E-Book Overview
*A practical guide for students with help on planning, writing and defending a dissertation*Provides samples of accepted proposals and dissertationsIncreasing numbers of adults are enrolling in doctoral programs, but their earlier college lives often do not prepare them for the rules of academic game. Many have no idea what a dissertation proposal or an accepted dissertation looks like, how it gets that way, or what options are available to them. There is a real need for explicit information on what this highly complex and interactive, social and political process involves.The book is a practical guide for students who need help in progressing from the decision to write a dissertation to the planning, writing and defending of it. It includes samples of proposals and dissertations that have been accepted and data drawn from a number of source, including focus groups with doctoral students and graduates and responses to an open-ended questionnaire from doctoral students across the United States.
E-Book Content
Preface
For the past twenty-five years I have been working with doctoral students, guiding their evolution to doctoral recipients. During the time we work together, I become intensely conscious of their need to understand the culture of the university as it impacts on their progress. Concurrently, they need to be receptive to engaging in a transformative, life-changing experience, the essence of learning. As I recall my own days as a doctoral student, I remember being at a total loss to understand what was happening to me. I have discovered this is not unique. Most have no idea what a dissertation looks like or how it evolves. While most doctoral students expect to draw on their earlier collegiate experiences, nothing in the academic world prepares them for the complexity and intensity inherent in the doctoral process. I have identified the crucial issues to in