Ask the Dissertation Diva

Stanford "Dissertation Success" workshop a success

Thank you to all the brilliant Stanford PhD candidates who attended my workshop, "Dissertation Success: Practical and Holistic Strategies," yesterday. Amazing roomful of scientists and scholars. I am honored to work with you!  Much gratitude to the Stanford University Women's Community Center for organizing this annual dissertation workshop for women-identified grad students. I am truly impressed by the range and innovative thinking of emerging scholarship.

I was happy to see participants in the four-hour workshop tapping away at their computer keyboards, writing up their dissertation arguments, freewriting on challenging questions coming up in their thinking, and sharing strategies for writing, life/work balance, committee management, and organization. 

The best question I asked was: "Why are you writing this dissertation?"   This simple yet profound query allowed participants to connect with their core passion for the topic, cutting through the daily grind.
Remember to take healthy breaks, connect with peers and colleagues, and keep going!

Dissertation Diva

On Taking Intellectual Risks

"..[A] young writer can't write a book without risking intellectual self-exposure. That risk, by the way, is one of the most important parts of being a writer, even a scholarly writer" says William Germano in From Dissertation to Book (University of Chicago Press, 2005). I agree. Furthermore, I'll add that your dissertation should take intellectual risks. In crafting your dissertation argument, take a definite stance.   

Shift to Big Picture

When working on your dissertation, it is easy to fall into the vortex of the daily micro-steps. Dissertation writers can get lost in the minute details, obsessing about perfecting tiny details, and thus easily lose sight of the Big Picture. I suggest that you shift to the Big Picture for yourself. For many of you, it is a finished dissertation, not a perfect dissertation.

Decide what is important and what is minor. Does that footnote warrant 2 hours of research? Can you delegate reformatting the margins to a friend or editor down the line? Try to think about the overall outcome you want to achieve. Glide over the details with more ease. Shift to the Big Picture!

Good luck!
Dissertation Diva

"You should write a book"

Hi everyone and happy new year!

Thanks to everyone who has emailed to give positive feedback on this site and to say "You should write a book!" The Dissertation Diva IS working on a book, gathering years of dissertation coaching wisdom (some of which you find on this site) into a fun and accessible format. The project is currently looking for an enthusiastic agent and publisher. If you have any suggestions, please do get in touch.

In the meantime, I have one piece of inspiration to all you struggling dissertation writers out there, mired (or flourishing) in the intricacies of constructing an intellectual argument, compiling quantitative research, emailing long-lost advisors, presenting at conferences, formatting footnotes, balancing family and work, and, of course, fighting the urge to surf the internet:

You can do it!

In solidarity,
Dissertation Diva

Fear of Success

I've noticed that as graduate students in the final stages of their dissertations get precipitously close to actually finishing, a strange behavior may be observed. They (you).. balk.  After years and years of "not being finished," finishing -- as in, next month, not next millenium -- is a shock that's sometimes too much to bear.

What's going on here?

You've wanted to finish this project for years.. and you're actually in the final editing stages.. but.. what do I spy here?

Self-sabotage!

You may be resisting finishing this dissertation on many levels, and for complex reasons.

One reason is fear of success. If your dissertation process has been a long and winding road, you may be attached, on some level, to a self-definition of yourself as "never finishing." You may be attached to a sense of failure, as it were, and fear change into its opposite: success.

Changing that definition of yourself involves changing your self-concept.

And any change is difficult.

Be mindful of last-minute self-sabotage. Why might you be resisting going through with the final stages of the dissertation process? Try to notice what comes up for you at this stage in the process and gently let go of old patterns and self-conceptions. Get ready to actually finish. Yes, it's TRUE. You are almost finished. You are going to succeed at completing what you started. Embrace success!

Mindfully yours,
Dissertation Diva

Conquer Criticism

Dear Dissertation Diva:

How do I keep from being totally crushed when a top scholar in my field levies harsh criticism against my methodology, my approach, my training -- in short, me -- in a public setting?

Signed,
Trying to Stay Confident

Dear Confident:

It's harsh, and it happens. Here are three tangible strategies you can use.

