Completing Your Doctoral

A long-term bestseller, this book is a pragmatic step-by-step guide to completing you dissertation or thesis during two semesters, in fifty workdays or less. It covers advisor and topic selection, proposal development, data collection and organization, available assistance, writing, and defense. The author demystifies the process and provides you with essential guidance through the rites of passage that are an integral part of completing your degree.

List of Lists, Tests, Forms, and Charts

xi

Acknowledgements

xiii

Introduction

xv

The Doctoral Degree Facts of Life---The Beginning

1

(16)

The Odds of Success!

1

(2)

Winning the Game--Beating the ODDS!

3

(1)

What a Dissertation Is

3

(2)

The Dissertation Myths--``Once Upon a Time...''

5

(1)

What a Dissertation Is Not

5

(1)

Determining Your Dissertation Personality Quotient

6

(3)

You Can Do It

9

(1)

Understanding the Rite of Passage

10

(1)

Unlocking the Doctoral Gates

11

(2)

Setting the Date for Your Oral Defense and Graduation

13

(1)

The Fifty-Day or Twenty-five-Weekend, Two-Semester Dissertation Schedule

13

(2)

Summary

15

(2)

Researching Your Committee---The Really Critical Research Project

17

(24)

Your Choice/Their Choice

17

(1)

The Role of the Dissertation Advisor

18

(1)

The Role of Dissertation Committee Members

19

(2)

The Non-Roles of the Advisor and Committee--Adjusting the Fantasy to the Reality

21

(1)

The Good Advisor/Committee Test and Scoring Key

22

(8)

Researching the Pool of Advisors and Committee Members

30

(6)

Selecting Your Advisor and Committee

36

(3)

Care Instructions for Advisors and Committee Members

39

(1)

Summary

40

(1)

Selecting a Dissertation Topic

41

(16)

The ``Right Topic'' Selection Criteria--Forget Interesting, Go for Tolerably Non-Boring

41

(5)

To Experiment or Not to Experiment?

46

(2)

``Recommendations for Further Study''--A GOLD MINE of Topics

48

(2)

Mining Accepted Journal Articles for Acceptable Topics

50

(1)

Using Your Current Career to Facilitate Your Dissertation

50

(1)

Advancing Your Career Potential Quotient by Selecting the Right Topic

51

(2)

Selecting a Topic That Someone Else Wants Researched--Free Resources

53

(2)

Summary

55

(2)

Spending Money and Using the 20th Century to Your Advantage

57

(16)

Dissertation Costs or the Longer It Takes, the More It Costs

57

(1)

Word Processing, Form, and ``Connie Comma''

58

(3)

You Are a Researcher--Use the Phone, Hop a Plane

61

(1)

The Statistical Guru--A First Stop

62

(3)

To Quit, to Take a Leave, to Take a Sabbatical, to Work?

65

(1)

Paid and Free Per-Diem Assistants

66

(1)

Finding Someone to Pay You to Do Your Dissertation

67

(2)

The Editor

69

(1)

Remedial Action--When Your Advisor Moves or You Have to Move

70

(1)

The Paid or Reliable Volunteer ``Nudge''

71

(1)

Summary

72

(1)

Designing Your Dissertation and Preparing the Prospectus and Proposal

73

(24)

Designing the Dissertation

73

(1)

Are They Related or Are They Different, What Is the Question?

74

(1)

What You're Not Going to Ask--Limiting the Study

75

(1)

The General Design of the Study

76

(1)

The What and How of Data Collection

77

(4)

Determining How You Will Get the Answers

81

(1)

Getting the Answers--Decisions about Collecting Data

81

(1)

Analyzing Your Data--The Oversimplified Statistical Decision Guidelines

82

(3)

Determining How Your Conclusions Will Be Drawn

85

(1)

Why Do It?--Building the Rationale

86

(2)

Preparing the Initial Proposal Prospectus

88

(4)

The Proposal Format

92

(2)

Planning the Advisor/Advisee Proposal Interaction

94

(2)

Summary

96

(1)

Writing the Dissertation--Twenty Workdays to Go!

97

(20)

Getting Organized for the Final Push

97

(6)

Planning the Final Attack--You Can Do More Than One Thing at a Time

103

(7)

Twenty Days to Done!

110

(3)

Touching Base with the University, Your Advisor, Your Committee

113

(1)

Getting Step-by-Step Advisor and Committee Approval--Surprises Are for Birthdays

114

(1)

Summary

115

(2)

Defending the Dissertation---Two Hours to Doctor!

117

(16)

Variations on the Theme

117

(1)

The Successful Defense

117

(1)

Predicting the Questions to Be Asked in the Defense

118

(3)

Preparing the Answers for Your Defense

121

(2)

A Last Look at the Competition

123

(1)

The Final Preparation

124

(5)

The Defense--Listen, Respond, Shut Up

129

(3)

Summary

132

(1)

Celebrating, the Last Revision, Postpartum Depression

133

(4)

Celebrating the Blessed Event

133

(1)

The Last Revision

134

(1)

Postpartum Depression

135

(1)

Summary

136

(1)

References

137

(2)

About the Author

139

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Completing Your Doctoral Dissertation/Master's Thesis in Two Semesters or Less

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials