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Designing Your Dissertation Downtime (Part 2 of 3)

Prospectus. A dissertation prospectus describes your area of research and provides an overview of the study. As always, you should follow your schools guidelines for specific items to cover in your prospectus but here are a few suggestions:

• Introduction
• Thesis statement
• Literature review
• Statement of primary sources
• Methodology
• Research plan
• Chapter outline
• Bibliography

 A prospectus can range from 7-10 pages or as vast as 25-30 pages not including the bibliography. The length will depend on the amount of information covered in the literature review and the methodology. While waiting on feedback on your prospectus you can gather articles that will assist with developing the literature review and recently published dissertations from your school with a similar topic.

Scientific Merit Review (SMR). The SMR form assists in making sure your proposal meets specific criteria and has merit for the IRB evaluation. The reviewers examine the following elements for demonstration of scientific merit, the research problem, purpose, significance, research questions, research design, approach, methodology, and rational for the design. As scientific merit centers on the proposal for the SMR process, you should factor in this element throughout the entire study. If you are a member of the Sisterhood (www.phdsisters.com), review the qualitative and quantitative samples of the SMR form.

While waiting on SMR approval you can work on creating correspondence forms necessary for the study such as the consent form, opt in/opt out, permission slips, structured interview guide, flyer to recruit participants, email notification, consent form, participant checklist, or demographics form. You will also want to arrange the forms as appendices and save the appendices as PDF files into a folder labeled “IRB materials” for later inclusion with your IRB packet. Take a deep breath and Celebrate!

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Unlocking the Chains to Publishing

~by Amina Abdullah-Winstead, PhD
   Author/Founder (IPSA) 

 

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If You Are Rich, Does Your Child Deserve A College $cholarship?

~by Carmen Jones, Ed.D. c.
     IPSA Contributor


As I was doing my usual homework routine and checking twitter, I came across a message stating that Sean “Puffy” Combs’ son Justin does not deserve a $54,000 scholarship to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) because of his father’s worth of over $450 million. The author indicated that he could easily afford to send his son to college with no problem. Immediately, I began to think that this does make absolute sense based on my understanding of scholarships that the requirements are usually for those in financial need. Looking back on my younger years, I also received full-ride scholarships because of the financial distress my parents faced. They were unable to afford two daughters going to college at the same time. However, I also realize that the reason why I was awarded the scholarship was that I earned it.

According to National Public Radio (NPR), Justin Combs defended his self by taking his frustrations to twitter. He stated, “I put that work in!!!!...PERIOD." This is when I began to feel empathy for the junior Combs and realized that he put in the work just like I did when I was doing all that I could to attend the best college. UCLA awarding Justin a $54,000 scholarship is similar to the situation that happened with Master P’s son Romeo when he attended Southern California University (SCU) in 2008. I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is, “What are we learning from this?”

Scholarships from colleges are to not only award those who are in financial need, but also those who exemplify the importance of working hard and deserving of a rewarded for their hard work. If scholarships were awarded to only those in financial need, we would have a problem, because now universities would have to seek out those in financial need. Those who work hard would not receive any kind of financial reward.
 
The UCLA representative, Ricardo Vazquez advised the Los Angeles Times that the scholarship awarded to Justin Combs would not affect the scholarships awarded by the university in anyway. Students from UCLA also feel that the scholarship was well deserved to Justin Combs and “…If his athletic ability deserves it, then more power him”. This statement comes from the Undergraduate Students Association President, Emily Resnick. Like Resnick, students understand the politics of how universities work, and what better way to get the best and brightest for the athletic department then to seek out superstars.  
 
We live in a world where people want to be rewarded for their good deeds, hard work, and valuable insight to making the world a better place. Awards are around us everyday. They can be found in places such as American Idol, NBA Championships, Spelling Bees, and toddlers going through graduation ceremonies to Kindergarten. We cannot ridicule something that we put there in the first place.  But, oh wait, we do live in a country that loves to ridicule anyway! No matter how rich or poor you are, there should never be anything wrong with receiving a pat on the back for your efforts.

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Designing Your Dissertation Downtime (Part 1 of 3)

~by Amina Abdullah-Winstead, PhD
   Author/Founder (IPSA)

This three part series explores activities in which a learner can engage while waiting for feedback or approvals at various stages of his or her PhD program. Part 1 will cover items associated with the comprehensive exam. Part 2 deals with downtime during the SMR/Proposal/IRB milestones. Part 3 explores actions that learners can take in-between the final chapters of the dissertation. Understanding that the dissertation process differs among universities, learners should find these suggestions useful for any program.  

