It is common sense to understand what are the typical tasks performed by the director. It is the responsibility of the director to help the student to choose the topic of research, show him what should be the expected results, propose a coherent research program with assumable objectives, monitor the progress of the research and provide technical assistance and help in the solving problems and finding information. Finally the director must ensure that the student can master the appropriate research techniques and applied properly.

However, this guide also covers other obligations and requirements of the directors not so obvious, that sometimes are forgotten but which are important as well. These are the requirements and tasks:

• The first feature that should have a good director seems obvious, but sometimes is overlooked. In order to deal with security the direction of a thesis, it is essential that the director knows, albeit limitedly, the subject and the theoretical and methodological problems of the thesis that runs (and also the geographic and context historical if necessary). Lacking these attributes, a director can hardly recognize how original is the work of the student, to what extent their results are comparable with those of other research and what his/her contribution to the field of study in which he/she enrols. If it is not the case, it is advisable to look for a co-director.
• The director should be guiding the doctoral student so he can understand the nature of the research (which means to show him/her what researching is, the concept of originality, the different types of research that can be performed and the form and structure of the research report). He/she should also show him what are the main aspects to be covered in the research and what the results are usually obtained with time. Definitely he/she must teach the doctoral student to make good use of his/her time so he/she can make the most of himself/herself so he/she can have some confidence that he/she will go on schedule in the right way.
• The director shall prepare an individualized program of research, including: the milestones that must be taken over time with well-defined objectives, the basis of research literature and other sources of information, research methodologies to be applied and even a description of other courses and seminars that can perform the doctoral student according to his/her academic background, identifying those areas which need more preparation. By raising a research program, the director must ensure that the program can successfully complete within the period stated, including the writing and defence of the thesis. For the thesis can be elaborated and defended in a reasonable time (one to three years), it is essential that, from the beginning, the director, based on his/her knowledge of the subject and his/her experience as a researcher, to form an expectation thesis of what it might be.
• The director must also monitor closely the duties of the candidate during the entire duration of the completion of the doctoral thesis. At the moment the specific milestones are satisfied from what have been raised in the research program the director must notify the student to start the actual writing, deposit and doctoral thesis defence process.

These tasks will be implemented by means of personal interviews and seminars whose timing should be agreed in advance with the student. The nature and frequency of these sessions will vary depending on the type of research that is done, the requirements of discipline and physical availability of the student (it is not the same the student who goes to the laboratory every day that the student who is doing his/her research at home, away from campus).

It is recommended that the director keeps a record with all the information obtained from interviews with the student, so that at least twice a year at a meeting they can discuss the overall progress that has been made, based precisely on these notes

If the director is going to be absent from the University for a period of time, he/she must ensure that monitoring continues.

During the monitoring of activities is good to go ask the doctoral sending written material on his/her research to be corrected and returned within a narrow time frame, which has been previously agreed.

During the final period, where the student writes the research report, the director must guide him/her in writing, reading at least once the draft of it. In this case we must take into account that the director should not overdo proofreading tasks, he/she should only guide the student and give him/her advice. Unfortunately, it is a is a common fact in the times we live in that our students, despite being great scientists, do not know how to express all their ideas. It is for this reason that in this guide they are recommended some books for the director to convey to the student, as they will help students to write better:

• Cómo escribir correctamente y Cómo expresarse correctamente (How to write correctly and how to express yourself correctly). José Serra.
• Guía para escribir y hablar correctamente español. (A guide to write and speak correctly in Spanish) Alfredo Buitrago y Agustín Torijano.
• El dardo en la palabra (The dart in the word). Fernando Lázaro Carreter.
• Como se escribe. (As it is written) Mª Teresa Serafini.
• Escafurcios y palabros. (Mixed-up and words) Mariano de la Banda.
• Manual de español correcto. (Manual for the correct Spanish) Leonardo Gómez Torrego.
• Libro de Estilo de El País (El País' style book).
• Manual de estilo, guía práctica para escribir mejor. (Manual of Style Practical Guide to Write Better) Arturo Ramoneda
• Varios. (Several) Álex Grijelmo.
• Perdón, imposible: guía para una puntuación más rica y consciente. (Sorry. Imposible: guide for a richer and more concious punctuation) José Antonio Millán.
• El leviatan. (Leviathan) Thomas Hobbes.
   

Helping to raise the doctoral thesis defence is also very important. The student must prepare carefully the presentation and once finished it will be shown to the director al least twice. The recommendations that the director must teach his/her students are:

• Not creating too many slides
• Always including slides showing: the motivation to do the research and scientific contributions that have been made
• Not writing sentences longer than one line on each slide
• Never reading the content of the slide
• Ensuring before moving to the next slide that the entire contents of the current one have been explained.
• Not moving the slides too fast
• Not showing evidence during the defence (the 'demo effect' exist, so it is much better to include photos or videos in the presentation)
   

The director must inform the student of the PhD regulations (with emphasis on the regulation of deposit of the thesis), he/she should help the student with administrative tasks and explain him/her the legal issues that are related to research, such as plagiarism, copyright , data protection, health, safety and ethical issues they may appear along research.

The director must initiate the student into the task of disseminating scientific knowledge, so that he/she begins by presenting research tasks in the seminars of that department and continue with external conference attendance, being very positive that strives to present their own work, either by way of posters, short articles or whole articles related congresses. In these tasks it is very important that the director encourages and helps the student to lose the fear of public speaking.

If research is conducted within a project funded and collaboratively with other researchers, should be documented and disseminated among all entities involved in the doctoral tasks to be performed, the resources to be employed owning the project or the institution and the terms of ownership and use of research results. If necessary, it must be signed an agreement between the parties.

By the time the director detects that the research tasks is not making an adequate progress, the student should be informed immediately by the director. In the same way the director also must worry about detecting possible dissatisfactions of the student and implement corrective actions.