Research Culture
Universities are both teaching
and research institutions. The two functions are closely integrated,
especially at the postgraduate level. Your supervisor is a teacher/researcher,
who will induct you by formal and informal means into the research culture.
Members of academic staff will not agree to supervise candidates outside
their own area of expertise, so your research project will be closely
related to the interests of your supervisor. You will discuss with your
supervisor the literature and the major explanatory paradigms in the
relevant field. Your supervisor will know the key scholars in the field,
including many overseas scholars.
You will be kept informed of seminars, conferences and other gatherings
of scholars in the relevant fields, and you should make every effort
to attend such gatherings. Academic journals are a key element in the
research culture; they publish new work in the field, debates between
key researchers, and reviews of new books. The relevant professional
associations and their conferences serve the same function. You should
immerse yourself in this academic research culture during the period
of your candidature. This will greatly enrich the experience of writing
a thesis and it will continue to enrich your professional life when the
thesis is finished.