Read comments from reviewers of the book “Compass Guide for Postgraduate Students” (comments on both the First Edition published in 2021 and the Second Edition of this book published in 2024 are included on this page).

“This comprehensive manual is a must-have for all researchers. From postgraduate students to established research teams, there are many gems of wisdom and helpful tips and tricks to navigate the complexities of the research landscape. Sandra Mandic is extremely generous with content, giving real-world examples, useful activities, and numerous templates to aid the research process. Sandra walks readers through the research journey from working with supervisors to academic dissemination, including step-by-step walkthroughs of writing theses, literature reviews, research methods, and research proposals. The diversity in material presented makes content easy to follow and works well for all learning styles. I look forward to recommending this to students, fellows, and colleagues alike.”

Professor Melody Smith, School of Nursing, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Though there are many guides for PhD students, Dr. Mandic’s guide is distinguished by its start-to-finish coverage, practical approach, and abundant graphics. Her tips will help students avoid mistakes at every step. Because of her experience across multiple fields and three continents, her guidance is particularly relevant in our increasingly inter-disciplinary and international scientific communities.

James F. Sallis, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States; Professorial Fellow, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

Having electronically paged through this wonderful manual two main thoughts come to my mind: 1) it is obvious why Sandy was so successful in our Stanford Laboratory; and 2) what an incredible impact this can have on so many students and their supervisors. The manual is exceptionally well illustrated, provides real case scenarios and forms to organize one’s approach. The highlights of my career have been a series of writing groups and I wish I had such a wonderful tool available for them. Congratulations, Sandy, for an outstanding gift to academics!

Victor Froelicher, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, United States

“Compass for Navigating Your Postgraduate Research Journey: Guide for Students” is a remarkable text from Dr. Mandic that I will recommend to all of my students. Dr. Mandic has drawn from her many experiences as both a student and teacher to create a text loaded with useful information that is written in a fun and relatable style. The book should be required reading for beginning graduate students. I wish I had such a step-by-step guide when I began navigating my own post-graduate journey.

Jonathan Myers, PhD, Clinical Professor, Stanford University; VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, United States

Dr Mandic has written a thoughtful and very helpful guide for postgraduate research students who are embarking on a research project and thesis, whether a dissertation as part of a Master’s degree or a PhD doctorate. It is full of advice based on her extensive experience, such as assuming everything will take two (or three) times as long as you initially think! The author takes the student through each stage of research, with helpful tips, figures, examples and templates to illustrate the text. I like the colour-coded assessment charts for each stage of a research project which can be used by the student, their peers, and/or supervisors.

This guide will also be useful for new postgraduate supervisors. Much of it will also be useful to people undertaking – or supervising – an undergraduate research project. I will be recommending this to my students and colleagues.

Dr Jennifer Mindell, Emerita Professor of Public Health, Health and Social Surveys Research Group, Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London (UCL), London, UK

Bringing together her experience and unique ability to build bridges between people and cultures and with strong skills in project and program management, Dr. Sandra Mandic braves the rough seas of the academic journey through light and very didactic language. With great tips, templates, and real-world examples, this book is a roadmap for guiding postgraduate students throughout their academic journey. Dr Mandic highlights many aspects of this journey such as building a solid foundation of relationships with colleagues and supervisors, writing a research proposal, developing the thesis or dissertation structure, through to the dissemination of results in conferences and scientific articles. Even though the book focuses on postgraduate students, I can assure readers that this work is equally useful for supervisors. Certainly, this will be mandatory reading for all my research students. Thank you, Dr. Mandic, for organizing our work as supervisors and facilitating our students’ long and often difficult postgraduate research journey.

Ricardo Brandao de Oliveira, PhD, Associate Professor, Coordinator of Postgraduate Program Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I wish I had this book at the start of my Master’s and PhD degrees as an international student! The book is free of technical academic jargon which makes it easy to understand by both native and non-native English speakers. The materials within the book are presented in a simple and logical way with many examples, including simple to understand infographics, tables, and figures. This comprehensive book certainly keeps reader’s attention with its eye-catching presentation. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!!!

Mohammad Lutfur Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Bangladesh

This is a very comprehensive and easy to read book. Not only it includes the technical information needed to complete a research project, but also offers a very good advice on organizational and personal skills to enjoy the research journey. I have personally liked very much the activities, tips, templates and examples provided. I feel this guide will help many students to complete their research. I also invite supervisors to read this book and look for ideas to improve their supervision processes.

