Graduate students. Why is there a note on graduate students in this collection of teaching notes? Some instructors have graduate students they supervise, and depending on the instructor’s style there is a degree of ‘teaching’ in the supervision. There are different styles of graduate student supervision. There are also times when an undergraduate student asks for advice about grad school and this note is also written with that perspective in mind.

At one extreme there are styles which are very authoritative with the supervisor dictating almost everything related to the student’s thesis work: choice of topic, method of research, types of experiments, research questions, method of analysis, and style of writing. In this style, the instructor is the master and the student does what they are told, when they are told, and are provided almost all of the recipes and steps to follow. The student does this and graduates in the most efficient fashion; the least time, the fewest false starts, the least confusion. Some supervisors and students love this style and we have seen faculty members honored by past and current students who thought that this style was optimal and the best. The students wanted to get the degree done in the most efficient fashion, and this was accomplished. Their goal was a PhD or MASc, the piece of paper. There was reduced uncertainty and everyone knew what to do. The supervisor is happy. The student is happy. Everyone is happy, and everyone’s expectations were met.

At the other extreme are styles which are more collaborative and colleague-like. In these styles, the instructor and student explore and discover the thesis topic; it is not pre-ordained. The student might explore a topic or method that the supervisor knows something about, perhaps very little, is not an expert and a suitable committee member must be found and/or secondary courses taken. In extreme cases, the supervisor must also do some research and learning to understand the new topic or method. Almost nothing is pre-ordained except general quality targets and academic rigor; almost everything is up for discussion and rationalization. Possibly nothing is blindly accepted and almost all recommendations and suggestions by the instructor are challenged. Some students want this style. Some supervisors also want to work this way. The supervisor is happy. The student is happy. Everyone is happy.

There will never be a 100% match and small compromises might have to be made by the student (the supervisor will be hard to change). Small gaps will probably be ok. Large gaps will be a problem and might be large enough that a supervisory arrangement will just not work out. A student might find this hard to judge without a mentor. Their baseline will be undergraduate instructors with roughly 144 hours for one term as the relationship. A graduate degree is a different matter and a student might not recognize or understand this.

We are not judging which method is best for the student or supervisor. We are recognizing that there are possibly different styles and expectations on the part of both and that these need to recognized when a student and supervisor enter into a supervisory agreement.

The goal is to avoid a mismatch of student / supervisor styles. Expectations should be balanced.

• The student should have a clear understanding of the type of thesis work they want to undertake. They need to know their objectives; knowledge and cognitive skills. What do they want to get out of the degree process. They need to know their current knowledge and skill base. They need to know ‘how’ they learn.
• When applying for grad school, the student should make it clear in the application what their expectations are of the supervisor and if they have any preferences with respect to supervision style.
• When applying for a specific supervisor, the student can look at past theses supervised and look for patterns; if they all look alike, that is a clue. Papers published with students can also provide clues.
• Both parties can give examples about how they supervise/learn and let the other party understand any key assumptions.
• A verbal contract can be made with a student (before accepting). What level of quality do you want your thesis to be; knowledge and skill. A heavy focus on knowledge will skew towards the authoritative style, and skill towards the collaborative. That is, does the student want to be an expert on the ‘know that’, or ‘know why’, or both? This will define the course of study.
• Negotiate a little test with the prospective student, e.g., a research paper on a topic chosen by the supervisor. This exercise will provide many insights into where the student is starting from and how they approach such things.
• A potential supervisor can provide ‘references’ to former and current students. Suggesting that the student talk to them and discuss how they were supervised (not just they liked it, but ‘how’ they were supervised).
• Social media is not suggested as a source – too many possible biases and any information might be out of context.

Co-dependencies & The Necessary and Hopefully Sufficient

• The student and supervisor need to be compatible. They do not need 100% compatibility, but the basic styles need to be aligned.
• If there are multiple, co-supervisors conflicts can arise if all styles are not aligned.
• Without pre-testing and discussions, it is a crapshoot with most of the risk borne by the student. The student is a relatively short term investment for the supervisor, and long term for the student. We would never take on a student without pre-testing.
• The student needs to understand what can be questioned and when to question, and the supervisor should probably set guidelines about what needs to be taken on faith and ‘just do it’ versus what can be explained. The supervisor does not have time to explain and justify everything; even in the most collaborative relationships. The student is supposed to leverage the supervisor’s education, training, knowledge and wisdom, and not repeat it. Some supervisors will go further than others. If the student requires a supervisor who explain many things and not dictate them, the student best find a supervisor who will do this. Again, we have not seen a situation where this type of gap has been successfully bridged.
• The supervisor needs to understand the student and be prepared to negotiate a different supervisor if need be. The student might be aware of a problem or that no one will be happy if they continue. The student might think they can simply will a better situation into being; not so.

Further reading

• Supervisory Relationships. Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo. https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/assessing-student-work/grading-and-feedback/supervisory-relationships
• Azuma, R.T. (1997, 2019). So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.!, 4th revision, UNC. https://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html