How to Deal with Negative Feedback from Your Research Committee

Criticism is an indispensable part of life. Hardly there will be anyone who has never faced opprobrium. Receiving negative feedback for your thesis in which you have devoted an inordinate amount of time can be disheartening. Your years of efforts that you have used to create your magnum opus goes in vein with just one negative feedback, “Major revisions”. If you are a person who takes it on the chin, you can efficiently manage to work on the feedback and move on.

PhD journey is not only professional but personal growth as well. If you have been given negative feedback, you should figure out ways to mend flaws and move on instead of spending time agonising over them. It is no wonder that you can take several weeks to revise your thesis or a research paper for re-submitting to your committee or a journal. However, PhD timeline doesn’t afford the luxury of ignoring a paper for an unreasonable amount of time.

• Peruse your thesis or research paper. If you are unable to detect errors, you should take help from your supervisor. Take note of supervisor suggestions and work accordingly.
• If your supervisor has no time to schedule a meeting with you, find a good mentor who is separate from your supervision panel.
• Do not try to address the feedback immediately. Ponder over the comment and then reply. You have to address every comment so try to be serious and thorough.
• Handling negative feedback can be arduous especially when academic life is burning you out. Do not take it to heart and treat it as an end.
• Have regular contact with your committee member and send over a couple of drafts as you go along.

Qualifying a PhD is not as easy as it seems. PhD does not only make you a scholar but also helps you grow and develop personally. Feedback can be either positive or negative, and it is always better to have the one than facing nothing or disinterest. You may be upset about receiving harsh feedback. You might be brain fogged what to do next. You will be tormenting for weeks and months, but the ultimate goal is to make your thesis better. If you receive negative feedback from your research committee, you should follow the above-mentioned tips. Be determined to improve your thesis and resubmit it to your committee.