Dr. Craig Shepherd and Stan Skrabut
Last month, I successfully completed and defended my dissertation. As my committee members repeated over and over, “The best dissertation is a completed dissertation.” Mine went smoothly compared to the stories I had heard from others. As a result, I thought I had done something wrong. Here are some of my thoughts on why I believe it went so smoothly.
Know What You Are Getting Into
Let’s begin by pointing out the obvious: I had never written a dissertation before. Fortunately, many others had. I had to figure out the process if I was to be successful. I started this understanding well before I even wrote one word on my dissertation.
I am not comfortable walking into a situation cold, and like to have a thorough understanding of what I am doing before I start. My first step was to search Google for any insights available. I collected a few articles. These articles gave me some tips for my success.
Additionally, I picked up a couple of books that talked about the process. Two that I recommend are Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process and Demystifying Dissertation Writing: A Streamlined Process from Choice of Topic to Final Text. These books helped me understand how to narrow my research topic, how to address the literature review, and how to continue writing to completion.
Pick the Best Team
Throughout my academic career, I never really had a need for an academic adviser. Well, this is a novel experience. Having a great committee chair is key to your success. I was late in forming a committee. However, I believe I put together a great committee. I had heard of committee hardships from friends who were going through the process or who had just completed the process. I also had great counsel from several faculty members who stressed the importance of putting together a team that could work together.
Perhaps one of the best pieces of advice I got was to interview potential committee members. I took this advice and interviewed approximately ten professors to be on my committee. I put together a short list of candidates by reviewing their websites for their research interests. The first major decision during the interview process was to decide upon a committee chair. My first choice was Dr. John Cochenour. However, he wisely pointed me to Dr. Craig Shepherd in a co-chair arrangement. At the end of the entire process, I could not be more pleased. Together with Dr. Shepherd, we put together the rest of the committee.
You Are Not in This Alone
Throughout your entire academic career, instructors expect you to complete your own work and grade you accordingly. Naturally, group projects are a little different. However, writing a dissertation is entirely different. Your committee, and most importantly, your committee chair, will review and offer suggestions for improvement throughout the process. At the beginning of the process, I did not seek help as much as I should have. By the end of the process, I was visiting with my committee chair on a weekly basis.
I also partnered with Jenny Weatherford, who provided exceptional statistical advice throughout my results process. In spite of taking classes on statistics and data analysis, it did not seem to stick until I really needed it. I recommend leveraging the smart people around you. In my experience, they are happy to help.
The main point is that your team wants you to do well in this process. They will help you tirelessly. You are the only one who can screw it up by either giving up or turning against your team.
Don’t Take Feedback Personally
Working on a dissertation is a long, arduous journey that becomes personal. No matter how hard and long you work on it, there will always be ways to improve it.
Your committee, especially your committee chair, is there to help you put out the best product possible.
I repeatedly turned in chapters for review, and repeatedly, they would come back with recommended edits. Even after the defense, I had additional edits to make. It would have been emotionally draining if I had taken this personally. Instead, I simply understood that this was part of the process. However, to be honest, I received a list of changes at the eleventh hour before I was to turn my dissertation over to the entire committee. I did not believe I could make the changes in time and was going to postpone the defense. Again, my committee team members reassured me. I made the changes and met my defense date. However, it was emotionally draining.
Pick the Right Battles
While this tip is not from my personal experience, I have had several discussions focusing on this topic. It is worth mentioning.
Your committee is there to help you get through the process. They have successfully completed the process previously. If they strongly recommend that you make a significant change and give you justification, you should probably make the change. Going to battle with your committee will not earn you favors in your defense… if you make it that far. Remember, your committee wants you to succeed. Only you can screw it up.
Take Responsibility for Finishing
If you are waiting for your committee chair to meet with you, you will probably be waiting a long time. You are not their only project. If you do not take responsibility to see your dissertation to completion, it will probably not get done.
When you turn in a chapter for review, also set a deadline for feedback. Two weeks is usually a reasonable amount of time. If you hear nothing back by your deadline, follow up. When you need to meet with your committee, start a couple of months in advance. Doodle is a powerful tool for scheduling meetings.
Understand the Lesson
Dr. Cochenour repeatedly told me that completing the dissertation was in partial fulfillment of the degree. They wanted to see if I could select a research topic and conduct a study around it. This included narrowing down a research question by conducting a thorough literature review. Once I formed the question, could I develop a method to study it and analyze the results? Finally, could I report out the results and, more importantly, make sense of the findings.
I also believe lessons being taught were being able to work on a scholarly team. They also taught endurance and the importance of rewriting. I would also have to add the importance of learning to network to meet a goal. Writing the dissertation was more than simply writing the dissertation.
What You Are Doing, They Did Not Teach You
I acquired many of the things I learned while writing this dissertation through informal learning rather than in the classroom. This project differed from any other writing assignment I had in my classes at any level. The only familiarity I had was with APA 6th Edition and perhaps the literature review. I devoted myself to thorough self-directed study to grasp research questions, present findings, and compose the discussion and conclusions, as this section of the dissertation lacks sufficient documentation. I also learned how to use and leverage Zotero.
This has been an enjoyable learning experience, and I am glad that I took it on.
My dissertation has made it through all the hurdles, and is now waiting to be posted on ProQuest for the benefit of others interested in my topic. I hope these tips help you successfully negotiate your dissertation. My process was smooth even though it was still a challenge.
