Ask the Dissertation Diva

Minnesota Graduate School writing resources

A plethora of helpful dissertation writing resources from The Graduate School at University of Minnesota here -- including a link to Dissertation Diva's instant classic, "Practical Advice for Writing Your Dissertation, Book, or Article" (thanks!)

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

AAUW Dissertation Fellowships

Just wanted to share a resource: AAUW (formerly known as he American Association of University Women) offers Dissertation Fellowships.

From their website:

"Dissertation Fellowships are available to women who will complete their dissertation writing between April 15, 2011 and June 30, 2011. Degree conferral must be between April 1 and September 15, 2011. To qualify, applicants must have completed all course work, passed all required preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposal or plan by Nov. 15, 2009. Students holding any fellowship for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW fellowship year are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering and math and also researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply."

Good luck!
Dissertation Diva

Practical Advice for Writing

You have a stack of research materials, a nebulous yet promising topic, and a looming deadline. Now, how do you actually write?

In my work with graduate students, I am often asked for concrete strategies for writing. How to transform ideas into writing? How to finish that dissertation, book, or article? And how to stay motivated and sane during the writing process?

I have found that the best recipe for sustained intellectual productivity is a mix of structured writing practices, time management strategies, and holistic lifestyle support.

In the next eight posts, I will be sharing with you my top eight practical strategies for focused, sustained writing—ways to create the space and structure to shepherd unarticulated ideas into a cogently written argument. While targeted at the dissertation writer, this advice can be used by graduate students drafting their proposal, junior faculty members rewriting the dissertation into a book, and scholars working on articles. Regardless of the type of project, healthy writing strategies—as opposed to staying-up-all-night marathons—are crucial. My hope is that these strategies also help advisers to support their PhD students through the nuts and bolts of the writing process.

[The entire article appears as "Practical Advice for Writing Your Dissertation, Book, or Article" by Liena Vayzman, in Perspectives, the journal of the American Historical Association, accessible online.]

Top Academic Workplaces

Where are the peachy teaching jobs the peachiest?

The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at Harvard has just published a report on "Top Academic Workplaces." See the press release and the report at:

http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~coache/

Top colleges: Davidson, Kenyon, and Macalaster. Top university workplaces included Brown, University of Illinois, Auburn.

Negotiating a Job Offer

Tis the season for.. job offers! I was asked recently for help on negotiating an academic job offer. Here is an article that offers succint, sage advice:

"Go Ahead, Haggle" by Rebecca A. Bryant and Amber Marks, of the Graduate College Career Services Office at the University of Illinois-Urbana.

http://chronicle.com/jobs/2005/11/2005110801c.htm

The bottom line: negotiate!  In my words: Ask for what you want. The worst reply you could get is no.

Three Magic Letters review link

Three Magic Letters: Getting To PhD (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) provides "an unprecedented look at how students race, walk or crawl to the finish line — or fail to." Here's the link to "Why Grad Students Succeed or Fail," a book review on Inside Higher Ed:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/02/16/grad

The book is the result of a decade-long project in which more than 9,000 graduate students, enrolled at 21 top research universities, provided detailed information about their experiences.