Practical strategies for writing the thesis or dissertation

1. Practical strategies for writing the thesis or dissertation A workshop based significantly on what I’ve learned from the master, Dorothy Duff Brown (http://www.asgs.org/ConsDetl.html#DDBrown)

2. The plan: • Beginning the writing process • Structuring the thesis or dissertation • Organizing the material realities of the writing process • Time management • Knowing when to stop writing • Writing clearly for an academic audience • Communicating with advisors and committees • Setting up support structures for writing

3. Attitudes toward your writing • Writing as a very personal, frequently vulnerable thing. • At the same time, a very public thing, and in this case something that must be evaluated. • So: striking a balance between writing sincerely and resisting taking feedback as a comment on you as a person. • Relocating the writing outside you - and, thus, as something that can be worked on. • Writing mindfully, with moderation.

4. Some graphs : Hypomania. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 171

5. Some graphs : Binging. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 172

6. Some graphs : Creativity. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 173

7. Some graphs : Depression. (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 174

8. Taking a view: • See the thesis or dissertation as: • A whole • Manageable • A serious work, but also an experiment • Something that you are doing, but that does not encompass everything that you are. • Something you can make decisions about now, not later (title, length, number of chapters, etc)

9. Beginning the writing process • Hold your writing in mind while you do research. • Read, perform labs, etc, with a view toward how the work you’re doing will fit into your thesis or dissertation. • Take notes that include your opinion/ thoughts: what you’re thinking “for now” about your findings: have a charge. • Use the tone in these notes that you will use in the thesis/dissertation itself: Calm, reasonable, measured, ample, not cryptic.

10. Structuring the thesis or dissertation • Come up with a working title. Right now. • Try out a cognitive map of the dissertation • How many pages will this be? • How many chapters will you include? • Formulate a Table of Contents (not an outline) • What are the institutional guidelines for formatting? (put the MS in this format soon)

11. Organizing the material realities of the writing process • You must back up your files. Really. Otherwise, some suggested tactics: • the binder mock-up of the whole manuscript. • the box marked “archive” • develop a system for knowing when you’ve responded to comments • go ahead and print drafts out. • regard the computer as a tool for production, not organization.

12. Time management • Since you will not get everything done, consider what has to be done. Not everything is as important as everything else. • Managing guilt, more than time. • 80/20 rule • Aim for concentrated, productive, short time in writing

13. Further time management • Planning ahead • 45 minute units • Project weeks • Stop time for any given day • When your week starts • Taking a day off, as entitlement not reward

14. “Brief, Daily Sessions” (Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members 144)

15. Knowing when to stop or pause • Is your procrastination telling you something important about form or missing content? • Check in with self, faculty: given clear goals for a given piece of writing, how close are you to meeting them? • “In this piece of writing, I hope to show __________”

16. Writing clearly for an academic audience • Academic writing as genre, tool: something to master and use. Not the “best” kind of writing. • Discipline-specific! Learn what makes sense in your genre, and write to that. • Through-line: does each part of the writing speak to your overall purpose? • Would a reader be able to say what you mean to do at each point in the piece?

17. Pre-writing, writing, revision • Freewriting • Notecarding • Colour-coding and re-mapping • Not too tight, not too loose • Respond to feedback and also hold your ground • Understand revision and pre-writing as just as significant as writing.

18. Communicating with advisors and committees • Faculty feedback = valuable commodity. Brief them well. • The memo cover-letter: always include, on paper: • Dear Dr. _________ • Here is “…” (V. specific: # pages, what they do, what stage of draft they are at, where they fit into the whole project.) • What its core argument is. • Specific guidelines for feedback you want. • If this is the end: Ask “Is this something you can sign off on?” explicitly.

19. Setting up support structures for writing • Prepare your friends/ lovers/ family/ spouse/ children for your writing process • Structure your material and psychic realities according to what actually works for you. • Consider forming a small, manageable, functional, trustworthy writing group. • Submit work to conferences and journals, at whatever stage you’re at - singly or in collaboration with a more senior scholar.

20. Useful books • Annie Lamott Bird by bird • Robert Boice Advice for New Faculty Members • Natalie Goldberg Writing Down the Bones • John Douillard Body, Mind, and Sport • Becker, Howard S. with a chapter by Pamela Richards. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article • Bolker, Joan. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis.

21. Some useful links • http://www.english.ucsb.edu/grad/2nd-exam-resources/dissertation_links.asp • http://www.gradschool.umd.edu/grrd/workshops/docs/070316_DissRoundtable_Article.pdf • http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/dissertation.html • http://www.msu.edu/user/gradschl/all/gpsurvive.pdf • http://dissertationdiva.typepad.com/ • http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/econ/resources/links.html