Ask the Dissertation Diva

Diagnosis: A.R.S.

Dear Dissertation Diva:

I dusted off my dissertation and made moves towards revising it into a book. An ancient email from an interested editor at a university press lurks stage left. I need to update my take on the current state of the field for the book's introduction in order to show where my argument fits. Problem is: Whenever I do JSTOR searches or try to update my bibliography, I break out in hives. Trying to situate my project in the 100s of new articles -- many in convoluted academicese that seems downright toxic to my confidence -- is overwhelming and demoralizing. Even making a list of the articles makes me think that my book is irrelevant, bizarre, or boring. Any thoughts? 

Signed, 

Anachronistic Annie 

Dear A.A.:

You are suffering from A.R.S.: Academic Re-entry Shock. A.R.S. affects PhDs who take a break from their dissertation research in order to focus on new research, a full time job, or other reasons. When they dust off their dissertation a year or more later, the dust enters their respiratory tract, causing hives-like symptoms, including wheezing and a sense of dread brought on by JSTOR searches.  

Antidote: Decompress in one of those chambers -- you know when people come back from deep-sea dives? 

You can also homebrew Dissertation-to-Book Diva Anti-A.R.S. Spray (TM) using NYC or San Francisco tap water, organic peppermint or rosemary oil, and a sprig of mint from a community garden. Spritz it around your workspace to clear your aura from toxicity. 

When you can approach updating your research once again, I suggest focusing on the major developments (books, authors) in your field and related fields, not every tiny article. Who are the Big Three in each field? Who is closest to your sensibility?  Also, stay on track with your book's argument, contributions, and unique angle, while taking into account new developments. 

Spritz! Spritz!

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.]

Defense Drama

Dear Dissertation Diva:

I was set to defend in two weeks but I just got feedback on a chapter draft from one of my committee members. The draft is full of suggested corrections! His exact words were: "This chapter needs substantial revisions before you are ready to defend." I'm freaking out. I don't have time to make these changes by next week. This committee member came on board recently (this past year) and has not followed the project from the start. It's the methodology chapter on a combined quantitative-qualitative social sciences dissertation. I've worked on this for ten years! My outside methodologist approved it, and the chair of my committee also thinks the project works although there are problems. I want to defend, rent a UHaul, and drive my stuff to my new job out of state... a teaching job that starts in mid-August. Any advice?

Signed,
I Can't Believe This Is Happening

Dear Believe,

Are you absolutely sure this committee member will block your project if you do go through with the defense? Would it help to have this committee member see the entire dissertation including the results, not just the methodology chapter, if they have not already?  Can you ask your Chair to speak to this committee member? What you have on your hands is a serious problem that needs to be addressed by your chair and among the committee members, especially since a defense date is set and you will be starting a teaching position shortly. I can't wave the Dissertation Diva Magic Wand on this one.

You are probably doing this already, but you may want to communicate  with  the chairperson of your committee and the head of your graduate program immediately about this discrepancy between a green light from your chair and methodologist and a red/yellow light from another, more recent committee member. These two people in charge may decide to move forward with your defense and to let you defend your project in front of the entire committee, which is what your defense is FOR. Perhaps there is a miscommunication about what is acceptable; perhaps the committee member in question needs to see the entire dissertation (not just a single chapter) to fully appreciate that you have addressed these issues elsewhere in the write-up. Hopefully the defense will be the space and time for the committee member's questions to be addressed satisfactorily. Your chair will be there to back up the project, right?

Finally, don't despair. You are at the end of a long and winding road. Your chair and other committee members would not have let you come this far without understanding and supporting your project, and will want to help you make arrangements to make agreed-upon revisions after the defense and prior to the granting of the degree. Get your second (third, forth, fifth) wind and keep sailing forward!

Dissertation Diva

Two paragraphs a day

Dear Dissertation Diva,

I wrote two paragraphs today. On a good day, I can do 3 or 4, adding up to a page. This is after taking the subway to the library and locking myself in a room with no internet. It's like pulling teeth. Does everyone write this slowly? I am frustrated that this dissertation is going to take forever!

Turtle ABD

Dear Turtle,

Congratulations: you're writing!  Yes, most people write "this slowly" -- which is to say, you are making excellent steady progress. 3-4 paragraphs sounds like at least one double spaced page to me. At this rate, you can produce 20 pages a month, or a 40 page chapter in two months. Not too shabby. You will probably need to add time for editing, rewriting, or reorganizing, as well as additional research and footnotes, depending on your personal writing process.

Keep going. You are doing the exact right thing. Slow and steady wins the race.

Dissertation Diva

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

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

Deadline Dilemma

Dear Dissertation Diva:

Thanks for a great blog site: reading it has been helping me get back on track with my dissertation after a long holiday/working to pay the bills break. But I do have a question. I am working on wrapping up my prospectus, and when I have set deadlines as you suggest on my prospectus, it has ended up stressing me out so much that I don't get anything done at all. And normally I'm a person who works well to deadlines. My advisors have suggested that the prospectus, as a conceptualization phase of the dissertation, is not necessarily suited to setting hard deadlines, but part of me wants to set firm deadlines to get the thing done, and I feel guilty when I fall short of self-imposed expectations, then begin to worry this is indicative of my ability to finish the whole dissertation. What do you think or suggest about this dilemma?

Thanks again,
Denise

Hi Denise:

Did you know that the historical meaning of the word "deadline" is "a line drawn around a prison beyond which prisoners were liable to be shot"? No wonder that thinking of the dissertation process in terms of deadlines makes people break out in a cold sweat. Your question is essentially about the dilemma of deadlines: Not meeting them creates anxiety, guilt, remorse, self-doubt -- all sorts of feelings better suited to a criminal confession than to a creative process! You will set and meet and not meet MANY deadlines during this long process. The best attitude is to not become attached to the outcome of a particular deadline, but to use the date as a motivation to work towards. This Zen attitude of detachment is difficult to cultivate, but worth the effort. Set a date to work towards, put in consisent effort towards your goal, but don't attach to the outcome. There's a balancing act for sure!

What helps is to rethink the whole concept of a deadline. You want to finish your prospectus by a definite date. Think of it as a TARGET DATE instead. You are working towards a target. Point all your arrows in that direction.

Also, break down the larger task into mini-target dates. So, in your case, tomorrow could be your mini-target date for updating the draft of Section One of your prospectus. The next day's mini-target is to assess what need to be done next and starting a list of additional research. The day after's mini-target is to download 3 articles from the list. The day after, you decide you need a new target, which is to start reworking the methodology section of your prospectus. Do you see how in this example, you have daily mini-targets to work towards? The focus is on the process, with daily targets for the outcome. I think this could work in your situation to dispel some of the anxiety about having one big deadline and missing it.

Let me know what happens!

Thanks for your feedback and question.
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

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!