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE Your LAST MILESTONE EFFORT (final draft) will seem, to you, probably, an hallucinated nightmare
- 23. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE But your FINAL THESIS is expected to be a brave, provocative masterpiece …
- 24. IN ALL YOUR MILESTONES YOU WILL GIVE A PICTURE … whose theoretical vigour will disrupt and silence every member of your FINAL EXAM commission
- 25. REFERENCES (à rebour) 1. Jackson Pollok, “Mural” (1943) University of Iowa Museum of Art; https://uima.uiowa.edu/collections/american- art-1900-1980/jackson-pollock/mural/ 2. Amedeo Modigliani, “Nu couché” (1917-1918), Louvre; https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_couch%C3%A9#/media/File:Modigliani_-_Nu_couch%C3%A9.jpg 3. Chaïm Soutine, “Houses” (1920-1921), Orangerie; http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en/artwork/houses 4. Goya, “El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid” (1814), Prado; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/El_Tres_de_Mayo%2C_by_Francisco_de_Goya%2 C_from_Prado_thin_black_margin.jpg/1280px- El_Tres_de_Mayo%2C_by_Francisco_de_Goya%2C_from_Prado_thin_black_margin.jpg 5. Jean Antoine Watteau, “L'Embarquement pour Cythere” (1718-1719), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Embarkation_for_Cythera#/media/File:L%27Embarquement_pour_Cythere,_ by_Antoine_Watteau,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg 6. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1598); https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Sacrifice_of_Isaac- Caravaggio_%28c._1603%29.jpg/1024px-Sacrifice_of_Isaac-Caravaggio_%28c._1603%29.jpg 7. Botticelli, “Nascita di Venere” (1482-85); https://cdn.studenti.stbm.it/images/2016/11/04/nascita-di-venere- botticelli-orig.jpeg 8. Duccio di Buoninsegna, “Maestà”, Siena; https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duccio_di_Buoninsegna#/media/File:Duccio_maesta1021.jpg 9. Grottes de Lascaux, Aurochs (15.000-18.000 a.C.); http://www.thalo.com/thumbnail/021913_3563f707- 564177729-5123c60c-91d8-865ede91/o.jpg 10. Masaccio, La Trinità, 1426-1428. Firenze, Santa Maria Novella, from: https://www.studiarapido.it/linvenzione- della-prospettiva-in-arte/#.Xgc9Vxf0l24