Working with your advisor

To ensure you have a positive experience, it's important to develop a good working relationship with your HDR advisor.

Roles and expectations

During your HDR, you'll work closely with your advisor to draw on their expertise, while developing your own knowledge and skills. You may rely heavily on your advisor’s guidance through the initial stages of your project, but the goal is to gain the skills and confidence to finish your project independently.

A productive relationship with your advisor will help you progress through your HDR. Start by understanding the expectations of this relationship.

You should expect your advisor to:

attend regular meetings
guide you in formulating and focusing your research topic
provide timely feedback on your writing (content and discourse)
provide opportunities to gain the skills needed to perform your research.

Your advisor will expect you to:

be diligent, safe and ethical while conducting your research
become increasingly independent as your project progresses.

Read more about the expectations of HDR students, advisors and the University:

Example scenario

Romita has been careful to check with her advisor before ordering any lab tests. Her advisor has recently told her that she should be more independent and shouldn't bother him with every little thing.

She then orders a very expensive test without consultation and is reprimanded by her advisor. Romita is now upset and confused about what is expected of her.

Solution:

You're expected to be relatively independent as you progress through your research, but there are limits. It's important to have a clear understanding of each person's role and responsibilities to avoid confusion.

In this example, Romita should:

meet with her advisor to go over her advisor's expectations of her, and what she can expect from her advisor.

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Seeking and receiving feedback

Your advisor’s feedback will be essential in developing your knowledge and work.

Set a schedule of meetings with your advisor to regularly seek their feedback. This will keep you on track and provide opportunities to go over your questions.

To help ensure quality feedback, you should:

Prepare for your meetings: go in with things to report and specific issues to address.
Know what you want to ask: ask specific questions using direct phrases to ensure your advisor knows what kind of feedback you need.

Overcoming fear of feedback

If you have a fear of seeking or receiving feedback, try to identify what's causing this fear and address it. Some common issues and possible solutions include the following.

Concern about imposing on your advisor

While your advisor’s busy schedule should be taken into account, keep in mind that the University is being funded to provide for your supervision. It's reasonable to expect regular meetings and timely feedback.

Your advisor is absent

Some advisors travel a lot for conferences or overseas study leave. In these instances, make arrangements with your advisor for your continued support in their absence.

If your advisor is leaving the University permanently, you should make arrangements to change your advisory team.

Doubts or insecurity about the quality of your work

As a new researcher, you may feel insecure with your work. Remember that it's normal to need a lot of guidance through the initial stages of your project. Your advisor is a valuable source of information and feedback that will help you improve. You can also draw on other sources to improve the quality of your work, including:

support groups
websites or books that focus on thesis writing
relevant learning workshops
Learning Advisers.

Protecting yourself

It’s natural to want to protect yourself from critical or corrective feedback, but receiving feedback is part of the learning process.

If you’re nervous about receiving critical feedback, our Learning Advisers can provide an independent assessment of your work to let you know if you’re on the right track. Counselling services are also available to help you address your fears and explore ways to overcome them.

Superficial feedback

If you feel your advisor's feedback is too superficial, there are a few ways to seek better feedback:

Approach your advisor with specific questions. Point out where you need additional guidance.
Make an appointment with a Learning Adviser who can help you interpret feedback.
Seek additional feedback from other sources, such as a support group.

Insensitive delivery of feedback

Receiving critical feedback about your work is part of this process; however, any feedback you do receive should be given constructively to help you improve your work.

If you feel that your advisor’s delivery of feedback is insensitive, you should:

ask for more constructive feedback
focus on the content of their feedback rather than the delivery
make an appointment with a Learning Adviser who can help you review and interpret feedback
meet with a counsellor who can help you develop effective coping and stress management strategies.

Example scenarios

Scenario 1

Sarah has been waiting for two months for feedback on her literature review and is getting frustrated by the long delay.

Solution:

Advisors have busy schedules, and sometimes things can get lost or forgotten.

In this example, Sarah should:

send a polite email that acknowledges her advisor's busy schedule and asks when she'll have a chance to look at the literature review, or
politely address the review in person at their next meeting.

Scenario 2

After making a round of recommended changes to his draft, Yousef submitted a revised version to his advisor for feedback. When he received the new feedback, Yousef was shocked to find that his advisor had recommended it be changed back to how it was originally.

Yousef is frustrated and now wondering whether it’s worth submitting anything else for feedback.

Solution:

The nature of creating original knowledge involves testing ideas and trying different approaches. This can result in backtracking on some work. There are ways to minimise the effects of this and the chances of it happening again on future drafts.

In this example, Yousef should:

confirm if the feedback is a suggestion or a requirement
ask for clarification on anything he doesn't understand or agree with
use the feedback as a guide, but speak up if he feels it doesn't suit the intention of his work
save drafts with different file names to avoid rewriting large sections of material.

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Resolving issues with your advisor

Since you will be working closely with your advisor, it’s possible that you may clash at some point. The best approach is to address any issues right away so they don’t have a chance to get worse over time. Remember to:

keep an open mind
be empathetic
use constructive language.

If you need help understanding where a problem is coming from, or how to approach it, book a one-on-one appointment with one of our counsellors.

Some common problems specific to students and advisors are outlined below, along with solutions on how to address them.

Mismatched expectations

Problems can occur between HDR students and their advisors when they have mismatched expectations.

For example, there may be some confusion over the roles and responsibilities that you and your advisor should take. Or you may feel like your advisor’s style is more task-focused when you'd prefer more guidance in developing as a researcher.

To reduce the chances of mismatched expectations, write a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with your advisor that addresses both of your expectations.

Interpersonal communication

Problems can result from miscommunication, poor communication or lack of communication. There are many reasons for this, including cultural differences in communication practices.

If you think you and your advisor aren't communicating effectively, you should discuss this with them. If you’re unsure how to do this or need further advice, our counsellors or Student Advisers can help.

Authorship requirements

Authorship is another problematic area for some. This can include questions about when an advisor’s name should appear as a co-author instead of in the acknowledgements section.

The Graduate School provides more information about publishing and authorship requirements. You can also view the Authorship Procedures for further guidance.

When deciding the order of author names on a manuscript, the author who originated the idea and developed the research plan should be named first.

Otherwise, authors appear in the order of their relative contribution to the project, starting with the author who contributed the most. If there are only two authors who have collaborated on more than one paper and the contributions are relatively equal, consider taking turns being first author.

Example scenario

George and his advisor start working together, meeting regularly to discuss George's work. At one of their meetings, his advisor – an authority in a particular data technique – encourages George to use it in his project. George tries the technique even though he doesn't think it'll suit his work.

He begins to feel confused and troubled about the project. At a later meeting, he is critical of the technique without expressing the difficulty in using it. His advisor is relatively quiet and stops calling meetings.

George stops coming to campus and becomes discouraged about the project. He stops responding to messages from his advisor until a progress review is due and a meeting is called.

At the meeting, George feels criticised for lack of progress and explodes with feelings about his advisor. The advisor indicates that the technique wasn't essential, but he thought it might be interesting to try it.

Solution:

In exploring new ideas, researchers will often try approaches that may not work out. You should expect this while working on your project. However, if your advisor suggests something that you're unsure of or disagree with, remember to speak up. Ultimately the thesis is your work.

In this example, George should:

address his concerns right away to ensure his project stays on track
confirm whether the technique is required when receiving the feedback
ask questions about the technique to get clarification on how it applies to the work
constructively express his feelings about why the technique may not work.

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