Four doctoral candidates under my supervision are now ready to enter Milestone 2, following the completion of their Conceptual Paper. It is not a loud milestone, yet it carries its own quiet pressure.
As we move into Phase 2, I find myself needing to slow down: explaining, line by line and word by word, how to craft an analytical Literature Review; working together to unpack how to read, critique, and take an academic stance rather than merely summarize existing studies. At this stage, writing is no longer about “retelling what others have said,” but about learning to enter the scholarly conversation with intellectual responsibility.
My sense of satisfaction does not come from seeing them “finish a paper,” but from witnessing a shift in their thinking: slower, deeper, and more careful with every argument they construct. Some transformations cannot be measured by page numbers or deadlines; they lie in the gradual reshaping of academic mindset.
As a supervisor, sometimes happiness is simply seeing one’s students refuse to give up.
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