I’ve heard these three words used so many times to describe what a PhD needs to produce. I’ve said them myself thousands of times in workshops! But what do we mean when we say these words? What are we getting at? Checking the thesaurus gives some helpful ideas…
Significant: compelling, important, momentous, powerful, serious, rich…
Original: authentic, initial, first, beginning, pioneer, primary…
Contribution: addition, improvement, increase, augmentation, present, gifting…
Significant original contribution is nice shorthand to capture the result of a PhD’s journey. Go deeper into the words to remind yourself just how awesome your research is.
