Reflections 3: Personal Time

Our third reflection as we wind down 2015, is on personal time. We all need time to get away from obligations and focus on ourselves. It is not selfish to give yourself a chance to renew your energy; rather some personal time gives you the motivation to complete your other obligations.  

Take some time to journal about what you would like to improve upon with your personal time. Perhaps, like Mandy in the photo, the chance for quiet naps would be perfect. Getting outside and having a chance to exercise may be what you need, or perhaps giving yourself some time to read a novel or spend time with friends would bring you some joy.  

Consider in the year ahead how you can build in time to meditate and simply have time to think and dream. Building into your schedule a little "me" time will do wonders for your outlook and reduce your stress. 

Next time, we will complete the series on reflections by considering your dissertation. 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

Reflections 2: Work

Our second reflection for the end of 2015 is on work. Work is an integral part of your life, no matter your vocation; it is an important element to consider.  Inevitably, there are some aspects that are nonnegotiable – you must travel to your place of work, and you must be there a certain number of hours. 

Are there times in your work day, that you can use for other purposes? For example, you may be able to use your commute as personal time to journal, listen to CDs, or read articles. You might be able to take a walk during your lunch hour to give yourself some much needed exercise.  

Other points that you may wish to consider and journal about, are there ways that your work life can influence or help your dissertation? Perhaps it would be worth discussing topics in your workplace that could use some research with your supervisor. Perhaps you could be involved in some projects that would let you utilize your research skills and keep them sharp. 

Next time, we will reflect on personal time. 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

Reflections 1: Family

As 2015 winds down, it is worthwhile for you to reflect on different aspects of your life and how these aspects relate to your dissertation plans and progress. Over the next few posts remaining in 2015, we will consider these; I encourage you to take some time with each and write about them in your journal. 

Today, let's consider your family. In 2015, how have you done with balancing the demands of your family life? What crises have arisen? What successes and new developments have taken place? Consider how you might improve things in 2016. Perhaps you can dedicate certain hours of the week just for certain family members (e.g., partner/spouse and children). A date night with your spouse can do wonders for communication and support. Setting aside time for weekly family meetings, where everyone can share their ideas and issues, can lead to more time available for other things in your life (like your dissertation). 

Next time, we will reflect on work. 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

One of many

One difficulty many students have is accepting that although their dissertation is a major priority in their life, for their faculty mentor, they are just one of many students. It is important to realize that your mentor's time is divided among not only all of his or her doctoral students, but also other obligations and commitments.  

My message today is to be patient with your mentors, give them a reasonable amount of time for reviewing documents, answering emails and questions. Use your waiting times productively by going on to the next step in your paper/ process, such as the next chapter, preparing for a defense or IRB application.  

Next time, I will begin a series of reflections to wrap up 2015. 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

How long does a dissertation take?

One of the most common questions I receive is "how long will it take me to do a dissertation?" Of course, my answer is it is very individual, it depends on how good of a writer you are, the type of study you do, and what problems you encounter. 

Let us go a little deeper. Some students become convinced they should be done with their dissertation within the program stated requirement. However, this number has little to do with reality; it is simply the academic requirement. Dissertations do not go according to schedule; it will take however long it takes. Yes, I have seen students finish in one year, but I have also seen others take 2-3 years.  

Why does it take so long?? There are a number of reasons. (a) Students may not write well, requiring many revisions and they must work with an editor. (b) There are many waiting times; each person who reviews your paper must be given a reasonable amount of time to complete it. Therefore, if you have to do many revisions, the time adds up. (c) Different research methods take different time periods. The fastest is doing an archival (a data set previously collected in the past) or secondary data (data collected by someone else, may be from an institution or organization) analysis. Probably qualitative and mixed methods take the longest. (d) Problems arise; in fact, expect them. You may not be able get the required number of participants, your computer crashes, you or family members get sick, or your boss insists you work overtime. Things happen, which delay the process. (e) Chair or committee issues, sometimes personalities clash, committee members get sick or even die. There is no way to predict such things and they too slow you down. 

What are characteristics of students who are done quickly? They tend to be excellent writers, work every day on their paper, and the dissertation gods grant them minimal outside problems. Promise yourself today, however long it takes, you will keep working on it. That will get you done. 

