These notes are based on my personal experience of supervising and being supervised, and on discussions with fellow supervisors and students. They reflect situations encountered in Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines. Although the principles are similar, some of the details may be very different in Science and Engineering areas.

1. What to Expect: a continuum from wonderful to awful

The best possible scenario:

Your supervisor:

• helps you find your topic; is up-to-date in your field; meets with you regularly; provides you with useful references; lends you books (foolishly); really engages his or her mind with your intentions and what you're actually trying to do; provides detailed, constructive and sometimes tough feedback on your drafts; helps you set realistic timelines; consoles and encourages you when you feel you're getting nowhere
• helps you get in touch with other people (students and academics) who are working on related topics; circulates information about what's going on in your field (talks, visitors, conferences, etc.) and makes you feel that you are part of a community of scholars
• deals with the bureaucracy and/or helps you to do so; advises you on the minefields of the organization and helps you get round them
• hosts and attends social occasions where students are included; refers you, and if necessary, supports you in getting appointments for therapy, marriage guidance, and other stress-related problems; is interested in your family; visits you in hospital (and maybe brings flowers!)
• helps you prepare for your defence (including giving you some general idea of what to expect from your external examiner) and is fair but supportive during it
• writes you good references and lets you know their general drift (and is honest about his/her reservations or if he/she feels he/she can't write you a good reference)
• co-presents/publishes with you and/or helps you present/publish on your own; acknowledges your authorship properly
• is patient, supportive, constructively critical, wise, good-humoured, punctual, firm, tough especially towards the end, and always there for you.

The worst scenario:

Your supervisor:

• is rarely around (and frequently out of the country), generally late and in a hurry, keeps you waiting; during appointments with you is distracted and/or spends time on the telephone; wastes time by talking about his/her latest exploits and/or problems; doesn't respond to voicemail, e-mail, or written messages
• doesn't understand what you're trying to do and/or isn't interested in it; sends you on wild-goose chases for references that turn out to be useless and/or out-of-date; doesn't read your work or reads it badly, or even reads it while you sit there
• makes comments that are either very generalized or very picky, or irrelevant; praises your work or criticizes it all the time (both are bad); tries to fit your work into a rigid or preconceived plan that fits with what he/she is interested in
  (NOTE: This would be a problem in the Humanities and Social Sciences, but not necessarily in the Sciences and Engineering, where the supervisor's leadership on joint projects is crucial)
• doesn't do bureaucratic paperwork (which you find out too late)
• writes you bad references but doesn't tell you
• contributes little or nothing to co-authored papers and always insists on his or her name coming first (or even leaves off your name)
• offers no support (or even turns on you) in committee meetings and your defence; chooses a hostile external examiner or one whose approach he or she doesn't know
• makes you feel nervous, stupid, isolated or angry

Anything in between these poles is possible.

2. Choosing Your Supervisor

In the Humanities/Social Sciences at U of T, you will generally have time and scope for choosing a supervisor (and if you don't, it's worth finding out why and giving your situation some thought). It is expected that you will take the initiative in this process. In the Sciences/Engineering, the situation is quite different, in that by the time you're registered, your supervisor will probably have been allocated to you. (So before you apply, you need to take huge care in to find out whatever you can about the department and faculty, most importantly from people who've studied there before.)

This section of these notes is directed mainly towards Humanities-Social Sciences students, although some principles may apply across the board.

• Because your supervisor can enhance your doctoral experience wonderfully or can make your life hell, choosing this person is crucial. Make this choice as carefully as you would for a marriage partner. The difference is that this relationship means more to you than it does to him/her.
• Do lots of asking around with other students and even faculty. Read the Divisional Guidelines on supervision and find out what the expectations, procedures, and sources of advice and help in your department. Do this well before you start your thesis work.
• Try to do at least one course with any prospective supervisor. Before you ask someone to supervise you, interview the person (even if you have done courses with him/her), ask about his/her expectations: how often would you meet? what would happen in meetings (e.g., would you expect to have meetings only when you've written something, or are meetings to help you prepare for writing? how does he/she expect students to keep in contact—is he/she happy to get e-mail from you?)
• Check out the person's availability for the whole time that you plan to be working on your thesis; note it down, and be sure that it's acceptable to you. If you have any inflexible deadlines you must meet for completing the thesis (e.g., you must return to your home country by a certain date), make certain that the person has understood and accepted this.
• Start negotiating and discussing your ideas towards a topic early on (well before the person is formally signed up as a supervisor), and use this process as a way of judging whether you can work with him/her. At the very least get him/her to read and respond to some of your work. Consider very carefully the kind of comment you get and decide if it really helps you think and motivates you to work further; ask yourself if the person seems interested in your work.
• Don't go for big names just because they are big names: there are plenty around U of T, but be careful in choosing a Famous Person. It's hard to be a big name and serve your students well, though some outstanding people manage this wonderfully.
• Don't feel obligated to choose someone just because he/she encouraged, invited or even assisted you to come to U of T—it's your career, life and fees that are at stake here, not theirs.
• Choose someone with whom you feel emotionally—as well as intellectually—comfortable, someone with whom you feel sure you can be honest about the good and bad things in your work and life. Trust your emotional reactions. Can you endure firm direction from this person?

