Hey guys! It's always a pleasure to have you read my write-up and trust me, today isn't an exception 😊. I'll be sharing a brief experience of my research work during my final year in higher institution.
Now, I understand the phrase that says that "experience is the best teacher".You know, there are somethings that you will not receive proper insight until you have a personal experience or encounter of the situation. For instance, if you're advised not to lick pepper because it's peppery, you'll wish to obey but then you won't understand what it's means for a thing to be peppery until you partake in the experience and after such experience, you'll not need anymore coming around to advise you any longer rather, you'll assume the office of the acting adviser😂.
When I was in my first year in the higher institution,I can remember that I'll see the final year students get very busy and stressed out. Some will complain about how the school is stressful with the workload and how final year is full of tough time. I didn't understand them. In my small mind then, I'll compare the number of course we were to study in first year to theirs and theirs was half the number of courses we were meant to study so I didn't see any reason why they should complain about final year. There is Sha nothing in there, I thought.
My days In School were amazing but then they usually say " big man big problem" the more I was advancing, the more workload and the more stressful school became. We were supposed to pick topics for our research work and I was lucky to find a topic of interest quite early compared to my colleagues who spent couple of weeks to find a project topic.My supervisor was supportive and understanding. She was young enough and that created a welcoming atmosphere and I could freely ask her any question and express myself freely as well, compared to my colleague's supervisor that were matured and weird in appearance with no smiles on their face😂. When they go to their office, they will be praying for a release and a short period of assessment so that they can leave the office.
A day was fixed for the project proposal, the panel was set and we were going to present a summary of the research proposal. Imagine a panel of persons on glasses with weird and intimidating faces. 🙈🙈 When my turn came, I started out with a very audible voice till the end and that was my defense mechanism. I was very nervous but then, the audibility gave me a sense of confidence to scale through.
The key was self discovery; that's how I was able to manage my nervousness.The final defense came and we were going to defend the entire research work. My supervisor asked me questions to ascertain that I was conversant with that details and result of my research findings.
When the defense day came, I was well rooted in my research and I could attempt any question that was raised. That alone gave me a high level of confidence. Indeed friends .., knowledge is power.