Next time, I will consider being one of many. 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 

The Macro Level Review

We now move to a macro level of writing review in which you make sure the chapters and the paper as a whole are consistent. As you write over time, it is easy for your paper to deviate in your methodology and approach. If you have ever read a new novelist's first book, you may have experienced the situation in which the details in how they describe a character or scene changes throughout the book ("Mary" may change from being "an auburn haired beauty" to a woman named "Marie, with golden hair" by the end). This is a lack of good editing. The next stage of your self-review should be as an editor. 

To do this, you need to read the entire paper in one sitting. You need to keep track of any inconsistencies or changes in methodology descriptions; I like using track changes' comments for this, but you can also use your journal for note taking. Do not change things during the reading just note the problem areas. It is important that you are able to read the paper without interruptions, because you want to be able to remember details. Things to check carefully include the description of theories throughout the paper, are you always using the same terms? Check your research questions and hypotheses; are they the same in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 3? Are your descriptions of your methodology the same in Chapter 1 and Chapter 3? Are the topics introduced in Chapter 1 discussed in Chapter 2? 

When you review the full five chapters of your final dissertation, it is even more important to double-check the details. Are Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5 all consistent? Did you do the methods and analyses in Chapter 4 you discussed in Chapters 1 and 3? If not, explain why they changed. Read Chapter 1 and then read Chapter 5 make sure everything is consistent; particularly look at theory issues. Make sure you have discussed all of your results in Chapter 5 you mention in Chapter 4. Each of your key findings need to be discussed in terms of the literature and the implications in Chapter 5. Compare the headers listed in the Table of Contents with your document to make sure they are all accurate. 

A final check is to print out your references, then go through the paper and cross off each reference as it is cited. They should come out even. Make sure citations with 3-6 authors list all the authors the first time cited, and then use et al. When in doubt, check the APA manual for the correct citation. Make sure you have a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), for each article. These are 10-digit numbers unique to each article. They can be found on the first page of electronic articles, near the copyright notice. They are also listed in library databases for each article. Keep in mind some articles, particularly medical ones do not have a DOI. 

All of these self-reviews will take you some time, but you truly will save yourself a great deal of waiting time in the end. In addition, you will be a much better writer for doing it. Eventually, you will do these reviews as you go and it will take much less time. 

Next time, I will consider how long a dissertation takes to complete. 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

The Micro Level Writing Review

How do you review your own writing? Why should you spend time on this? Doing a good review of your writing before you send it to your chair or other committee member can save you a great deal of time in the end. Remember, every time a faculty member reads your paper they are allowed a reasonable time to review it, if you can reduce the number of reviews needed, it can save you months! 

I recommend a several stage process of self-review; you can do the steps in any order that feels comfortable for you. Yes, it will take you time and it is not particularly fun, but it will save valuable time and it will teach you to write! First, review your writing at the micro level of individual paragraphs and sections. Make sure you have spell check and grammar check turned on in your paper. If you are not seeing some words/ sentences underlined in red or green in Word, go to the options menu (often listed under File)/ proofing and make sure spell and grammar check are turned on. Make sure the Exception boxes are not checked (these turn off spelling and grammar checks). Make sure that you then check all of the items in red (spelling) and green (grammar issues) underlining. 

Step 1 is to pick a small section of your paper; read the section aloud, carefully listening for grammatical errors and missing words. You may also wish to consider utilizing and submitting your work, or even small sections of your work to electronic/online academic writing aids such as Grammarly and/or Turnitin.

Step 2, read through the section again checking for APA errors. There are several common problems students have, for example, citations and use of the second person ("we," "our") or third person ("the researcher"). Read those sections of the APA manual and make sure you are doing them correctly. Make sure any jargon is defined (a good rule of thumb, would your grandmother or friend not in your field, understand the term? If not, define it).

Step 3 is the hardest one, check your content. Make sure you are only talking about one topic in each paragraph. Are your arguments clear? Does every fact or statement have a citation? Check the length of your paragraphs and break up long ones (there should be no page long paragraphs).  

Next time, I will consider the macro level of writing review. 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