Ask Doctoral Advising

Here in Minnesota, spring is slowly, but surely, arriving. As a recovering farm kid, I must say that spring has always been my favorite season. You have heard all of the clichés –especially that spring is a season of renewal. A new beginning. And so it is.

Think about how much the seasons have in common with the pursuit of a doctoral degree – especially with the learner/researchers who are working on their dissertations. In both situations we have to prepare, we watch it grow, and then enjoy the harvest.

My farming is now confined to planting a few tomato and basil plants – with maybe a few more herbs thrown in, just as your dissertation focuses on a narrow topic. But some preparation is involved in order to make my gardening and your dissertation successful. I have already started growing my tomato plants, even though it will be weeks before I feel it is safe to plant them outside. I am cleaning out the corner where my garden will be planted and preparing the space as well as I can. Perhaps a little fertilizer, courtesy of a local farm, might be incorporated into the soil to help my plants grow.

After I can safely put my plants out in my garden, it won’t be long before the summer phase of the operation begins. I will keep a close eye on them at first, make sure they have enough water and are staked up. Then, one day I will have that moment when I see that my work is paying off – tomatoes will begin to appear! The wind and the rain and the bees have all played their roles. My preparation and my continued work will result in another successful season.

A dissertation writer might go through the same excitement at seeing his or her work — preparing the proposal, gathering the data — begin to bear fruit as he or she sees the early results once SPSS (summer) has worked its magic. But that is no time to think that the work has been completed. The dissertation writer has to write those last two chapters, tweak those first three chapters, get feedback from the mentor and committee and put the final touches on the dissertation.

As we approach autumn, we can finally fully enjoy the success of our labors. A dissertation that is done means a few more letters behind your name and a wonderful sense of accomplishment. No, make that an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I will be enjoying my margherita pizzas and sharing my bounty with family and friends. Extra basil will be turned into pesto and tucked away in a corner of the freezer.

During the winter our memories of the struggle to be successful will begin to fade away. The challenges we overcame have contributed to our strength. You will smile whenever you see your diploma and recognize just how much you have grown intellectually and how much you are continuing to learn.

I will smile whenever I reach into the freezer for that pesto because I will still be enjoying the fruits of my labor. And before long, it will be time to get next summer’s tomatoes started.