PhD-

thanks to makja coz fwdkan email ni.... as i always wondering am I good enough to do PhD or not.....

thanks to all for the support and pls pray for my success k...

insyaAllah, if i got the chance, i will do and try my best to complete my studies and contribute my skills and knowledge to the development of education especially in insurance related field. (haha...cam lam resume jek)

those written below are things that keep wondering in me when i decided to apply for PhD. thanks to dr fadhilah ahmad, who successfully obtain her Dr title (by completing her PhD) few weeks ago coz answering all my doubtfulness.

Am I smart enough to do a Ph.D ?

That's the wrong question. There is no such thing as ``smart enough''. If you love playing badminton or any other game, play it. You don't expect to be Rashid or Jailani Sidek. But you are doing something productive for yourself and those around you. Research is the same. If you enjoy doing it, pursue it. You will usually find that you can contribute something. As you go on, you will discover your strengths and find you have something unique to offer. Maybe there are others who are smarter in some way; they can compute complex probabilities in their head faster than you can, or whatever. But your contributions may be valuable in other ways. Research has many components. Problem solving, identifying issues, presentation, modeling, and criticism are amongst them. See what aspects best suit your abilities and personality. There is probably a niche for you somewhere.

Do I have Self- confidence for a PhD ?

Self-confidence affects our performance and success in all walks of life. You can find confidence only within yourself. Don't expect to get it from others, even your supervisor. Someone telling you that you did well is useful to boost morale, but in the end you must believe in yourself.

What happen if I fail ?

If you are afraid of failure you will have a hard time succeeding. You have to fall a few times to learn to skate or ride a bicycle. Research is worse. Once you learn to ride a bicycle you don't fall again, but in research you never stop failing. You will fail far more often than you succeed. But it is from your failures that you learn. They increase your understanding and maturity. If you find the process of research is fun, failure to solve a problem is not daunting. In fact, it leads to all kinds of discoveries. So you need to learn to not care about failing, but use it to get new ideas. One nice thing about research is that nobody need to know when you failed. You write papers only about your successes. But that is also deceptive, because you don't see the failures of others. But they are there. Even the top people don't always succeed. Gauss failed sometimes, as did Einstein.

Should I focus more on the publications or the thesis ?

Both are important. In terms of publications, you have to think of them as early as when you are in semester I. My supervisor (Prof Yazid advised this to me). Seek help from your supervisor of the possible rough titles for the papers.

The quantity and quality of publications you should look for varies with your Ph.D goal. If you want to head into research, whether at a research lab or in academia, they will look at your publication record, not your thesis. You want more than a minimal Ph.D. You want to have had recognized publications and exposure. Students headed this way shouldn't really even be thinking about a ``thesis'': this is only a formality for the university and less than you need.

Try to do good research and get recognition in the research community. Normally, we focus on the thesis at the beginning of the phd final year. Materials from the papers really can contribute to the thesis content.

dr fadhilah, UDM

so, berusahalah tasha. insyaAllah u can do it!