Archive for October, 2007

One Simple Question To Finish Your Doctoral Dissertation

I went to visit one of the professors on my doctoral committee after I passed my oral exam. According to the statistics I had read, 85% of doctoral students in the humanities, who reach the stage I had just reached, never finish their doctoral dissertations. After completing all course work and passing their exams, they become ABDs, which stands for “All But Dissertation.” Knowing this statistic, I wanted to ask my professor a question.

The question I asked was: “What do I need to know to write and finish my dissertation?” I knew that he was a street-smart scholar, in addition to being a prolific author, outstanding teacher, and brilliant scholar. I knew that he would have practical wisdom for me.

I will never forget his answer: “By the time people reach the point of writing a doctoral dissertation, they are smart enough, they know enough, and they work hard enough to finish. But everything they hear is: ‘You aren’t smart enough, you don’t know enough, you don’t work hard enough.’ And so they never finish because they think they can never do enough.”

After that brief conversation, I wrote on a 3×5 yellow index card: “What Is Enough?” I put that card on the wall in front of me, where I could see it any time I sat down to work on my dissertation.

I think that this simple question: “What Is Enough?” is the single most important reason why I was able to go from ABD to Ph.D.

As I worked on my dissertation, the question: “What Is Enough?” kept me on course. Whenever I realized that I had just spent two hours on some interesting bit of information, the question reminded me of my purpose. My purpose was to complete the dissertation, defend the dissertation, and finish my degree. When I asked the question I could evaluate whether the particular topic I was working on was relevant to my purpose. Sometimes it was. Sometimes it wasn’t. But simply asking the question reminded me that I was working toward a specific goal.

Scholars are driven by the word “more.” “More” is the enemy of completion. There is always more to know. One more article to read. One more book. One more expert to consult. The question: “What Is Enough?” cuts through this relentless quest after “more” to focus on the single task at hand.

Since I completed my own dissertation, I have offered this question to other scholars, and I now offer it to you. The question will keep you on track to finish your dissertation. It is especially valuable whenever you feel overwhelmed, focused, and off-track. If you wonder if you will ever be able to finish, ask yourself: “What Is Enough?” to finish.

When you are writing a doctoral dissertation, “What Is Enough?” means that you write a clear argument to prove a clear thesis. You don’t have to write everything you know on a topic. “Enough” means that you write enough to prove your case. You don’t have to write more than “enough.”

By Kalinda Rose Stevenson, Ph.D.

Nothing is more important to dissertation writing than a clear thesis. If you are unsure about your thesis, here’s a persuasive writing guide for you. My ebook, What’s Your Point? gives simple steps to get to your point.

Welcome

There are two types of writing.

• The first type is private writing. You write for yourself, for your own reasons.

This type of writing can be a journal, a letter to yourself, or anything else that you write just for yourself.

Private writing is not necessarily persuasive writing, unless you are writing to persuade yourself about some course of action.

• The second type of writing occurs when you write with the intention that someone else will read it. It can be as simple as a letter or as complex as a book or dissertation.

This type of writing is always intended to persuade in some way.

This blog is about writing to persuade, whether you are writing a love letter, a dissertation, or the non-fiction book you intend to get you on the New York Times bestseller list.

My goal is to provide simple, practical, immediately usable information about how to write to persuade.

Kalinda Rose Stevenson, Ph.D.