Part 1
You have completed your coursework and now you are about to embark on the next phase of your dissertation journey. After you submit your responses for the Comprehensive Exam, make productive use of your time as opposed to sitting and wondering when you will hear back about your performance. Instead of obsessing over potential rewrites, try completing a few of the steps below to keep the process moving along. Regardless of whether you pass, fail, or have to do rewrites, you will feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that you have made progress toward your goal of preparing for the dissertation.

1. Select a Mentor: Start thinking about the type of person that you would like to serve as your dissertation mentor. A good place to start is with professors that you have had throughout your program particularly ones from your research courses who are well versed in the type of research that you plan to conduct (qualitative or quantitative). If your school participates in residencies or colloquiums this is a goldmine for networking with potential mentors. You may meet other candidates who may recommend faculty or provide advice about the mentor selection process. You may not realize but Proquest database is another great place to look. You can search for recent dissertations for your school that have a similar topic and/or research method to find out who mentored the dissertation.
   
   
2. Stay on Track: Create a timeline and a to-do-list to lay out the dissertation process. The timeline should include important milestone/due dates for the various phases of the program. Use whatever you are comfortable with, however a few useful tools include creating Excel spreadsheets, starting a Google calendar, placing reminders in your cell phone, or using software apps with calendars or listing features. A great web based tool is Todoist, which allows you to create detailed lists and provides reminders via email.
   
   
3. Get Familiar With the Guidelines: Download and familiarize yourself with the appropriate manuals, guides, and templates provided by your school related to the dissertation process (Hint: if your school does not provide a dissertation template for formatting, use a recently published dissertation from your school as a guideline).
   
   
4. Join a Support Group: Once you pass comprehensive exams, search for a support group to participate in as you complete your dissertation. If you are a women-seeking support during your journey, join the PhD Sisters Group on Facebook. Within this group, you will find amazing women who are at various stages of the dissertation process as well as women who have completed their program and are now doctors. These women engage in constructive (positive) discussions about the Ph.D. process, strategies for completing the program, and balancing life in terms of home, work, family, and school. 
   

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Bringing Life Into Your Classroom

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Ten Questions to Ask Yourself When Considering a Membership in a Professional Society

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Did Someone say Doctor? The Debate Over the PhD Doctoral Title.

~by Amina Abdullah-Winstead, PhD
   Author/Founder (IPSA)

Students enrolled in a PhD program may wonder what title they can use at different stages of the PhD process. Usually this question arises as students near the completion of their program, when they update their CV/resume, or when they update their signature on electronic emails. Potential titles vary based on the school’s common use of specific titles.

While there are universities that discourage students from using any title before they graduate, others allow students to classify themselves as PhD students, learners, or candidates. A few schools have policies that state explicitly the use of PhD in any form prior to the actual conferment of your degree is a violation of the university code of conduct. This type of policy does not follow the developmental progress that students achieve as they complete the academic milestones associated with their program. Some schools consider students as PhD learners throughout the entire process, i.e., course completion, comprehensive exam, and the dissertation.

The accepted use of PhD student and learner is in reference to students who are currently enrolled in a PhD program and are either taking classes or working on completing other requirements such as their residencies. Once a student successfully passes the comprehensive exam or other qualifying assessment, they become a PhD candidate (PhD c.). This symbolizes that they now qualify to conduct original research by participating in the dissertation process. It should be noted that there are some exceptions to the rule where students start their dissertation while still completing course work.

A more common term that has developed over the years for students who find themselves in the same situation as a PhD c. is the all but dissertation or PhD (ABD). While the origins of this term are unknown, the term is commonly used by employers in both academia and corporate settings when seeking out qualified candidates as well as by students wishing to distinguish themselves during the application process.

Upon completing all the requirements of the dissertation and defending it in the presence of the dissertation committee, students receive official recognition of their status as a PhD or D. Phil (Doctor of Philosophy). This is when graduates can also add the title of Doctor (Dr.) as a prefix to their name. The dissertation process is challenging enough without having this additional element to decipher. Since most programs include guidelines for the dissertation process, which involves writing four to five chapters consisting of an introduction, literature review, method, results, and conclusions, they should also provide a guide on the proper suffix throughout the process. It would benefit academia and students to have a universal standard to designate appropriate title(s) at various stages of the process.