Professor Susana Aznar Lain, University Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain

As a previous Master’s student of Sandy, I have had the pleasure of experiencing her wonderful and informative teaching style first-hand. Through a series of easy-to-read chapters, relevant examples, illustrations, and thought-provoking activities, this Compass immortalises all of Sandy’s teachings for the next cohort of postgraduate students to learn from.

Tessa Pocock, PhD student, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Knowing Sandy’s passion for life and her work, I was very much intrigued when she told me about her book and could not wait to see the final product. Reading through each chapter reminded me of my own experience as well as friends and family who went through graduate school and how incredibly useful this book would’ve been had we had access to such material. The book is clear, simple to understand, and overall, very informative. Not only would this book be valuable to graduate students, but as someone who works in industry, I found it to be exactly what we need to run projects smoothly and efficiently. I highly recommend this book to all graduate students whether they wish to stay in academia or go into the industry, and I very much look forward to Sandy’s future books.

Mandana Asadi, M.Eng., P.Eng. University of Alberta, Senior Radio Systems Design Engineer, Rogers Communications, Canada

Thank you very much, Dr Mandic, for your wonderful Compass Guide book. This book has arrived at the right time when I need it on my own PhD journey. When I read the Compass Guide, I feel that you are teaching me in person. You really understand what we (postgraduate students) need to know for our research journey. The Compass Guide contains great tips, theoretical and practical guidelines, and great examples and I found it valuable for my PhD degree and my future work. I strongly recommend this book to PhD and Master’s research students and academics supervising postgraduate students.

Natharin Boontha, PhD Student, National Taiwan University, School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, Taipei City, Taiwan (also former research student of Dr Mandic)

As a research intern under Sandy, I benefited first-hand from her incredible wealth of academic experience, which continues to guide me successfully through my own PhD today. This comprehensive guide brings together Sandy’s immense wealth of knowledge in one book and supports postgraduate research students in various essential topics with enlightening tips, relevant examples, and helpful templates. Thank you for this excellent guide, Sandy!

Roman Keller, PhD Student, Singapore ETH-Centre and National University of Singapore, Singapore

Knjiga “Compass for Navigating Your Postgraduate Research Journey: Guide for Students” autora Sandre Mandić spada među najbolje knjige te vrste koje sam u svom istraživačkom i edukativnom veku pročitao, što budući na moju profesiju i vremenu provedenom na fakultetu mislim da predstavlja ozbiljan kompliment. Lično bih voleo da sam na početku svog radnog veka imao takvu publikaciju jer bi mi ona tada otvorila nove vidike i siguran sam značajno skratila vreme od početka pisanja teze pa do njene odbrane.

Očigledno da je autorka tokom pisanja ove knjige svoju pažnju usmerila u dva osnovna pravca. Prvi je, da knjiga sadrži sve ono najvažnije što je neophodno jednom istraživaču kako bi savladao ne mali broj prepreka koje ga na tom putu očekuju i drugo, da publikacija svojim sadržajem i tehničkim rešenjima bude na što je moguće višem nivou. Sa zadovoljstvom mogu konstatovati da je uspela i u jednom i u drugom što joj daje prostor i za lično zadovoljstvo. Vidi se da je u ovih stopedesetak strana knjige smešteno na hiljade stranica ranije pročitanih publikacija i analiziranih istraživanja raznih autora koja čine suštinu putovanja kroz ovu oblast. Tu je uložen veliki trud koji se na kraju isplatio kvalitetom publikacije.

Mislim da je Sandra ovim delom dodirnula nebo i da će studentima biti teško naći sličnu a pogotovu ne bolju publikaciju iz ove oblasti. Ostaje još da izdavač distribucijom ispuni svoje obaveze i učini prave korake u pravcu studenata, kao ciljnoj grupi kojima je ova publikacija i namenjena. Oni je svakako željno očekuju iz ranije navedenih razloga.

Meni uvek u ovakvim situacijama ostaje na ponos i zadovoljstvo da je neko od mojih studenata u ovom slučaju Sandra Mandić na našem Univerzitetu, pre par decenija, izvadila kartu za ovo interesantno putovanje i da sam je ja, možda makar malo, uputio na odgovarajući šalter. Po svemu sudeći da sa ovim što je do sada uradila ona još nije stigla na poslednju stanicu i rekla poslednju reč. Zato ćemo sa nestrpljenjem očekivati i u narednom periodu na nova izdanja iz pera koleginice Sandre Mandić jer njeni potencijali ukazuju da ona to može.

Professor Emeritus Nikola Grujić, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia