The joy of unplugging*

Today is the start of the Labor Day holiday, and I challenge you to take a day this weekend that is "unplugged." What do I mean by that?  A day with no computer, no cell phones, anything that connects you to other people, the internet, and your dissertation. Yes, I want you to take a day off!  

You may find that, at least initially, you feel a little stressed from not being connected, but this will pass. Enjoy the silence. Listen to the sounds outside your window. Go out and enjoy the day. Maybe read a novel or go to a movie. Talk to your family and friends about anything except your dissertation. If anyone asks about it, tell them I told you that you are not allowed to think about it today! J 

To get the most out of your unplugged day, make yourself aware that you are not connected, feel the freedom. Know that the world can manage without you there for one day. Enjoy this little bit of peace. 

Try meditating and concentrate on your breathing, becoming aware of the world inside you. Your breath is a miracle that accompanies every moment of your life. It has been happening since you took your first breath at birth and will continue until you take that last final breath. It is one of the few automatic body processes that we can control; you can't control your heart beat or the processing taking place in your stomach or liver. But the breath we can hold or speed up. Play with that for a while. 

If you like journaling, this would be a great day for some self-reflections. How are you feeling about your life? Are you happy with where and how things are progressing? What would you like to change, what would it take to do that? Perhaps write a poem about your life at this moment in time. 

Enjoy your day off, your dissertation and I will be here when you get back! 

*My thanks to Judi and Amy for suggesting this topic. Next time, we will take a look at some fall reflections. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Guilt*

It is common to feel guilty when you aren't able to work on your dissertation. You may feel that you are letting yourself and your family and friends down. One student described it as a "chronic experience of 'not enough'. Not enough progress today, not enough extant literature to support my point, not enough energy to write…" 

How can you use these feeling to help instead of dragging you down? One way is to establish a realistic schedule of working on your paper. Decide that as long as you are keeping to your schedule you are doing all you can, and you do not need to feel guilty. What is realistic? An hour or two a day is probably a realistic goal. If you have a hectic work schedule – you might want to think about it terms of a weekly number of hours. Yes, reading articles while in waiting rooms counts! The main thing is to try to quantify it and keep track of your time. That way you know when you can give up the guilt reminders. 

Think of guilt as a reminder from your subconscious. Deep down you really want to get your doctorate – this is so important that you are making yourself feel guilty about it. This is a good thing! But take control of the guilt and use it to its best advantage. Do not allow the guilt become so overwhelming that you avoid working on the paper in protest. Put working on the paper on a strict schedule, so your subconscious is happy and stops sending out alarm signals of guilt. 

The other side of this issue is to allow yourself some time away from your paper. Give yourself permission to not work and think about it at certain times of the day/ week. You will find that you come back to it with more energy and creativity. As you consider your daily and weekly schedules, add in time for you and things you enjoy doing. Give yourself rewards of time off- "if I work on the paper for 2 hours today I can go to a movie (take a walk, spend time with my kids/grandkids, etc.)." 

*My thanks to my dissertation text support group for their ideas on this topic. Next time, we will take a look at unplugging for a day. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

 

If I could just sleep…*

A common symptom of stress is insomnia… lying awake thinking and worrying. You have so much going on in your life, so many responsibilities, and so many deadlines. Sleep may be elusive. 

What can you do about it? There are a number of suggestions available for helping people to go to sleep, I will list a few that work for me. Meditation. Learn to meditate, concentrate on your breathing, feeling each breath. Here is a video with suggestions: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/easy-meditation-technique_n_3313047.html There is a guided breathing app available for iPhone and Android for $2.99 at meditationoasis.com/smartphone-apps. 

A technique I used in grad school is to get a CD with sounds of the ocean and listen to it as you fall asleep. Concentrate on the sounds of the waves, visualizing them. There is also an app available for 99 cents for iPhone that features 70 relaxing sounds at rtstudio.net/NatureSounds.html 

A related method is self-hypnosis. This technique takes a little more practice, but works very well. Here is some info on it:  http://www.hypnosis.edu/articles/insomnia There is also a self-hypnosis app to alleviate stress and soothe you to sleep. Free for iPhone at i-mobilize.com/relax-sleep-well-by-glenn-harrold 

I find it helpful to read a book for pleasure right before bed, giving my mind something else to think about. Often if I can't sleep I will play cards on the computer for a bit, which tends to shut the mind down some. 

Experiment and see what works best for you. Look at it as a problem to be solved, don’t just add it to your list of worries! 

