Honeypots mailing list archives
RE: PhD research Query
From: "Zafar, Salim" <salim.zafar () pec com>
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 10:17:21 -0400
I am in the process of obtaining a phd currently. My two cents on the subject. If you dont pick an area you will never finish. Also the chances of someone doing the exact same thing down to methodology, tools used, results obtained are really slim. Like someone told me "you are not getting a phd to solve world hunger or to come up with something deserving a nobel prize... just making a slight contribution to existing field of science." My lesson learnt so far has been to figure out "exactly" what you are going to do before doing the proposal defense. Down to what analysis, techniques, tool required, expected results etc. Obviously to accomplish this, you need to do a literature review in the field. So doing a comprehensive literature review and organizing your literature and where everything fits in a big picture is vital. Once you have convinced your advisor you have a grasp on the topic and have a solid roadmap leading to dissertation defense - preferrably before your proposal defense, the following stages will become relatively less painful. Best of luck. One more thing... in computer security if you find a hole in microsoft's latest OS. That is not a contribution to the field of science. It is a contribution to Microsoft. Some people in my program tried to find 100 different ways to "improve snort analysis" as topics of research. Its a big no no. Its important to read literature from reputable sources i.e. journals from IEEE, ACM and existing phd thesis from MIT etc. Salim
Current thread:
- PhD research Query Will Fitz (Apr 13)
- Re: PhD research Query Alexander Klimov (Apr 14)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: PhD research Query Zafar, Salim (Apr 13)