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Six Strategies for Sailing through Comprehensive Exams

~by Amina Abdullah-Winstead, PhD
   Author/Founder (IPSA)

1. Follow the Comprehensive Exam Manual

As learners, we naturally have questions and concerns about taking any exam let alone the “dreaded” comprehensive exam! However, schools offering a doctoral program want to see you pass the exam and move into the dissertation phase of your program. They are not out to get you.J With this in mind, many colleges and universities provide an instructional guide to follow for the comprehensive exam process. This guide contains ample information about writing the exam, rubrics for grading and scoring as well as sample exam questions, time-frames, and goal statements. The comprehensive exam guide provides answers to the most common questions regarding policy and process for successful completion of the comprehensive exam. As a first step, thoroughly read this guide and make your own notes of important deadlines and other useful information.

2. Demonstrate Bloom’s Taxonomy

At this point in your program, you should have a fresh recollection of Bloom'sTaxonomy from writing assignments in your research classes. Not only will you need to have an understanding, but also you must be able to demonstrate through your writing the principles of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These principles consist of a higher level of knowledge and intellectual skill, which includes the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. There are certain action words that are associated with this higher level of thinking. Many times the wording of the questions on the comprehensive exam provides language that serves as a direct link to one of the top three levels of Bloom’s (hint, hint). Being able to recognize which level the question targets will assist you in forming the direction of your answer.

3. Get Organized 

Read your exam questions. Okay now really read your exam questions. For the finale, read them one more time! The point here is to dissect each question systematically while identifying and highlighting key words and phrases regarding what you need to answer. Much of the weight for grading the comprehensive exam centers on answering every part of the question. From these words and phrases, you can create an outline to make certain that you address each piece of the question. Start searching for scholarly articles and other sources to cite in support of your answers. If you have not done this already, set preferences in Microsoft Word to check your spelling, grammar, style, and readability statistics as well as to do automatic saves of your work. Choosing to answer the hardest question first is one approach that students found helpful in staying motivated by knowing that they can get through the remaining questions. ALWAYS backup your work on a separate USB drive, in cloud storage, or email a copy to yourself.

4. Manage Your Time

There are typically set time limits associated with the completion of your comprehensive exam. Periods can range from one to six weeks. No matter how much time you have, the following points represent tips for creating a good time management schedule:

• Estimate a specific time frame for each question ~ For example: one question per week
• Clear your schedule for the scheduled writing times  ~ This includes no phone calls or personal interruptions except for emergencies
•  Leave time at the end for editing and rewrites
•  Use all allotted time provided by the school ~ Most schools will not review until the due date
•  No clock watching ~ Set alarms for when you want to take a break
  
• Be flexible with your writing times ~ Try not to let unexpected disruptions throw you off-track. Adhere to Murphy's Law and plan accordingly.

5. Proofread and Edit

Proofreading and editing your work are important components of the exam process. Besides finding common errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling you may also find misused words, improper citations, American Psychological Association (APA) formatting mistakes, and redundancy in your writing. Scholars highly recommend the APA Publication Manual as a resource to follow. Proofreading and editing will not only reveal flaws but also help you improve your overall writing for your future publications. To avoid ethical issues, check with your school about having an outside source proofread or edit your exam. Many schools do not allow assistance or review of the exam from outside sources. Therefore, you will most likely be on your own when it comes to reviewing your work. Another recommended resource for APA formatting and style is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).

6. Take Care of You

Finally yet importantly, do not forget about YOU. While passing the exam is a significant milestone in your Ph.D. journey, avoid losing yourself in the process.  Remember to take breaks on a regular basis, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, and celebrate your accomplishments as you answer each question and while waiting for feedback about your exam. If asked to do re-writes, know this is part of the process and do not stress about it. You are not the first nor will you be the last to have to do re-writes. Look at the re-write as an opportunity to polish your writing prior to entering into your dissertation phase. Ask family members to pitch-in and pickup additional responsibilities at home. You can also join the PhD Sisters Group on Facebook at any point in your doctoral journey for support and encouragement from our sisterhood. For those who are spiritual and find solace in prayer, by all means, pray.  

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