*My thanks to Susan for suggesting this topic. Next time, we will take a look at guilt. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Facing the Monster under the Bed*

As you lay awake at night, what are your dissertation fears? That you aren't good enough? That you will run out of money? That you won't get your Ph.D., your family will be ashamed of you, and you will end up on the streets? Just as when you are were a child, these are your monsters under your bed. 

First, rest assured that such fears and worries are very normal. Often the best way to handle the monster under the bed is to directly confront the fear. You are worried that you are not good enough? Let's examine that. How did you do in your undergraduate and graduate programs? You got As and Bs? Then you should be able to handle the dissertation. Think about (it helps to actually list them) your successes academically, what were you really good at? What always was a problem for you? 

What do you feel is your weakest area related to your dissertation? Don't just worry about it – take control of the monster! Is it writing? Then look into some of the short writing courses offered by the writing center. The writing center has editors that work with you. They also have a developmental editing service (you need a referral from your chair) in which the editor will work one on one with you and teach you writing skills. 

Is your weakest area research methodology? Then read some books in your methodology area, so you feel more confident. There is a methodologist available through the writing center that can help with specific problems (your chair has to contact them for you). 

Beware of the common tendency to close your eyes and pretend the monster isn’t there, while you quiver in fear. Face it and wrestle it to the ground! You are in control of your destiny, take whatever steps you need to take to get rid of the fear and get done! 

*My thanks to Judi for suggesting this topic. Next time, we will take a look at insomnia. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Make things easy for your committee

What is your ultimate goal of being in a doctoral program? Isn’t it to get done and have that diploma? One way to speed the process along is to make it as easy for your committee as possible. What do I mean by that? When you send drafts to your committee, leave their former track changes in place and use track changes as you write. That way they only need to check the changes you have made. Does it make you crazy to see the track changes? It is possible to turn on track changes, so it is keeping track of what you have altered, but not show it as you write. In Word 2010 go to Review/ turn on track changes/ under final show markup – choose "Final". It won’t show the changes as you type but it is saving them. Them when you are done, choose "Final: Show Markup" and they are shown. (If you have a different version of Word, check the help menu). If it feels wrong to send a track changes document, you can also send a clean draft with all track changes removed. However, do send both versions. 

How else can you make it easy for your committee? Make sure you address each comment from the faculty member. You may disagree and that is ok, but indicate why you disagree in a track changes comment. It needs to be more than a simple "no, I don’t want to change this." You need a good rationale. 

Other ideas- write to your committee member once a quarter (assuming you have not talked to them recently), and give them an update on your progress. Sometimes I don’t hear from a student for years, and don’t know if they dropped out, are on a leave of absence, or just slow in their progress. Don’t forget to thank them occasionally for their help, everyone likes to be appreciated! 

Next time, we will take a look at facing your fears. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Faculty Realizations

Last time we looked at student realizations of the dissertation process. Today we will look at realizations of the process from the faculty point of view. 

"I am surprised at how easy it is to get a journal article out of the dissertation, and how few do it." Very few students take the extra time and effort to publish the data from their dissertation. Yes, it will take some time to put it together, but you have already done all of the hard work!

 

"Students do not understand what a chair is supposed to do." Students are often confused about the role of a chair. He or she is not an editor and is not a co-author. They are more of a mentor, guiding you in the direction that you need to go to get done. Many faculty will offer editorial and writing advice, but it is not required. 

"I am shocked at how much time students waste." Students often procrastinate with the dissertation, it feels overwhelming and they are not sure how to get it going. You probably had specific times aside when you worked on coursework; it helps do so when writing too. If you feel stuck, get help!  

"Students ignore feedback from faculty." Many times students resent advice from faculty, and choose to ignore it. This leads to more delays in getting done. Typically, faculty have been through the process before and know what is required. If you ignore their advice, you are wasting their time and yours.  

"Many students do not read all of the documents provided in the classroom, research center, and other Walden dissertations." Other people have solved the problems you are having right now in your writing and in the dissertation process. Take the time to read all of the documents available, and save yourself time and money! 

Next time, we will take a look at how to make things easier for your committee. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Student Realizations

What realizations have you gained since starting your dissertation? Here are few things other students have reported.

"Writing a dissertation is harder than I thought it would be." This is a common realization that students have- they went into the process, having written many papers before; however, writing a dissertation is very different. It takes longer to research the literature, write, conduct the study, and revise than most people assume it will take. There are also many approvals you will have to get along the way; each person will want more changes. 

"I was surprised that I actually enjoy the process." I hope students discover this one. Writing the dissertation is an intellectual challenge, it will force you to grow, to stretch, and to develop as a professional. Most researchers have a deep intellectual curiosity that research satisfies. It allows you to ask interesting questions and to find out the answers. Enjoy the process! 

