How does a PhD work?

April 2020

Well, you start with an idea.

Usually you have something you are crazy-interested in. Maybe it’s poetry or cells or colonisation or mosquitos or *insert topic of your choice here*. 

And you usually have some experience in the university system. You have to show that you can be relied on to finish what you begin and that you have an idea of what it means to research.

This is how it went for me:

Once upon a time I finished secondary school and applied to get into university. I did a Bachelor of Arts with a literature major. Then I went off and had a bit of a life—aka got a hubby and some kids. Then I did some soul searching and thought I might like to be a teacher so I did a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary and Secondary) and I liked being a teacher (I still do).

Then I got a bit older and thought ‘what would I really like to do now?’ and enrolled in a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature). In my first year—part-time while I worked—I had the opportunity to enrol in a Minor Thesis unit, so I did. I wrote a ten thousand word minor thesis and was pleased with myself. 

When I finished my Masters I came across something I didn’t know existed: a practice-led Higher Degree by Research—a “creative PhD”.

Wait, what?

A PhD where the research, the data collection, comes from the researcher doing the thing they are researching. They produce a Creative Artefact as well as writing an academic paper, an Exegesis. These two documents form a Thesis that is submitted for examination and is subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny. The Creative Artefact is grounded in a Literature Review and demonstrates the things that the Exegesis academically explores.

What does this look like in real life? 

Mine is a collection of poetry that shows an answer to my research question plus a well-referenced academic paper that tells an answer to the same research question. 

The Creative Artefact is worked on closely so that an industry-quality piece of work emerges. My Supervisor is a well-published poet, editor and poetry critic: he knows his stuff. We work closely on the poetry to ensure that what I produce is highly polished and the very best I can do. I am required to research, learn about and practice my craft so that I become proficient at producing this type of art.

The Exegesis is the result of a lot of reading and focused academic writing. I can’t just say whatever I like, it must be grounded in previous research, in the poetry of others and in the recognised writing of others. Yes, I have unique ideas but I must show the reasoning for how these new ideas have formed. I do this by looking at different theories and theorists, bringing together things that may not have been brought together in just that way and— tada!—a new idea. 

The strength of practice-led research is that I get to see what is happening with the poetry as I am writing it. I experience it, feel it and then reflect on it, asking myself ‘what exactly happened there?’. The insight this gives me is different to what I might get if I studied other’s work as I can’t reflect on their creative practice and I don’t know what they were thinking or what was happening internally when they wrote this or that. 

My Examiners will read my Creative Artefact as my primary answer to the research question, experiencing that answer through the poetry. Then they will read the Exegesis to see where the Creative Artefact is placed academically. In order to be awarded my Doctorate both documents must be at industry standard and quality pieces of writing.

That takes work.