PhD blog: 4

Graham Foster is a PhD student at the English Research Institute of Manchester Metropolitan University. He is researching how 9/11 affected North American literature.

Hunting and gathering

With all the form filling, meetings, red tape, induction seminars and sheer, naked panic, it’s easy to forget that the reason for doing a PhD is the study. I am now one term in, and have done a surprising amount, considering all of the above obstacles. So far my study has consisted of much reading, a little bit of note taking and 3000 words of written material. That’s not bad for twelve weeks I suppose, and I hadn’t really tallied up what I had done until now.

One thing that you are told over and over again is that the clock is ticking, that once you enrol the minutes of your life are draining away and the submission deadline inches ever closer. You are told horror stories about it, as if a particularly stern doctor is telling you that you have three years left to live. This is not good for a person prone to panic. My default state is to worry about everything, and then lie around doing nothing about it. It’s in-built; as if I am trying to sabotage everything I have previously worked for. It goes without saying that there is no room for this on a PhD. I have forced myself to work, and so far I have stuck to my plans. The clock is ticking after all.

Secondary but vital

Reading, note taking and writing, however, is not all a PhD student needs to do. Gathering secondary material is paramount, and both exhilarating and frustrating. The easy part is getting hold of relevant books, if they are in print and in a library. Even if they are not, the internet is a PhD student’s best friend. I’m not talking about the dreaded Wikipedia here (I’d be taken out and deservedly flogged if that was the case), but websites such as www.abebooks.co.uk - a reservoir of rare and out of print books, mostly for very reasonable prices.

The hard part of gathering secondary material is getting your mitts on newspaper articles, reviews or unpublished manuscripts – all those forms of temporary, disposable writing that flitter into the public conscience and fade away a day later. Here a trip down to London is a must. The British Library keeps all journals, newspapers and magazines with an ISSN in its Colindale branch, just outside London. Even though articles and reviews are put online nowadays, you’ll still need page numbers and dates, information which is not always provided on the net. Applying for a British Library reading room pass takes three minutes and is recommended, but check out the guidelines on their website so the trip is not wasted…

Another way of acquiring old interviews and reviews (probably more important for those studying literature) is to approach the publishers. Usually someone in the publicity office will be able to help. They will be able to tell you where to find what you need – although remember they are busy and may not be able to help all the time.

Paper chase

By far the hardest are the unpublished manuscripts. Here you will either need to deal with the author or their agent (even for academic works). Authors can be prickly and suspicious, and the agents will do whatever the author says. I have had experience of trying to get hold of an unpublished manuscript that has been going on for months and it’s been a particularly frustrating experience. But while I’m disappointed, it comes with the territory of research – things change and your research has to adapt with it. And you will most likely have to deal with many stubborn buggers, so get used to it!

The best experience I’ve had in gathering research materials is from a Canadian film producer. I wrote to him (his address was given to me by a publisher) asking if I could get hold of a (unpublished) screenplay written by one of the authors I am studying. He said that I couldn’t get the screenplay but he could see what else he could send me. A few weeks passed and a huge parcel landed on my doormat. In it were countless DVDs and about 300 pages of interviews, reviews, articles and publicity material, all the relevant sections highlighted. This was a huge shock and an even bigger help, and did much to motivate me.

You have to be brazen about getting your research materials, and not scared to ask people to help. For every person that doesn’t want to help you, there are dozens who do. Even your fellow students and faculty at your university can prove a wealth of knowledge and experience. Your problems only begin when you have to process all of your research material into an intelligent and original thesis…

Read Graham's previous blogs:

PhD blog 3: form filling

PhD blog 2: the Process

PhD blog 1: my path to enrolment

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