Today I went to see my tutor. I made an appointment with the teacher for this meeting before May 1st, because I was going to enter the doctoral stage next semester, and I felt a little flustered.
My supervisor is a bachelor of economics from Peking University and a PhD in economics from Stanford. He has an excellent resume and is a senior doctoral supervisor dedicated to research. I've always been lucky to have such a good mentor.
I told my tutor my questions and said that my course study is coming to an end, what should I do next? The instructor clearly stated that the next step is to read more literature.
The tutor said three steps to determine the doctoral topic by reading literature. That is, the three steps of starting a Ph.D.
First, read widely in branches that interest you. For example, if I am interested in educational economics, I have to read relevant handbooks, which contain review articles on topics related to educational economics. By reading these articles, I can know what issues scholars in this field are researching and how far they have progressed. The handbook may have an old article, so go to the new review article on the Journal of Economic Literature. After a broad understanding, you can focus your attention on the topics of greatest interest.
Next, on the topic that interests you the most, read the references of the review articles, as well as the latest research on the topic, such as the working paper, to find inspiration and think about what you can do. If there is something you are not sure about, you can discuss it with your tutor at this time. The tutor will point out whether the problem is too general, whether there is available data, and whether there is research value, and then discuss the improvement of the topic selection.
At the same time, because the economics of education is a field that is highly related to real life, for example, it is necessary to pay close attention to practical educational issues.You can take a look at some reports released by word bank, the education department and the China Institute of Educational Finance of Peking University, etc., from which you can see some issues worthy of study.
Topic selection is the first and most critical step in doctoral research.
Einstein once said: "It is often more important to ask a problem than to solve a problem, because solving a problem may be a mathematical or experimental skill problem. To ask new questions, new possibilities, from new Looking at old problems from an angle requires creative imagination, and it marks the real progress of science.”
With the development of economics today, many scholars have studied technical issues, and it can be said that it is very complete. As an academic newcomer in applied economics, my main task is to use existing technologies to solve new problems. As for the research on new solutions, it may be mainly done by academics of theoretical economics and econometrics.
After each chat with the tutor, I will feel full of confidence, I feel that the road ahead is very clear, I can go on completely, and my spirit is full of energy. She is my goddess.
The new journey has begun, and the new picture scroll has begun. I want to plan the next schedule, lay a solid foundation, and develop the habit of reading English literature.
Come on!