In this preliminary sounding-out period, if you're in any doubt about the person (e.g., if during your preliminary investigations, he or she does any of the things listed above, don't go ahead with him or her. It will inevitably get worse!!

Go into the relationship slowly and don't be afraid to back out, especially early on (say, the first 12 months). Most supervisors won't care much if you do this. If you're not enjoying the relationship, the supervisor probably isn't either. Remember that no one but you, in the end, will be responsible for how you've chosen.

If you have been assigned a supervisor, still check him or her out in some of the ways suggested above. If you feel uneasy or unhappy, seek out the person responsible for advising students and talk to him or her about your worries as soon as possible. Act on your worries soon—the longer you delay, the worse the situation will get, and the more difficult it will be to get out of it! Whatever you do, find someone to give you advice.

3. Working With Your Supervisor:

In the Humanities/Social Sciences, meetings will generally be much less frequent than in the Sciences/Engineering. Before you start working with your supervisor, and in the stage where you are finding out about expectations, you should have discovered how frequently your supervisor expects to meet with you. You should also have found out (from fellow students, advisers and information sheets) how this matches up with departmental norms and have made your own judgement about whether your supervisor's way of working will meet your needs.

• Meetings: Come to meetings with a (rough) agenda, take notes and keep a notebook or file on your meetings. In the early stages especially, set the date for your next meeting at the end of the meeting you're in (or at least pin down a time when the date should be set). Be punctual. Never miss an appointment - if you can't make one, get to the phone ASAP. Don't waste your supervisor's time - if you don't think you have enough to warrant seeing him/her, it's probably best to phone your supervisor a day or so before the appointment, and say so. If your supervisor is somewhat unreliable in keeping appointments, confirm by phone or e-mail a couple of days in advance. (If failure to keep appointments is a regular feature, keep notes on this; you have grounds for complaint).
• Questions: If you don't understand something the supervisor says or writes on your work, always ask, and ask again. Your supervisor will enjoy working with you much more if he/she feels that you are honest about what you find challenging or difficult. He/she will be very disappointed if it turns out that you have given the impression of understanding something just to be polite or to hide your problems. Remember you are working at the cutting edge of your field, so there will inevitably be things that are hard to grasp.
• Feedback and followup on the meeting and your writing: Follow up on your supervisor's suggestions/comments on your work and in meetings. There is a delicate balance to be struck between, on the one hand, being pig-headed and closed to all ideas and, on the other, slavishly following whatever comments you're given. A good doctoral student listens hard, thinks a lot, shows initiative, takes responsibility for their work, and builds from the interactions with his/her supervisor. You don't have to (and shouldn't) do everything your supervisor suggests but you should show that you've thought about it.
  — If you don't understand comments on your work (or can't read the writing), always ask, either in your next meeting or by e-mail. Be judicious in making contact by e-mail between meetings—use it when you really have something you need to ask, but remember your supervisor's inbox will probably be much busier than yours. You may feel that some suggestions may be better held over till later in your writing so make a system where you can store these.
  — If you're not getting the kind of feedback on your work you feel is useful, politely ask for this re specific points/issues—you can do this in writing when you hand in work ((see the example of such a message below). In your next meeting, tell your supervisor what you've followed up on and tell him/her if you found it helpful. If it wasn't, you can mention this politely too.
• Staying in touch: Provide your supervisor with information about what you've been doing that's professional or academic (e.g., giving papers, teaching classes) and give him/her copies of things you're doing (for information purposes), not just your thesis drafts. Don't disappear; make sure your supervisor knows if you're out of town for any length of time. If you're feeling depressed or are delayed with your work, tell your supervisor. Remember: your supervisor probably won't chase after you; it's your job to maintain contact and communication.
• Bureaucratic requirements: Make sure you have up-to-date information on the rules and regulations about your thesis (things to do with dates, presentation etc.) - don't rely on your supervisor for this, and do take him/her copies of the information you obtain. Go to workshops on computer use, word processing, and research methodology—chances are your supervisor will be out of date on at least some of these things.
• Courtesy: Always be polite but never too polite/obsequious. Thank your supervisor for things he/she does, especially the helpful things. Don't give presents, especially early on, and don't give big presents until after your defence; if you want to, send a Christmas card but you don't need to; a gift (large or small) when you've completed is nice. Promptly return the books you are lent (and if you find one years later, still return it!).

