The transitional stages in the PhD degree in mathematics in terms of students’ motivation Eirini Geraniou Published online: 7 August 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract This paper presents results of a longitudinal study in the transition to independent graduate studies in mathematics. The analysis of the data collected from 24 students doing a PhD in mathematics revealed the existence of three transitional stages within the PhD degree, namely Adjustment, Expertise and Articulation. The focus is on the first two transitional stages, since the data collection focused mainly on these. Based on the first two transitional stages and the students’ ways of dealing with them, which were called ‘survival strategies’, three types of students were identified. The importance of motivation for each transitional stage and the successful transition overall are considered as well. Keywords Motivation . Graduate studies . Mathematics . Transition . Adjustment . Expertise . Articulation 1 Introduction The results presented in this paper will reveal issues concerning the growing research field of the transition to independent graduate studies in mathematics and will present a theory that explains the main concerns of the students as they go through this transition from an undergraduate degree to a postgraduate degree, in particular, a PhD degree. The ultimate aim of this paper is to provide some ideas that can be of assistance to supervisors and research students in understanding the nature of their task. So far, transitions like the one from primary to secondary education (Galton & Willcocks, 1983; Anderson, Jacobs, Schramm & Splittgerber, 2000) or from secondary to Educ Stud Math (2010) 73:281–296 DOI 10.1007/s10649-009-9205-1 The results presented in this paper are based on the research the author carried out during her studies towards a PhD degree in the field of Mathematics Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. E. Geraniou (*) London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education, University of London, 23-29 Emerald Street, London WC1N 3QS, UK e-mail: e.geraniou@ioe.ac.uk