First, depersonalize the criticism. It's not about you personally. It's about a difference of opinion on methodology or approach. This strategy can help you not take the words personally.

Second, look at why this particular scholar is critical of this particular methodology or approach. Why is that scholar invested in their position? What is threatening or groundbreaking about yours? Use your analytic skills to understand their position and to shore up your confidence in your own approach.

Third, be compassionate. Some elder academics may shoot arrows of criticism at emerging scholars in the public space of conference hall or panel discussion out of fear of losing their own positions as fields develop and shift. If you can build a bridge of understanding that other person's fear, you can keep from being crushed.

If all else fails, envision a criticism-proof armor of white light! But whatever you do, don't let others' unhelpful comments block your own brilliance. Keep doing your own work!

Dissertation Diva

Renew Your Dedication in 2007

New Year, renewed dedication to your goals. What do you want to accomplish this year? Use these first weeks of January to articulate your mission for 2007. Do you want to finally finish your dissertation? You can! Here's how:

1. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. State clearly what you want from the universe, and from yourself. Be specific. Write out your goal. For example -- if you are in the final stages of the PhD process and need to make that final push -- write: "I want to finish a draft of all five chapters and submit them to my advisor and committee this summer."

2. MOVE FROM "WANT" TO "WILL". Rewrite what you want using the word "will". Your statement now becomes: "I WILL to finish a draft of all five chapters and submit them to my advisor and committee this summer."  Feel the shift internally. You WILL do this. This attitude shift is forward thinking, and does not dwell in the past.

3. CREATE A PLAN TO GET TO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO. A coach, writing buddy, or support group can help create the plan and keep you accountable. But you can do this alone, too. Set aside time to make the plan. Sit down with your current version of what you have, a calendar, and a sense of optimism.. and plan it out! What will you do each month to get to the goal? From each month's goal, what needs to be done each WEEK? What will you do THIS week?

4. TAKE ACTION. Just do it, whatever it is. Move forward boldly. Stay dedicated and focused! You can do it.

With best wishes for 2007,
Dissertation Diva

Own the unique contribution of your dissertation

A key part of the dissertation process is to figure out -- and feel confident about -- the unique contributions of YOUR dissertation. What about your dissertation is original, innovative, in short, your own? How is your project, approach, or methodology different from your influences, mentors' work and all else that is out there? It may be hard to get out from under the thumb of a forceful advisor or from years of writing papers to please teachers. This project more than any other is about daring to say what YOU need to say, based on your findings and research.

Finding your own voice won't happen overnight. Identifying, articulating, and owning your true voice takes time and much writing to discover your true themes (in a humanities or social science or a creative dissertation) or patterns of findings (in the sciences / social sciences). In my work as a dissertation coach, I ask my clients to fill in this sentence: The original contribution of my dissertation will be....

Fill this in for your project. Own it. Update it as you recognize more and more contributions. Don't cheat yourself out of your own voice.

Inner Voice: Q&A with Julia Mossbridge

First in our series of interviews with recent PhDs. Julia Mossbridge is a neuroscientist and author of Unfolding: The Perpetual Science of Your Soul's Work.

Liena Vayzman: You just finished your PhD in Neuroscience at Northwestern. What kinds of things helped you get through the process when it was most challenging?

Julia Mossbridge: Number one: Friends. And family and anyone that's close enough to talk to about this stuff. My advisor and the rest of the lab were very helpful, too. Plus, I was seeing a therapist and that was really helpful. I'd been seeing him for other things but having that weekly appointment was helpful.

LV: I see the dissertation experience as a spiritual challenge, a vision quest, a journey. Do you share this view, and if so, what did you learn on this quest in terms of personal transformation?

JM: Absolutely!  I learned way more than just writing my dissertation. The biggest lesson that tranformed me that I learned was: Always listen to your inner voice because it never steers you wrong. This applies to pretty much everything. When there was ambiguity -- for example, "Should I talk to my advisor about this issue now or later?" -- I'd tune into my inner voice.   

LV: How did you tune in to your inner voice during times of stress?

