The way to approach a Ph.D. supervisor to become a Ph.D. student after a master degree with no paper

As a Master student has a research paper is not a requirement, it may be a plus! Most of the Master students accepted for a Ph.D. program.

So, you don't have to convince your supervisor to accept you because you don’t have paper.

Rather you have to convince them about your potential! How do you tell him/ her about your potential? With a cover letter

The cover letter tells your story:

• Who are you

• Why are you interested in being a Ph.D. student of that specific professor?

• What motivates you?

• What are your skills? in particular what are your soft skills? Are you a team-player? Can you work also alone and under pressure? How do you deal with stress?

• What is your attitude? Are you proactive? Are you curious? Are you inquisitive?

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These are the main points a supervisor will look for. To be a good Ph.D. student a paper is not a requirement but is a plus. What is needed is for the prospective Ph.D. student to have the attitude and the passion to dedicate him/herself to a research project which is gonna be stressful, demanding, and frustrating. Where you will have a lot of lost battles before a glimpse of victory, more downs than up. Sometimes you will need to work it out all by yourself, sometimes you will need to deal with people you don't like.

Can you do all this? If yes, then there is no better Ph.D. candidate.

However, one could prove my attitude and it paid off and it continues to do it. So, do not be pressured by this, tell your story and tell about your attitude. The paper will come later.