Dissertation Completion Strategies, Part Two
by Lori Schroeder | August 11, 2011
Great thanks to my advisee, Dr. Margaret Reneau, for sharing strategies that fostered the completion of her disseration. Dr. Reneau completed her dissertation in four quarters.
Everything I Always Wanted To Know To Complete My Dissertation, But Was Afraid To Ask
When and Where to start?
Now that you are in a PhD program with a culminating dissertation looming in order to complete that coveted degree, what is going to be your personal commitment going forward? Do some serious reflection on how your personal life needs to change to accommodate this final journey toward your Ph.D. Look at your work schedule, and determine what responsibilities can be adjusted to free up your time. Yes, you may have to sacrifice some income to free up time to focus on your dissertation, but think of it as a trade-off for less tuition that you will be paying because you’re completing your dissertation more quickly than if you kept up your current work responsibilities.
Examine all household obligations you can also set aside, temporarily, in order to focus on setting up and completing your research. Believe me when I say that laundry and even scrubbing toilets sometimes seems more appealing than writing. But you must let these things go and focus on the writing. Develop a plan ahead of time as to how your daily routine and responsibilities will adjust to accommodate the time needed to complete your dissertation.
Why are you getting your PhD?
Ask yourself, what is my goal in getting this terminal degree (called terminal, because it practically kills you-Ha!)? You will refer to this goal again, and again, and again and again, and again, and one more time again, through out the dissertation process when ever you hit a bump in the road. You need this goal front and center to keep you persevering in the toughest of intellectual, emotional, and physical times.
Capella course work is designed to lead you to your dissertation.
Reflect back on papers written and reflect on the topics that were of interest to you. Selecting a topic that you are passionate about also keeps you going in yes, the toughest of intellectual, emotional, and physical times.
Select your committee carefully.
Committee selection should be based on expertise as much as it is responsiveness of the committee members (if not vice versa as all Capella faculty members are experts). By nominating faculty who are prompt in replying to you, you will ensure prompt turnaround time during the potentially arduous review process. Each review process amongst the 16 milestones has a maximum review time of up to two weeks. If you add up all the reviews using the two week time frame, this equals 52 weeks of potential review time. You have little control over this review time except to select a committee carefully, with members who are timely with their responses. Be open to “visiting committee members” (aka friends who will be committed to your success who also have their doctorate). Once approved, put together a table of all your committee member and mentor information, e-mails, alternate e-mails, phone numbers, time zone they are located in, and yes –even their addresses. Did I mention select your committee carefully?
Select your dissertation topic carefully.
The goal of selecting your dissertation topic is to find an area of research that has been done but calls for further research to expand on the original idea. This way you will find some literature regarding the topic but still have enough unknown elements of the topic to conduct your own research. The idea is to build off of existing research, only in a related area that has not been studied much prior. Once you have your Ph.D., then you can do research to “save the world.”
Your dissertation mentor is your new best friend.
You should be communicating with your dissertation mentor more frequently than your significant other! They hold the keys to you completing your coveted degree so think about how you would want this important person to be treated. For example, you are one of 15 to 20 advisees the mentor works with. How can you separate yourself and even ingratiate yourself with this individual? Think about consistent thank you’s or send a hand written thank you note or even a holiday gift(s) to your mentor. Respond promptly to any messages from your mentor, within hours if at all possible during review periods. Make sure you are checking communications constantly during this time. If your mentor says jump, you e-mail back and ask “how high” with a smiley-face at the end of your e-mail.
Do something everyday.
Make a calendar of due dates for your self of when you plan to execute each and every one of the 16 milestones. If you run into a problem or better yet are ahead of schedule you can always change the dates. Be realistic with your time. Allow twice as long as you really think it will take for each milestone to be completed, and then if you get it done sooner, it will fuel your efforts to push on. Think about ways you can work ahead. For example, if your committee is reviewing your proposal-Chapters one through 3, develop your PowerPoint presentation for your proposal defense call while you’re waiting; it is easy to make an adjustment to a slide that’s already developed -should the committee come back with any revisions.
Revisions should be returned within 24 to 48 hours
When you receive feedback from your mentor and committee, return the revisions back to them within 24 – 48 hours so the information is still fresh in the reviewer’s mind. Use their comments in the track changes function to address any issues or questions in a different colored font so revisions are clearly viewable. Mark all deletions as accepted, so only the current wording is viewed, and the document is easier to review.
Select and garner permission from any research sites as soon as you can.
Plan on obtaining research site permission, and plan on this permission taking twice as long as you really think it might take. If research site permission comes sooner, on official letterhead, you are that much ahead of schedule. Email permission does not count, permission must be on official letterhead from the research site and they may also have an IRB process you must go through.
Capella IRB review is a two step process.
Remember, Capella IRB has two review processes a) an administrative review which may take up to two weeks and b) the actual review itself to ensure ethical research is being conducted. This review could take up to another two weeks. Subsequently be sure to check the research area of iGuide and look at the IRB meeting dates. Be sure to have your mentor submit your work at least two weeks prior to the review date submission deadline posted.
Quarter breaks have no reviews occurring.
The breaks are really your time to charge ahead and be writing furiously so that once a quarter begins you can start the review process and not waste time and tuition, with work sitting in review during a break. If you experienced writers block than go into editing mode, evaluating what you have written so far.
Find and hire a good statistician to assist you with analyzing your results this is invaluable especially if you are not a statistician yourself. Yes, it will cost some money, but calculate how much your time is worth and figure that it will take you three times as long to do what a statistician can do and you are already ahead , by investing a small amount in statistical assistance.
Find and hire an experienced editor, one who knows how to write academically and how to format in MS word properly,. If you’re unable to afford this aspect plan on spending significant time doing your own editing after leaving the work “sit” for a couple of days to bring fresh eyes to the document. If you’re not a Microsoft Word wizard go to YouTube® type in the phrase of whichever formatting you wish to improve on and there will be at least two or three videos to walk you through step by step on how to do the formatting properly in Microsoft Word.
Always think one step ahead as you turn in work for review figure out what you can do while you are waiting, the motto should be “never a dull moment” while working on the dissertation. For example once you’ve turned in your completed dissertation for committee review, you can be working on the PowerPoint presentation for your dissertation defense call.
Finally, be proactive, not reactive.
A proactive attitude means you will avoid the “wait and see” syndrome. Many individuals look forward to a delay in review and response times to take a break from their dissertation. This quite frankly– is costing you money. If you have not heard a response from someone you need to hear from in 48 hours, contact them again. Be prepared –yes–I know it is so 20th century– to pick up the phone. Ten e-mails over a period of three days, can be eliminated with one phone call, in addition, there is a more personal touch to the communication. Your mantra should be, “I will finish this dissertation and my degree, regardless of any obstacles that may come.”
2 Responses to "Dissertation Completion Strategies, Part Two"
Uletta Jackson-Butler says:
I found the information provided to be useful as I work toward completing my proposal. The pointers given will help me to plan more realistically in achieving the dissertation miiestones. Thank you for sharing!
John F Seery says:
The information provided was, and will be utilized to assist me through the
dissertation process. My experience with writing is that for it to be effective,
it demands a committment to prosaic communication, which transcends
mere passion for a particular subject.