"It is a much more lonely process than I anticipated." For online doctoral students, this is a very real aspect. You need to develop a way to counter this. Get a support group, find a dissertation buddy, you need someone to talk to that is also going through the process. 

"My family is supportive, but they just don't get the work involved." People who have not gone through it do not really understand how difficult the process is. It may help to share with them the day-to-day highs and lows, and incorporate them into the process. Help them to understand both the pressure and your drive and motivation to succeed. Also, get a support group! 

"My defense was much more collaborative that I thought it would be." I often hear this comment. Students expect that a "defense" will be confrontational, but it rarely is. It tends to be colleagues working together to come up with the best possible project. 

"I was surprised that I ended up really sick of my topic." Unfortunately, this is common. Many people become quite burnt out on the dissertation topic and do not want to do anything further on it. 

"Writing a dissertation changed me." Often, I hear this at graduation. Going through the dissertation process makes you a better writer, able to cope with constructive feedback, become more compulsive in your research, and provides a deeper appreciation of your topic and participants. At Walden, we often talk about social change, but also realize that you will also be changed by going through the process. 

Next time, we will take a look at faculty realizations. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Writing issues: References

We recently examined citations; let's now take a look at references. First a few reminders: Everything I am talking about today is in the APA Manual- see chapter 7. All references cited in text must appear in the reference section of the paper. All references listed must have a citation in the text. An easy way to check this is to print out your reference list and cross off each one as you read the paper (this is what I will do as your reader). 

Journals (periodicals)

Include the digital object identifier (DOI) in the reference if one is assigned.  

If no DOI is assigned and you retrieved the article online, include the page URL for the journal, newsletter, or magazine in the reference (no retrieval data is needed). Use this format: Retrieved from http:// www.xxxxxxx 

Here is an example of an article with a DOI

Lamb, J. K. (2013). Pencil panic. Health Psychology, 23, 225-227. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.224 

Tricky aspect: If an article has more than 7 authors, list the first 6 and last one.

Smyth, J. R., Karl, J. T., Stuart, F. W., Loring, B. R., Miller, W. R., Richards, Y. C. … Bosko, P. (2012). An examination of pencil addicts. Pencil Discovery, 4, 112-116. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.22.2.224. 

Books

For an entire book, you would use:

James, K. L. (2012). Pencils and psychology. NY: Sage. (Note- only first word of title is capitalized) 

For a chapter in a book:

Lassie, D. G. & Jones, C. T. (2012). My fear of pencils. In K. L. James (Ed.), Pencils and psychology (pp. 20-46). NY: Sage 

Check your APA Manual for specifics of different types of references, they have many examples. 

A lesson in Word formatting. You do not need to press the enter key and indent the second line of each references. A better way, which maintains the spacing even with changes in the paper, is to use "hanging indent." I will explain how to do this using Word 2010, if you have a different version look up "hanging indents" in your help menu. 

Highlight the text you want to apply this to, go to Home/ Paragraph/ Special/ Hanging indent. Magically, they will be correctly formatted. 

Next time, we will take a look at student realizations Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

A Coming Requirement

In fall quarter, a new requirement will be added for dissertation students. Each student will be required to complete a goal sheet for the quarter. I am copying a portion below. Why is this important? Because your grade in the dissertation course will be determined by whether you meet your goal or not. If you do not meet your goal, you will be given a U (remember, 2 consecutive Us or 3 non-consecutive Us will get you removed from the program). So setting appropriate goals becomes very important! 

 

 

 

Milestone	Place an X for all that you have completed	Place an X for what you plan to complete this quarter
Prospectus Approved
Approved Chapter 1
Approved Chapter 2
Approved Chapter 3
Approved Proposal
URR Proposal Approval
Oral Defense of Proposal
IRB Approval
Approved Chapter 4
Approved Chapter 5
Approved Dissertation
URR Dissertation Approval

 

Specific Steps Required to Meet Quarter Goals	Date Step Needs to be Completed to Meet Goals	Date Step Completed

 

I have been doing something similar in my dissertation classes for several years; however, I have students lay out the goals by the week ending with an overall goal for the quarter. I recommend that you do the same, in planning your quarter goals. Consider how much you usually write in a week – what is realistic? Include the time it will take faculty to read your drafts – plan for at least a week, but also be working on the next stage. 

Are you planning for a vacation, or a time with family obligations that will slow you down? Include that too. Then see where you end up for the quarter. It is better to be conservative and reach your goal then to not be able to do what you planned! 

If you lay out your goals week by week then you can easily translate them to the required form. It is also a good idea to talk to your chair about what is realistic for you to complete in a term, particularly if you are new to the dissertation process.

