Learning

During the course of writing, collecting, and analyzing your data for your dissertation, you will learn a great deal. You will learn about technical writing, APA format, and more about your methodology. However, if you are observant and self-reflective, you can learn a great deal about yourself too. Occasionally take stock of how you approach this large task. Are you methodological and require a step-by-step plan be implemented? Are you a last minute person, trying to put something together before you have to meet with your chair? Think through the implications of your responses, how is your personality interacting with your desire to be done with your doctorate?

Do you need frequent feedback or are a person who likes to work on your own and just get feedback when necessary? How do you handle criticism? Do you become angry and defensive or do you look on criticism as a learning opportunity?

What writing issues are frequently commented upon by your chair/ committee? Do you tend to get into the little details to such an extent that your committee does not understand why you have included these issues? Common comments might be "please reduce your number of pages! Relate this back to your project." Perhaps you tend to follow interesting but irrelevant tangents in the literature- either never writing because you cannot get out of the literature or writing about issues not related to your study. Consider what leads you to these tendencies… how can you keep yourself on track?

How do like to read articles- in print or on the computer? How do you (or do you??) organize these articles? Do you have piles everywhere or is your office very tidy? All of these are giving you information about yourself and your personality. Why not take a little time to think about how you are reflected in your work habits? None of the characteristics are necessarily bad or wrong, however, it is an opportunity to decide if it they are getting you where you want to go.

Next time I will discuss some alternative ways to get articles.  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