Let’s Get Integrated
by Michael Franklin | October 13, 2009
Preparing for Your Comprehensive Exam from Day One
It is easy to become so focused on each course every quarter that you do not see the forest for the trees.That is to say, you put up a valiant effort to do your work. You read and post and research and write to keep up with the weekly demands and the final assignment.And yet, this is not enough. Such attention to important details will certainly get you through each course, and hopefully with A’s.But it is important to leaven this intensity of microscopic focus with practices that foster a sustained contemplation of your overall intellectual development as a doctoral learner. In other words, you want to keep your eyes on the prize—the Ph.D.—and what you need to do to get you there.
Drawing from my own experiences as a graduate student, I encourage doctoral learners to take up certain practices in order to have as integrated a coursework experience as possible.This is opposed to the atomized or fragmented coursework experience I describe above.To have an integrated coursework experience is to endeavor to see how your courses fit into a larger picture and to always ask yourself, whether interacting in the courseroom or researching for projects: “Where am I going with this?How can I use this?How is this relevant to my dissertation?”
There are four tools for creating an integrated coursework experience:
1) Keep a notebook with you at all times, and write in it regularly.
Not only does this provide a physical space, separate from your computer, in which you can keep track of your thoughts about your dissertation as they come to you (and they will, at the most random moments). It also will allow you to—as my advising colleague Dr. Vera Kovacovic likes to say—trace the evolution of your thinking as you figure out what your intellectual passions are and how you want them to factor into your dissertation.
2) Utilize RefWorks, which can be accessed through the Library Home Page.
RefWorks is a free service that allows you to accumulate and organize citations and to format them into APA-style bibliographies. This not only is useful for individual projects, but if consistently used from quarter to quarter, this will also be an invaluable resource come time for your Comprehensive Exam. You will have at your fingertips a wealth of citations you have used on past projects, and you will be able to draw from this as you craft your Exam responses.
You can sign up for a free Library webinar on how to effectively use RefWorks here.
3) Begin a Scholarly Research Log, which can be accessed through the Library Home Page under “Guides and Tutorials.
A Scholarly Research Log functions in the same spirit as RefWorks. It is a formatted Excel spreadsheet into which you can enter author names, titles, and other pertinent information about articles and chapters you will read throughout coursework. Doing so will create a personalized record that not only systematically maps out all that you’ve read, but will provide a template for you to efficiently revisit and reengage readings when you are writing your Comprehensive Exam responses.
You can download the Scholarly Research Log halfway down the “Resources for Doctoral Learners” section found here.
4) Keep a folder on your computer’s desktop in which you save everything.
In this folder save everything you write for courses along with every syllabus and every PDF of course readings. Regularly back this folder up on a flash drive or external hard drive. In keeping a folder, you will create a personal archive of your intellectual development that you can access at any time as you are determining the parameters and focus of your dissertation. And this folder will save you much time when writing your Comprehensive Exam responses, as you will have everything that you’ve ever done at Capella at your fingertips.
Through discipline and habit, creating an integrated coursework experience will pay off not only come time for your dissertation, but will propel you ahead in your intellectual endeavors.
5 Responses to "Let’s Get Integrated"
PQ says:
Michael, very helpful posting. Thanks for helping us see the big picture.
Michael Franklin says:
I’m glad you found it helpful! I think two main goals are to have sustained contemplation of your intellectual growth (notebook and folder), and to arm yourself with personalized resources (RefWorks and the Scholarly Research Log) that require you to become familiar with the Library and how to find peer-reviewed articles. Good luck!
Susan White says:
This is so helpful, thank you! Capella tools and the training that go with them break all of the tasks down into manageable pieces. I also recommend the other non-graded mini-seminars, “Career Explorations” and “Financial Literacy”, career explorations helped me explore new ways of thinking about my dissertation research.
Michael Franklin says:
Great suggestions, Susan. I highly encourage people to investigate the webinar “Financial Literacy,” too!
Scena Webb says:
Extremely valuable and well organized disussion! Thanks for the tips!