The Routledge Doctoral Supervisor's Companion ─ Supporting Effective Research in Education and the Social Sciences

Accompanying The Routledge Doctoral Student’s Companion this book examines what it means to be a doctoral student in education and the social sciences, providing a guide for those supervising students. Exploring the key role and pedagogical challenges that face supervisors in students’ personal development, the contributors outline the research capabilities which are essential for confidence, quality and success in doctorate level research. Providing guidance about helpful resources and methodological support, the chapters:


frame important questions within the history of debates
act as a road map through international literatures
make suggestions for good practice
raise important questions and provide answers to key pedagogical issues
provide advice on enabling students’ scholarly careers and identities.

While there is no one solution to ideal supervision, this wide-ranging text offers resources that will help supervisors develop their own personal approach to supervision. Ideal for all supervisors whether assisting part-time of full-time students, it is also highly suitable for helping academics to support international students who confront Western doctoral traditions and academic cultures, helping both supervisor and student to understand why things are as they are.

Pat Thomson is Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia and a Visiting Professor at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.
Melanie Walker is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Nottingham, and is also Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Part I Introduction Why the doctoral companions? Melanie Walker and Pat Thomson Notes on Contributors Illustrations (Tables/Figures) Using this book 1. The changing nature of the doctorate and doctoral students Pat Thomson and Melanie Walker Part II: Supervision as pedagogy/ies 2. Doctoral education as ‘capability formation’ Melanie Walker 3. Perhaps I should be more proactive in changing my own supervisions': student agency in 'doing supervision Jackie Goode 4. From poster to PhD: the evolution of a literature review Kerryn Dixon and Hilary Janks 5. Understanding doctoral research for professional practitioners Terry Evans 6. Critical transcultural exchanges: educational development for supervisors Catherine Manathunga 7. Negotiating the layered relations of supervision Barbara M. Grant 8. Adapting signature pedagogies in doctoral education: The case of teaching how to work with the literature Chris M. Golde Part III: Challenges in supervision pedagogy/ies 9. Supervising part-time doctoral students: issues and challenges Jacqueline H. Watts 10. Supervising part-time doctoral students Terry Evans 11. Fortunate travellers: learning from the multiliterate lives of doctoral students Sue Starfield 12. Internationalization of higher education: challenges for the doctoral supervisor Anna Robinson-Pant 13. International Students and Doctoral Studies in Transnational Spaces Fazal Rizvi 14. The doctorate in the life course Diana Leonard 15. Rhythms of place: Time and space in the doctoral experience Sue Middleton 16. Global social justice, critical policy, and doctoral pedagogical spaces Elaine Unterhalter 17. Coming to terms with research practice - Riding the emotional rollercoaster of doctoral research studies Angus Morrison-Saunders, Susan A. Moore, Michael Hughes and David Newsome 18. Doctoral education in global times - ‘Scholarly quality’ as practical ethics in research Terri Seddon 19. The truth is not out there: becoming ‘undetective’ in social and educational inquiry - Crime fiction and social inquiry: intertextual continuities Noel Gough 20. A personal reflection on doctoral supervision from a feminist perspective Miriam E. David 21. Writing in, writing out: Doctoral writing as peer work Claire Aitchison and Alison Lee 22. Creating discursive and relational communities through an international doctoral student exchange Julie McLeod and Marianne Bloch 23. The relationship between doctoral students’ approach to research and experiences of their research environment Keith Trigwell 24. Educating the doctoral student: don’t forget the teaching Tony Harland