Chapter 3 only exists in the bibliography so far: the card slipped into the thesis folder teaches the supervisor to set short milestones
A card slipped into the follow-up folder, read by the thesis supervisor before the monthly meeting, and the question "where are you at?" becomes "what will be ready within ten days?".
This case is about a 27-year-old PhD student with ADHD. The profile is written by him. It is addressed to the person who supervises the thesis, who sees their student one hour a month and judges the rest by what the student reports.
Chapter 3, on Thursday at 5:10 pm
Thursday, 5:10 pm, room 214, humanities building. The thesis supervisor is leafing through the printed chapter 2, annotated in pencil. He looks up: and chapter 3? Théo, 27, in the second year of his doctoral contract, knows exactly what he has done over the past three weeks. A hundred and forty references sorted, a flawless Zotero library, zero pages written. Hyperfocus took over the bibliography, and the writing is waiting in the wings.
Before the first meeting of the year, Théo had slipped a card under the flap of the cardboard follow-up folder. The supervisor scanned it one evening, between two piles of papers to grade. Three lines caught his attention: Théo works in short sprints, he gets lost in his reading, and he remembers better what is written than what is said in a meeting. Not a word about a laziness he has never had.
That Thursday, the supervisor doesn't ask why. He suggests eight pages of chapter 3 by the 22nd, even rough ones, and promises a recap email the same evening. The email arrives at 7:02 pm. Three lines, one date. Théo opens an empty document the next day at 8 am. He didn't have to defend his method, or explain to the doctoral school why the bibliography had swallowed him up.
- You write it
- The QR is in place
- The reader scans
- Understood, without explaining again
Where to place the QR for this case
A thesis supervisor sees their student only one hour a month, sometimes less, and switches hats ten times a day: teaching, thesis committees, proofreading for a journal, doctoral school commission. The QR has to be waiting where they keep the thesis papers, not where it risks being forgotten.
- Card slipped under the flap of the cardboard follow-up folder, handed over at the first meeting of the year or when the doctoral charter is signed.
- Link placed in the first email of the year sent to the supervisor, just below the signature, so they find it in their inbox when preparing the meeting.
- Copy attached to the individual monitoring committee file, so that the two external members read the same profile as the supervisor.
To avoid: the title page of the manuscript, which the jury and the print shop will see, and the office door, where the whole corridor walks by. The profile is addressed to the person who supervises, not to the entire lab.
Ready-made text templates
The templates below are a starting point for filling in the three sections of the profile. Rewrite them in your own words: how you feel yourself drifting off, the deadline that suits you, the format that helps you are what a thesis supervisor will remember.
For the "Introduction" section
"My name is Théo, I'm 27, and I'm preparing a thesis in social sciences. I have ADHD. I work in short sprints and I can spend three weeks reading without writing a single page. I remember better what is written than what is said."
For the "What helps" section
"Give me a close, precise deadline: eight pages by the 22nd, rather than a chapter by Christmas. Send me a short email after each meeting, with the decisions and the dates. If I disappear for two weeks, follow up with me in writing, without blame."
For the "What to avoid" section
"Please don't judge my work only by how often I send things. Please avoid instructions given orally at the end of a meeting. Please avoid vague deadlines like "when you've made some progress". And don't ask me in front of other PhD students why I'm behind."
Conditions covered by this case
ADHD is at the heart of this case. The profile also works for a dyslexic or dyspraxic PhD student, or for one whose anxiety leads to procrastination: short milestones, writing after speaking, follow-up without blame.
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