JM: Sometimes I couldn't hear it. I developed a routine of working out 6 days a week and after I worked out I calmed down a bit and that allowed me to hear it. Also, writing. I journaled all the time. Writing articles calmed me down. I'd say having any mode of creative expression; for me it was writing. I knew the PhD would take a long time, and I know my personality.  I have to change activities all the time. I can't do the same thing for 8 years! I need intense hobbies, so one of my hobbies was writing a book, Unfolding. I was really trying to integrate my interest in spiritual / personal growth stuff with science. I feel like there's a lack of integration between the two things.

LV: How long did your PhD process take?

JM: Eight years, but I took one year off to care for my son full time, and a couple of the years were part time, so probably it condensed down to five years.  I'd been in grad school before. I'd droppped out after my qualifying exams. When I left I said I'd never do science again, but then I missed it. I realized I needed to integrate my interest in spirituality and personal growth with science.

LV: Your dissertation was about listening. It's interesting to me that your advice to listen to your inner voice seems to relate to your topic of auditory perception. 

JM: I can see how you're making that link. But my dissertation was about people listening to buzzers and clicks. The title is "Perceptual Learning of Auditory Relative-Timing Tasks." 

LV: I'm fascinated by how people's dissertation topics relate to other parts of their lives, and how the process is one of learning about one's self on deeper levels. I love that that the "work" of your dissertation was about listening, literally and metaphorically.

JM: There's a whole other piece on how to manage motherhood with dissertation that I can tell you about next time. I had a kid in my second year in grad school. Single Mom Gets Her PhD -- that's my little story.

Julia Mossbridge is the author of Unfolding: The Perpetual Science of Your Soul's Work (New World Library, 2002), which she wrote as a "serious hobby" while completing her PhD in Neuroscience at Northwestern University (2006). Mossbridge's dissertation examined the relationships between the neural circuitry underlying four auditory relative-timing tasks. A relative-timing task is one in which the position in time of one perceptual event (sound A) is judged relative to another perceptual event (sound B). For example, sounds A and B can be simultaneous or non-simultaneous. If they are not simultaneous, then the order of the sounds can be determined. The results showed that the neural circuitry affected by training on auditory relative-timing tasks is, for the most part, highly specialized, even to the extent that learning to judge the order of sounds does not help you learn to determine whether or not the same sounds were simultaneous. One implication of these results is that there does not appear to be a single psychological "clock" that counts perceptual events and tracks them over time.

Zero Draft Writing

Many people get blocked at the very start of the writing process because they believe their writing has to be PERFECT from the get-go, with perfect word choice, perfect sentence structure, perfect spelling, and perfectly formed ideas.

Does this perfectionist attitude block your writing in the early stages?

I have news for you: Your writing does NOT have to perfect, especially not at this initial stage. Think of the earliest version of a piece of writing -- the draft even BEFORE the first draft -- as the Zero Draft.

You can also call it a Discovery Draft or Notes for a First Draft.

Thinking in terms of Zero Draft allows you to write for the purpose of discovering what you have to say. You are less stressed out about the outcome, which in turn can lead to bouts of brilliance! In your Zero Draft -- of a chapter, thesis statement, or dissertation abstract -- let yourself freewrite. You have the freedom to experiment with wacky ideas, type incomplete sentences, and let the automatic Spell Check underline every word. You don't care. Your job at this stage is to get ideas out from your brain and into your computer. Type, type, type. Don't censor, don't judge. Heck, you can even use an elaborate font in a bright color. 

In Zero Draft writing, allow yourself to be messy, wrong, unsure, and grammatically incorrect.

If you get tripped up or distracted by word choice decisions, sentence arrangement choices, and the like, take the pressure off of your writing by titling the top of the page: Zero Draft. 

Remind yourself that you can -- and will -- come back to a particular word choice, idea, or spelling question later. It's OK to leave incomplete sentences, dangling participles, and spelling that puts Spell Check into overdrive.  These gaps can be filled later, when you put on your Editor's hat during the revision phase. For now, get some core ideas out of your head and into the abstract system of signs known as written language. This is already an  accomplishment!

Good luck,
Dissertation Diva

PS: I wrote this post as a Zero Draft.. then went back and fixed spelling and organization. See? It works!