Acknowledgments1: Preparing to Go: The Dissertation JourneyCan a Dissertation Really Be a Trip?Packing Your BagsOur GuaranteesYour Travel AgentsHow to Use This Guide2: The Journey before You: 29 StepsOur TimetableYeah, But . . .3: Planning the Trip: The Conceptual ConversationSelecting and Orienting a PartnerAsking and Answering QuestionsIdentifying Key Pieces4: Developing Your Itinerary: The PreproposalNaming the ProblemFormulating Your Research QuestionSelecting Your DataIdentifying Your Method of Data CollectionIdentifying Your Method of Data AnalysisIdentifying the Literature to ReviewIdentifying the Significance of Your StudyIdentifying Your ChaptersWriting Your PreproposalAssessing Your DecisionsCommitting to the Preproposal with Your Advisor5: Advice from Other Travelers: The Literature ReviewCoding Your LiteratureCutting Apart Your CodesSorting Your CodesChecking Your PilesCreating Your Conceptual SchemaWriting It Up6: Getting There: The Dissertation ProposalIntroductionResearch QuestionDefinition of TermsLiterature ReviewResearch DesignSignificance of the StudyOutline of the StudyRecap: Sections of a Dissertation ProposalApproval of the Proposal7: Things to See and Do: Data Collection and AnalysisCollecting Your DataCreating Codable DataIdentifying Your Unit of AnalysisCoding Your DataSorting Your CodesChecking Your CodesCreating Your Explanatory SchemaGetting Inspiration for Your Explanatory SchemaAssessing Your Explanatory SchemaWriting It Up8: Making the Most of Your Travels: The Last Chapter PlusSummaryInterpretation of FindingsLimitationsSuggestions for Future ResearchThree-Article FormatFinishing Up9: Useful Phrases: Writing and EditingFast WritingSlow Revising10: Travelogue: The Dissertation DefensePreparing for Your DefenseThe Defense ItselfFollowing Your Defense11: Making the Best Use of Your Guide: Advisor AdvisingAsking AppropriatelyAgreeing on a VisionArticulating NeedsEnacting ProfessionalismAssessing Your Relationship12: Avoiding Delays and Annoyances: Enacting the Scholar RoleIncomplete-Scholar RolesEnacting the Scholar Role: Writing RegularlyIndexAbout the Authors

In this concrete guide for Ph.D. candidates across disciplines, Foss and Waters approach the process of writing a high-quality dissertation as a vacation from normal routine-one that can be exciting, stimulating, and yes, accomplished in under one year. Your dissertation is not a hurdle to jump or a battle to fight; as this handbook makes clear, your dissertation is the first of many destinations on the path of your professional career. Destination Dissertation guides you to the successful completion of your dissertation by framing the process as a stimulating and exciting trip-one that can be completed in fewer than nine months and by following twenty-nine specific steps. Sonja Foss and William Waters-your guides on this trip-explain concrete and efficient processes for completing the parts of the dissertation that tend to cause the most delays: conceptualizing a topic, developing a pre-proposal, writing a literature review, writing a proposal, collecting and analyzing data, and writing the last chapter. This guidebook is crafted for use by students in all disciplines and for both quantitative and qualitative dissertations, and incorporates a wealth of real-life examples from every step of the journey.

Also available in printed form ISBN 9781442246140

Electronic reproduction. Browns Books For Students. Mode of access: World Wide Web.