Learn and set out the dialogue. Make up your own dialogue on the same subject.
No pains, no gains (Без труда нет плода)
| A: | Next Monday there’ll be an extra department meeting. Peter Smirnov has finished his doctoral thesis and we shall discuss it. |
| B: | I like him. He is a talented scientist. He has been working for his doctorate for 5 years with complete absorption and showed remarkable ability as a researcher. |
| C: | He deserves a high academic degree |
Use the following situations to start a short talk.
| a | Your scientific supervisor has looked through your paper for the Electronics Conference. Its subject is “Optical Behaviour of Electronic Devices”. He is making some critical remarks now. |
| b | You are upset about your research findings. You can’t get any positive result. Your friend tries to cheer you up. |
Think of the situations where the following proverbs can be used. Discuss them with your partner.
| “Well begun is half done” – Лиха беда – начало. | |
| “A big ship sails in deep waters” – Большому кораблю – большое плаванье. |
SECTION III
Reading
Starter activity.
Before you read the text below say what you know about postgraduate courses in the U.K.? What is the difference between the courses by instruction and research courses? What qualities are required by these two different types of postgraduate study? What additional qualities does a research course demand? Do you think it’s easy to choose a course of study?
Post-Graduate Course: Matter, Content, Requirements
Matter of Course
A quick look through the postgraduate prospectus of any UK university will reveal that there are two distinct types of study possible, the first by instruction and the second by research. Universities do not always offer both types of study in the same subject area, so you may need to hunt around for the course, which you think, will be best for you.
Courses by Instruction
The most common type of course in terms of the numbers of people undertaking them are courses by instruction, or taught courses as they are sometimes called.
Taught courses normally take one year and usually lead to a higher degree such as a Master of Science (MSc) or a Master of Arts (MA). Applicants should usually hold a degree in the same subject as the intended area of study, but there are some important exceptions to this rule, particularly in subjects such as information technology and business administration. Where an appropriate qualification is not held, it is sometimes possible to undertake a preliminary course, such as a certificate or a diploma, in order to prepare for the more advanced study to follow.
Degrees by instruction are very similar to undergraduate courses in that most of the time is devoted to attending lectures. This may take up the first eight or nine months of the course and is followed by written examinations. A period of research lasting for two or three months usually follows and the results of it are presented in the form of the thesis. Finally, an oral examination is held, lasting perhaps an hour or two, to test the knowledge accumulated throughout the year. It is important to perform satisfactorily in every part of this assessment procedure.
Research Courses
As with taught courses, it is usually necessaryto hold a degree in the same subject as that for which the research is planned. The nature of this type of study is completely different, however, from that taken through a taught course. First of all it lasts for longer. The most popular qualification is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), which usually takes three years. There is the shorter version called a Master of Philosophy (MPhil), but minimum amount of time, which this takes, is usually two years. Both of these qualifications require the student to carry out a piece of innovative research in a particular area of study. It is essential that the work has never been done before. The person who supervises a research degree will be aware of the range of options available and will be able to advise on what is and is not possible.
The start of a research degree involves a very extensive survey of all previous work undertaken in that area. At the same time, if the student is planning to carry out any practical experimentation, the necessary equipment will need to be obtained.
The preliminary part of the study can take up to six months, but it is important to note that the process of keeping up to date with other work going on in the subject must continue throughout the entire period of the research.
The next stage of a research course usually involves collecting information in some way. This might be through experimentation, in the case of arts, social sciences or humanities degree. The important thing is that something new must be found.
This second part of the procedure takes about two years in the case of a PhD. The research is written up in the form of a thesis during the final six months of the three-year period. Typically, this will contain an introduction, methodology, results and discussion. As in the case with taught degrees, the research must then be examined orally. Occasionally, if the examiners are not completely happy with the work they may ask the candidate to rewrite parts of the thesis. Hopefully, a good supervisor will make sure this does not happen!
Qualities Needed
Broadly speaking, these two different types of study require similar qualities from the people who undertake them. Both demand an inquisitive mind that will maintain the kind of motivation required to keep wanting to learn and discover new information.
They also both demand a high level of intellectual ability in order to cope with the pressures of having to understand what are likely to be complex arguments, facts or theories. Both require a high degree of organizational ability and time management, as so many different things need to be attended to.
However, a period of study by research demands additional qualities. For example, it is not at all uncommon for research to work out entirely different from what was hoped or planned. Expected results may not materialize, experiments may not work, and so on. At times such as these it is essential to stay calm and to keep on trying. In other words, you need to be very patient. Because research requires something new to be found or achieved, it is also important to enjoy solving problems and to have a lot of confidence in your own creative ability.