4. If Things Go Badly:

Things can go badly for several reasons

1. Your supervisor isn't doing his/her job properly (for whatever reasons).
2. You and your supervisor aren't compatible ù in terms of personality & style, or in terms of your actual interests (topic, method, etc.). Remember that in doing a thesis, you're in a growing period, so you may develop and change, such that you and your supervisor no longer have the same interests or approach.
3. You aren't doing your job as a graduate student properly (for whatever reasons).

Don't let a really unsatisfactory situation drag on. If possible, discuss your problems first with your supervisor. If not, you must find help!! To some extent, you can use your discretion in asking for advice initially: It could be another professor with whom you've got on well, a departmental student adviser, an administrator with whom you've established a good relationship, the chair of your department. You can ask for confidentiality in an initial meeting where you're seeking advice and, if this is agreed, you can be reasonably sure that the matter won't go further. Be specific, factual, concrete, balanced and firm in what you say—you can do this by without being legalistic, rude, libellous or defamatory about your supervisor (but cry if you need to). Don't think or talk in terms of "My supervisor doesn't/won't like me": whether he/she likes you or not is totally irrelevant to him/her (and to you). Talk in terms of your difficulties, not the supervisor's personal characteristics or intentions. It's natural to feel a bit afraid in seeking for this kind of help. Accept your fear but don't let it stop you: If you frame the problem in terms of your need for help, people will normally try to help you; you may be amazed at how easy it is to solve your problem.

Remember: You have much more to fear from an on-going bad relationship or a worsening one than you have from seeking help.

If the advice you get doesn't work out over a given period (say, a month or so), go back again, and again if necessary. Although most advisers will take your problems very seriously (and will know more about your supervisor than you do), and will want to assist you, don't be put off by an initial brush-off. Departments don't encourage frivolous changes of supervisor, but at least in most Humanities/Social Sciences/Education areas, it is possible to change (and reasonably easy administratively, even though you may find it difficult emotionally). Don't be afraid to explore this possibility if you are becoming very unhappy; remember that it's your work and future that are at stake, not your supervisor's. If you want to change supervisors, it's a good idea to have a substitute in mind and to sound them out as to whether they're willing to take you. Do lots of checking on any potential new supervisor before you approach him/her (see above). Weigh up the pros and cons of extricating yourself from a situation that is preventing you from achieving your goals: the short-term embarrassment and difficulty may be worth the long-term resolution. Remember that the longer you let an unsatisfactory situation drag on, the harder it is to get out of it.

4. When Things Go Well:

Giving a present may be appropriate after your defence. Keep in touch. Send your ongoing work. By the end of this great relationship, you will know what else to do!

An example of communication with one's supervisor (since it's a good idea to put most key things in writing):

Dear XXX,

Please find attached a copy of the paper I presented to the forum on policy in XXX last week. I'll tell you more about what went on there when I see you. The forum wasn't brilliant but it was worth the trip in terms of getting to know the people there, updating myself on recent developments and thinking, resources I gathered, and some feedback on the paper.

I'd really like some input from you on this paper now as a developing theoretical framework for the thesis. I realise section 2 goes on too long and is very "raw.". Please read it as a first attempt to mobilise some central ideas to motivate my analysis.

I also have some specific questions: [ listed ]

...

[Some personal stuff re my father's illness.] So I've decided to go home for a month or so in early-mid April. Although I won't get as much work done as I would here, I will still be able to settle down to do something. I haven't finished checking all the transcriptions of the data and analysing these, and think this would be a manageable task to work on while I'm there.

I'll be back from the New York conference on 13th March and hope to be able to see you as soon as you can manage after that.

Best wishes,

XXX.

Presented as part of a panel presentation on October 15, 2001, during a workshop sponsored by the SGS Office of English Language and Writing Support.