One example of the importance of resilience comes from supervisory feedback. If you’ve been used to sit at the top of your class or manage your work effectively in the past, negative feedback from your supervisor can easily get you off track. However, it’s important to remember that handling criticism is an important aspect of becoming an accomplished academic.

When a researcher submits a paper to a journal, it routinely goes through multiple cycles of peer review where multiple academics evaluate the work and suggest changes in keeping with the journal’s style and requirements. Although you might feel confident that your work does not need any change, other academics may spot areas for improvement or simply point out something that has not been properly explained. It is crucial that you address all of these concerns to be able to share your work with your peers.

Although it isn’t always easy to find relevant reading material on your research topic, adopting a resilient approach to resource gathering can help you to make progress on your PhD project. If you struggle to find published papers on a given topic, try to look more broadly for resources that might contain key information to advance your research. These resources might include articles, blogposts, newspaper articles, or published research of a credible kind on your research topic.

 

And if you still can't find what you're looking for, be creative: reach out to corresponding authors of papers that you have found useful, explain your research and ask them if they can suggest useful reading to you.