Written by: Katherine Watson
The step up from undergraduate to postgraduate degree can be daunting. The latter certainly comes with new challenges, but also greater freedom to explore you own interests and tailor your training. This blog post aims to establish general expectations for postgraduate experience and outline how you can make the most of it. For specific insight on your degree programme, check out the course overview online or get in touch with your department.
There are many reasons for embarking on a postgraduate degree and none are superior. Whether it is the progression of your academic passions, a necessary step towards your desired career, or a final opportunity to make the most of the university experience, do reflect on your reasons. These reasons are you motivation and your direction.
Postgraduate degrees often involve less teaching delivered through lectures and seminars, and greater independent study. You will likely have more frequent deadlines and be set larger tasks to complete. The nature of the work is both more self-guided and flexible, with greater scope for pursuing your own research interests in the assignments set and your dissertation.
Being confident in your reasons for study will help you stay motivated during challenging days or weeks. Coming back to these reasons throughout your degree can help you make the most of your independent study, particularly when you start to explore beyond the reading list and devise your own essay/thesis topics.
One cannot underestimate how valuable a stable routine, comfortable workspace, and organisational tool are for navigating your postgraduate degree. With less timetabled classes, and more frequent deadlines, I relied upon Google Calendar and Notion (mainly for creating daily and weekly to-do lists) during my own master’s. Have a look online for free tools and templates for managing your time and prioritising tasks.
Do reflect on which hours of the day and where you work best. Night owl or early riser; library, coffee shop, kitchen table or bed. There is no hierarchy of work routines or locations. What I would recommend across the board however is that you avoid comparing yourself to peers and set aside time for breaks. And remember that instilling routines that capture your work preferences will put you in a much stronger position when you find yourself stressed or overwhelmed.
There is a good chance you will be asked to complete at least one literature review during the course of your postgraduate degree. You may never have encountered this assignment type before, but do not fear. You have all the skills required to complete one, and likely have produced similar types of writing in the past. A literature review is a comprehensive exploration of existing literature on a particular topic. Its function is to summarise the research previously conducted, assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing work, and demonstrate how any gaps in this body of research can be filled.
Get ahead of any anxieties by familiarising yourself with what literature reviews are, and how to write one. Check out our blog posts on how to start a literature review and The structure of a literature review for guidance.
Just because you are at postgraduate level, doesn’t mean you are expected to know it all or embark on this academic journey alone. If anything, this is your opportunity to forge more dialogues with academic staff since any teaching you have will likely be delivered in smaller groups and there will be more one-to-one discourse with professors. The library offers support on locating literature and referencing and you can seek out designated courses one-to-one mentoring from Centre for Academic Success on various academic skills such as writing, reading, avoiding plagiarism and more. Whether you’re at a loss for how to start an assignment or want to push your 2:1 to a first, it’s well worth making the most of the expertise and guidance available. The Centre for Academic Success is a great place to start for signposting to relevant academic support.
