Sonja K. Foss - Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation

Destination Dissertation

Destination Dissertation

A Travelers Guide to a Done Dissertation

Second Edition

Sonja K. Foss and William Waters

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham Boulder New York London

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Copyright 2016 by Rowman & Littlefield

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Foss, Sonja K.

Destination dissertation : a travelers guide to a done dissertation / Sonja K. Foss and William Waters. Second edition.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4422-4613-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-4614-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4422-4615-7 (electronic)

1. Dissertations, AcademicAuthorshipHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Academic writingHandbooks, manuals, etc. I. Waters, William Joseph Condon. II. Title.

LB2369.F59 2016

808.02dc23 2015024841

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgments

W e have had the companionship of many fine people on the journey that has resulted in this book. We are especially grateful to those who helped us develop our ideas about writing dissertations throughout the yearsSonjas graduate students, those who have attended our Scholars Retreats and workshops, and the students with whom we have worked as coaches. Marianne DiPierro of Western Michigan University deserves a special note of thanks for helping us think in new ways about how our ideas could be applied and for providing us with many opportunities to develop and test our ideas.

Karen A. Foss and Melissa McCalla Manassee read our chapters and gave us comments that significantly improved the book. Karen A. Foss, Stephen W. Littlejohn, and Teri Tapp offered ideas that were particularly helpful in conceptualizing chapter 11, and Anthony J. Radich provided a key idea for chapter 10. Raquel Vasquezs delightful drawings in chapters 5 and 7 helped us communicate our processes more clearly. Brigid McAuliffe made us look good in the photograph on the back cover.

We appreciate the willingness of the scholars whose samples we have included in the book to share their work. Their excellent models will make the journeys of others easier. Thanks to Bernard J. Armada, Francis S. Bartolomeo, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Abby L. Braun, Gail J. Chryslee, Mariah Dolsen, Tanner Ehmke, Kimberly C. Elliott, Karen A. Foss, Justin Garcia, Kimberly D. Barnett Gibson, Nicki M. Gonzales, Debra Greene, Daniel D. Gross, Laura K. Hahn, D. Lynn OBrien Hallstein, Wendy Hilton-Morrow, Marla R. Kanengieter, Laura Knaster, Patrick M. Krueger, Theodore Matula, Katryna McCoy, Madeline Perez, Gabrielle (Bree) Picower, Raina K. Plowright, Anthony J. Radich, Arthur L. Ranney, Diana Brown Sheridan, Michelle Fabian Simmons, Sharon M. Varallo, Catherine Egley Waggoner, Jean Guske Ward, Daniel L. Wildeson, and Naima T. Wong.

Our initial editor at Rowman & Littlefield, Brenda Hadenfeldt, got us off to a good start on our journey. We are equally delighted to share the next leg of the journey with our current editor, Leanne Silverman, an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of us and this book. Thank you also to Rowman & Littlefields developmental reviewers, who offered thoughtful feedback and suggestions as we began work on this new edition: Linda Grooms (Regent University), Mary Madden (University of Maine), Alexis Miranda (California Lutheran University), and Nathan R. Templeton (Texas A&M University, Commerce).

Sonja wishes to acknowledge Anthony J. Radich, the most fun traveling companion one could have. Thanks to him for serving as the base camp for Scholars Retreats, for his superb problem-solving and word-smithing abilities, for putting up with yet another book, and for his love and support.

William would like to thank Kathleen Longwaters and Bob Long for their support, advice, and good cheer. They are always ready to make the journey easier with the keys to the truck, a shot of whiskey, and green chili stew.

These many wonderful companions have made our own trip a fun and exciting adventure.

New in the Second Edition

C hange does not occur quickly in the academy, so although eight years have passed since the first edition of Destination Dissertation was published, most of the original advice we offered in that first book remains valid and did not need to be revised. As we continued to work with graduate students using the book, however, we discovered that there were a few places that could use elaboration to make the book more helpful to students like you. New features in this edition include more attention to and examples of social science dissertations, particularly the three-article dissertation (TAD) that is becoming increasingly popular at universities. You also will find checklists of many of the common processes involved in writing a dissertation visually set off to make them easier to find and to use. We hope they will serve as constant reminders that the dissertation process can be broken down into small, concrete steps, and if you complete one step and then the next, you will finish. The new content in the book concerns how to articulate the problem that leads to a research question (chapter 4) and the actual method of writing up findings from an explanatory schema (chapter 7)two processes that we didnt explain in the earlier edition. Finally, because many changes in technology have occurred in the past eight years, you will find in this edition many more references to ways in which new technologies can help you with the dissertation process.

* * *

Within the samples that appear throughout the book, we have kept the parenthetical citations and note numbers as they appeared in the texts. We do not include the notes or references to which they refer, however. Our purpose for including the samples is for you to understand how to do something; you are not reading the samples for their academic content.

Chapter One

Preparing to Go: The Dissertation Journey

C hances are, if you have found your way to this book, youre a graduate student who is just beginning to work on your dissertation or thesis or a graduate student who is stuck. Were delighted that youve chosen to take a look at what we can offer you, and were confident that we can help youwhichever situation youre in. Over the years, weve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of graduate students like you, and weve seen the processes we offer help them move on to life after dissertation. If youre an advisor who advises graduate students and who wants to do a better job of it, youre welcome here, too. We wont be directing our comments explicitly toward you and your interests, but youll be able to pick up many advising tips in the book.

Lets begin with some examples of the kinds of students weve helped in the past. Sylvie had been ABD in history for two years. She took a year off work to try to finish her dissertation, but she made virtually no progress. She was frustrated and despairing. Sylvie is not unique. She is smart and writes well, but she was struggling to complete her dissertation because she didnt know some basic processes that would allow her to move ahead.