Why is this change being implemented? It is very important that students continue to make progress in dissertation, otherwise they tend to get frustrated and not finish. This change is to help you get done in a timely manner, and provide your chair with a realistic way to gauge your progress. 

Next time, we will take a look at references. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Writing issues: Citations

Several students have asked me to run through the APA rules for citations. Everything I am talking about today is in the APA Manual- see section 6.11. 

All references cited in text must appear in the reference section of the paper. All references listed must have a citation in the text. An easy way to check this is to print out your reference list and cross off each one as you read the paper (this is what I will do as your reader). 

If you have one author you give the author's last name and year. In text it would be: Smith (2012) stated… Alternatively, it could be done in parentheses: The fear of pencils is epidemic (Smith, 2012) 

Tricky aspect: If you give the citation multiple times in a paragraph in the text (not in parentheses), you are required to give the year once. However, if you just give the citations in parentheses, it must always have the year included.

If you have 2 authors, cite both names every time you cite. When there are 3-5 authors cite all authors the first time cited, and then use just the first author's name, followed by et al. 

Examples:

Johnson, Palmer, Smith, and Joseph (2010) reported …. (first citation)

Johnson et al. (2010) stated... (subsequent citations)

The fear of pencils has been studied extensively (Johnson, Palmer, Smith, & Joseph, 2010)

The fear never abates (Johnson et al., 2010) 

Tricky aspects: In the text of the sentence – use “and”

             Example:  Blackburn and Dulmas (2007) stated…. 

In parentheses use “&”

             Example: there are many older adults (Blackburn & Dulmas, 2007) 

When a work has 6+ authors, cite only the name of the first author followed by et al.

For example, you have the following reference:

MacDonald, Jones, Smith, Johnson, Liverwurst, George, Killary, & Donegal (2012) – it would always be cited as MacDonald et al. (2012) 

Tricky aspect: If you have a work with 6+ authors, that would shorten to the same form, you should list as many authors as needed to distinguish the 2 references. 

Examples:

MacDonald, Jones, Smith, Johnson, Liverwurst, George, Killary, & Donegal (2012)

MacDonald, Jones, Smith, Ludicrous, Liverwurst, George, Killary, & Sassafras (2012) 

In text, you would cite them as

MacDonald, Jones, Smith, Johnson, et al. (2012)

MacDonald, Jones, Smith, Ludicrous, et al. (2012)

(Note the comma before the et al. in this case) 

If you have works with authors of the same last name, but different first name, with the same year, you have to differentiate them.

Examples:

Keith, H. (2012). Art and the immigrant. NY: Sage.

Keith, M. (2012). Psychology of immigration. Immigration Forum, 3, 26-32. 

Citations would be:

The study of art and the immigrant has only recently been addressed (H. Keith, 2012; M. Keith, 2012)… 

Finally, a last picky detail to keep in mind:

When using et al. there is not a comma before it (exception with 6+authors as detailed above). So Johnson et al. (2000) has no comma after the name. 

I strongly suggest copying Table 6.1 in the APA manual and keeping it nearby when you are writing. It lays out everything I have discussed above. 

Next time, we will take a look at a new requirement for dissertation students. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Anxiety

It is very common, while working on a dissertation, to feel anxious. It may be that you doubt your ability to complete it; you may worry about whether you are good enough, or if you are doing it right. You may find yourself waking in the middle of the night, worrying.

It is important to realize that such worries and doubts are normal. You are involved in a difficult project that you have never done before. You may find it helpful to write down your concerns and think about if there is anything that can do to reduce the anxiety. A few examples, you could talk to your chair about your progress, are you progressing normally? You could take some of the writing center's short courses to improve your writing. Maybe you could attend a research intensive, and make some significant progress in a short period of time. 

You should also spend some time considering how you tend to cope with stress. There are many ways to reduce it, but they typically require conscious thought. Some common methods include gardening, playing with your children, going for a walk, working on a hobby, reading for pleasure, meditation, or listening to music.  

Develop some strategies and a plan for how to deal with your dissertation stress. A great plan is to work on the paper for a certain length of time each day; this allows you to know that you are making progress, which in turn reduces the worry. 

What do you do if your anxiety feels excessive? It may be worth talking to a professional. Walden’s Student Assistance Program, GuidanceResources Online, offers students free and confidential counseling on a variety of personal and professional issues that may be affecting the quality of their learning experience. Experienced clinicians are available by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 1-866-465-8942.

• Website: www.guidanceresources.com/groWeb, for additional resources, including referrals and planning tools.

• Company ID: SAP4EDU (Students can find the Walden ID for this service on their myWalden university portal.) 

Next time, we will take a look at citations. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu