Destination dissertation: a traveler's guide to a done dissertation

Table of contents

Machine generated contents note: ch. One Preparing to Go: The Dissertation Journey
Can a Dissertation Really Be a Trip?
Packing Your Bags
Enjoyment
Doability
Competence
Agency
Support
Our Guarantees
Your Travel Agents
How to Use This Guide
ch. Two The Journey before You: 29 Steps
Our Timetable
Yeah, But
ch. Three Planning the Trip: The Conceptual Conversation
Selecting and Orienting a Partner
Asking and Answering Questions
Identifying Key Pieces
ch. Four Developing Your Itinerary: The Preproposal
Naming the Problem
Formulating Your Research Question
Criteria for a Good Research Question
Multiple Research Questions
Selecting Your Data
Identifying Your Method of Data Collection
Identifying Your Method of Data Analysis
Identifying the Literature to Review
Identifying the Significance of Your Study
Identifying Your Chapters
Writing Your Preproposal
Assessing Your Decisions
Contents note continued: Committing to the Preproposal with Your Advisor
ch. Five Advice from Other Travelers: The Literature Review
Coding Your Literature
Keyboarding Method
Photocopying Method
Cutting Apart Your Codes
Sorting Your Codes
Checking Your Piles
Creating Your Conceptual Schema
Writing It Up
ch. Six Getting There: The Dissertation Proposal
Introduction
Research Question
Definition of Terms
Literature Review
Research Design
Data
History or Context
Procedures
Assumptions or Theoretical Framework
Significance of the Study
Outline of the Study
Approval of the Proposal
ch. Seven Things to See and Do: Data Collection and Analysis
Collecting Your Data
Creating Codable Data
Identifying Your Unit of Analysis
Coding Your Data
Checking Your Codes
Creating Your Explanatory Schema
Getting Inspiration for Your Explanatory Schema
Talking Out Loud
Contents note continued: Random Stimulation
Shifting Focus
Aristotle's Topics
Reversing
Framing
Assessing Your Explanatory Schema
ch. Eight Making the Most of Your Travels: The Last Chapter Plus
Summary
Interpretation of Findings
Limitations
Suggestions for Future Research
Three-Article Format
Finishing Up
ch. Nine Useful Phrases: Writing and Editing
Fast Writing
Switching Off the Screen
Making Notes to Yourself
Writing with Headings
Skipping Around
Getting Unstuck
Slow Revising
Editing
Proofreading
ch. Ten Travelogue: The Dissertation Defense
Preparing for Your Defense
The Defense Itself
The Opening
The Questions
Your Answers
The Closing
Following Your Defense
ch. Eleven Making the Best Use of Your Guide: Advisor Advising
Asking Appropriately
Agreeing on a Vision
Expectations about Roles
Expectations about Advising
Expectations about Dissertations
Contents note continued: Articulating Needs
Conceptual Conversation
Ground Rules
Information about the Dissertation Process
Information about Research and Writing
Information about the Dissertation Defense
Enacting Professionalism
Assessing Your Relationship
Understanding Your Advisor's Perspective
Framing Issues Collaboratively
Protecting Your Advisor's Face
Planning for Action
Applying Productive Chicanery
Performing Completion
Asking for Help from a Mediator
Adding a Coadvisor
Switching Advisors
ch. Twelve Avoiding Delays and Annoyances: Enacting the Scholar Role
Incomplete-Scholar Roles
Housekeeper
Model Employee
Undocumented Worker
Patient
Good Student
Proxy Critic
Executor
Maverick
Enacting the Scholar Role: Writing Regularly
Writing on a Schedule
Focusing on Successes.

Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation is a handbook that helps students successfully complete their dissertations. It uses a metaphor of travel to frame the dissertation process as an exciting trip of twenty-nine steps that can be completed in less than nine months. Designed for use by students in all disciplines and for both quantitative and qualitative dissertations, the book shows concrete and efficient processes for completing those parts of the dissertation where students tend to get stuck: conceptualizing a topic, developing a pre-proposal, writing a literature review, writing a proposal, collecting and analyzing data, and writing the last chapter.

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442246140/Destination-Dissertation-A-Travelers-Guide-to-a-Done-Dissertation-Second-Edition