Choosing a Course
If you are in the position of trying to decide whether to do further study by a taught course or by research, it is important to consider how you would answer the following questions.
First, what do you want to achieve through the study? The answer to this question will include a consideration of the likely employment prospects, which will follow your study. If your future work will demand specific knowledge, then a taught course might provide you with this. On the other hand, if you intend to follow a research career, then a research qualification might be more suitable.
The second question involves asking yourself whether you have the right qualities for the type of study you would like to do. You will need to give serious thought to whether you really do have the extra qualities which research demands over and above those required by a taught course.
2. Read the text “Academic Degrees” and look for the answers to the following questions:
| a | What is an academic degree? |
| b | What was the first recorded academic degree? |
| c | What are four principal types of academic degrees conferred by American institutions? |
| d | What is the best-known academic degree? |
| e | What are the most frequently awarded master’s degrees? |
| f | Who is a doctor in an academic sense? |
| g | What does the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree represent? |
Academic Degrees
An academic degree is a title awarded by a college or university for successfully completing a course of study or for a particular attainment. Earned degrees are bestowed for completion of courses of study; honorary degrees recognize a certain attainment, not necessarily connected with an educational institution.
Development of degrees
Academic degrees have been in use for about 800 years; the first one recorded was the Doctor of Civil Law conferred by the University of Bologna (Italy) in the middle of the 12th century. This was followed by the Doctor of Canon Law and Doctor of Divinity and, in the 13th century, by doctorates in medicine, grammar, logic and philosophy. The use of degrees spread from Bologna to other European universities. Originally the doctor’s (from Latin doctor, “teacher”; from docere, “to teach”) and master’s degrees were used interchangeably, each indicating that the holders were qualified to teach, and the titles of Master, Doctor and Professor were synonymous. On the other hand, the bachelor’s or baccalaureate degree (from Latin baccalaureus, a bachelor of arts) was used to indicate the entrance upon a course of study preparatory to the doctorate or mastership, and not achievement. Gradually, however, it came to mean successful completion of one level of study preparatory to a higher degree.
The use of academic degrees spread to British universities from the Continent and was extensively developed, especially at Oxford and Cambridge universities. The doctorate in music was conferred by these universities in the 15th century. Today there are an increasing variety of degrees in British universities, as in U.S institutions.
Types of degrees
Four principal types of academic degrees – associate, bachelor, master and doctor, representing different levels of academic achievement, are conferred by American institutions of higher education; a few institutions confer additional types of degrees, representing other levels of achievement.
Bachelor’s degree
The bachelor’s degree, usually representing completion of a four-year course of study on a collegiate level, is the oldest and the best-known academic degree, particularly under the designation of Bachelor of Arts. Some varieties of bachelor’s, or baccalaureate, degree is currently offered by about 750 institutions, most of which offer a Bachelor of Science in Education. Other baccalaureate degrees offered by a large number of institutions are Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Divinity, and Bachelor of Home Economics. Most institutions offer more than one variety of Baccalaureates, but about one tenth report use of the Bachelor of Arts only, regardless of the particular curriculum completed.
Master’s degree
The earned master’s degree in general represents one year of work beyond the baccalaureate, but in a few institutions or in a few fields it requires two years of graduate work. The most frequently awarded master’s degrees are Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Education, Master of Business Administration, Master of Music and Master of Fine Arts. The Master of Philosophy degree is conferred to those who have completed all requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree except the doctoral dissertation.
Doctor’s degree
The Doctor’s Degree represents the most advanced earned degree conferred by U.S. institutions, or indeed by those of any country. In the academic sense, a doctor is an individual in any faculty or branch of learning who has attained to the highest degree conferred by a university. Doctor’s degrees in the United States are of two distinct types – professional or practitioner’s degrees, and research degrees.
The former represent advanced training for the practice of various professions, chiefly in medicine and law. The principal ones are Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Science, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Jurisprudence. These degrees carry on implication of advanced research.
Quite different in character are the research doctorates representing prolonged periods of advanced study, usually at least three years beyond the baccalaureate, accompanied by a dissertation designed to be a substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge. The most important of these is the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), which no longer implies knowledge of philosophy, but which represents advanced research in any major field of knowledge. It was first awarded by Yale University in 1861, young men desiring the most advanced training in scholarship attended the principal German and occasionally other European universities to secure their Ph.D’s.
Second in importance and much more recent as a research degree is the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.). It was first awarded by Harvard in1920, but was preceded by the equivalent Doctor of Pedagogy first conferred by New York University in 1891. The only other earned doctorates of the research type currently conferred by 10 or more institutions are the Doctor of the Science of Law and the Doctor of Business Administration.