How to choose a guide or supervisor for project or dissertation work
This article is all about guiding students to choose a supervisor/guide during the starting of a project or dissertation in any graduation or post-graduation study in any engineering specialization. Read more about it below.
Are you studying in your final year B.Tech or B.E. /M.E. or M.Tech engineering? Are you planning to select a guide or supervisor for your project work/dissertation work? Stop a moment to think about the following aspects before selection. Normally students are given a chance to select their guide. This is up to the students to choose the best or good among the available faculties of the department or inter-department. Sometimes the student is assigned a guide by their department or any other faculty representative from the department. Then there is no way to change them. In extreme cases, if the student is not comfortable with the guide, he can choose a new guide later.
If you are in a college where freedom is given to the student to choose a guide or supervisor for a new project or dissertation, consider the following points while selecting your mentor/guide or supervisor.
How to select a guide or supervisor?
Choose your specialization or interest for the project area
One of the most important aspects of selecting a guide is your interest or passion for a subject or topic.- If you are interested in a particular field of your engineering specialization, you need to first list the available teachers/guides in your departments. Suppose you choose, thermal engineering as your interest area in Mechanical engineering for your project work, now it is your next step to meet those professors/teachers who are specialized in thermal engineering. Approach them one by one and ask him/her about the kind of project they are willing to give you. This sometimes gives a chance to him(guide) to assign his work but that will be suitable for you. If he/she asks you about the kind of work you want to do, it is now up to you to decide on which topic you are going to work on. Think about the subject's difficulty, availability of resources in the department or at the college level, etc. Thus, you need to choose final year topics
- Take the feedback from existing students under the guide you are going to approach. Ask them about his/her nature or behavior, their style of work, and working hours. Do not select a guide without consulting others who worked under him/her.
- Read about your would-be guide's biodata or academic career as well as his/her research background in terms of research publications, and his/her current reputation in that area of specialization for which he/she is known. Never select those guide who almost does not know about their work or have no mastery of their research. They will just leave you alone while you were in the storm.
After doing all the above exercises you can now be able to choose your guide as per your choice. Now he/she will be with you throughout the year or till your project is completed. Follow certain dos and don'ts with your guide to have a harmonious student-guide relationship with him/her.
Do's and Don'ts After selection of guide
- The first and foremost thing after you decide your guide is to win his/her trust. This is the single most factor on which the complete building of your project will lie. You need to follow his rules and regulations as per his/her suitability. Do not feel him/her that you are not following his or her commands. Now your guide is the only supreme power to your project or dissertation work.
- Start your work the moment your guide assigns it to you. Be punctual in all aspects, work, or any commitment you do. Meet your guide frequently for his/her advice. Do not hesitate to ask about your difficulty otherwise, you will waste your time unnecessarily.
- Have a respectful distance between guide and student. This will ensure harmony in the relationship between the guide and the student. But do not do what the guide does not like.
- Meet your supervisor/guide occasionally and give him/her the status of the work you do.
- Just enjoy the work, forget everything.
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A good article from the author. It is very crucial to have a good guide for the success of the project work.
The very important factor is the field of expertise. First, decide on the field in which you want to do your project work. Then look into the names of the various guides available in that field and select the best among them. How to select the best? See the publications of the guides available. Whose articles are getting published more in the journals of repute? See how many students are with him. Then try to see the old project work records available in the library carried out under his supervision. Then finally, have a chat with the seniors who did their project work under him. Then decide on the director.
One important thing you should remember is that the same way you try to get the best guide, the guide also will try to pick up the best students only. So you should keep this point also in mind and then contact the concerned and take his consent.
The score you are going to get in this project work is very crucial. So you should maintain good relations with the director. Show respect for him and see that he gets a good impression about you. This is going to be a very important factor for the students. Respond to him positively and don't give an impression to him that you are not showing interest in the work. Keep meeting him and ask him your doubts and get the clarification.