Committee as Collaborators

Students often are confused about the role of their dissertation committee. In a sense, committee members are collaborators in your project. They help you to think through your design, suggest resources, offer writing suggestions, and may help with your statistics. Most faculty are quite willing to help you think through issues that arise and problem solve.  

On the other hand, committee members will not write your paper for you, test subjects, some may be willing to offer editorial and statistical help but it is not required. Your committee is there to offer guidance as you complete your study, but they are constrained by many rules. If you feel that you may be going a little too far in a request, ask if it is appropriate.  Think of your committee as members of your dissertation team; you are all pulling together to get you done! 

Next time, I will post an article about introverts and attending conferences. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu