10 Mistakes You Should Avoid to Make Your Dissertation Perfect

 

Does anyone put out to compose a bad dissertation? It hardly seems possible. Most of us likely begin our doctoral programs convinced that the ideas we set forth in our dissertations will alter the face of our disciplines forever! But after years spent studying countless doctoral dissertations--as a grad student, then as a professor, and now as an expert dissertation editor and mentor --I can not help but watch: You will find a lot of poor dissertations on the market!

 

Really great dissertations are pretty infrequent. So I am not sure I could promise to tell you precisely how to make your dissertation great. However, I've discovered that there are some common threads that run through the majority of the lousy dissertations I've read. I thought I could share with you some of what I've learned by studying bad doctoral dissertations. That way, if you'd like to write a bad dissertation of your own, you would know how to go about doing this. Or even better, if you want to compose a good dissertation of your own, you'd have some notion of common pitfalls.

 

Listed below are ten common mistakes you should avoid if you'd like your dissertation to become worthwhile.

 

1. Surround yourself with like-minded people.

We all like to be right. And what better way to convince yourself you are right than simply being surrounded by those who agree with you? When selecting a doctoral program, it's wise to gravitate toward schools, departments, and faculty who share our perspectives --liberal or conservative, this methodology or one, a particular school of thought or outlook or strategy. The fantastic news is that, if you figure out how to surround yourself with people who think like you do, then you are going to encounter little resistance as you write. The bad news is that, when you have finished composing, your study will be much less inclined to resist a serious challenge, since you've not had to grapple with conflicting points of view on the way. In a nutshell, the serious challenge has a way of forging strong disagreements, and the lack of it's a way of making thought go soft. Do yourself a favor: Seek out an environment that will provide a challenge while you're writing, and you'll find that your dissertation is much better prepared for the challenges it will face when UMI makes it accessible to the whole world that exists beyond your university.

 

2. Choose a topic that is only of interest to you.

To put it differently, part of the method of learning is understanding just how much we still need to learn! When we set out to compose our dissertations, we're like freshmen beginning in college --we do not yet know just how much we do not know since we've not had the chance to explore fully what we have done. At this early stage of the dissertation project, it is likely to convince ourselves that a subject is fascinating when, in actuality, that subject is becoming passe because of the treatment it has already received; it's also feasible to get occupied with queries which are divorced from the real concerns in the field at present. Two of the best sources for ensuring that your dissertation topic is relevant and rewarding are recent dissertations and present periodicals. Immerse yourself in these tools at the commencement of your job.

 

3. Maintain the scope of your study abroad and the phrases obscure.

Doctoral-level work demands an examination of a topic at great depth. And in this kind of research, the number one enemy of depth is breadth. An essential key to writing a good dissertation is to have a clear and precise focus on your job. Other interesting ideas will emerge across the way; resist them--for now. When you've completed your dissertation, you can return to all those other thoughts for the articles and books you will write in the next stage of your career.

 

4. Do not constrain your creativity using a summary.

For years, teachers are telling you how to outline your documents before you write. And for years you have likely been dismissing them. But here you are, starting your doctorate--obviously, it was information you didn't require! Dissertation writing differs. Planning ahead is the only way to make sure that your dissertation is going to be focused, well-structured, and clearly argued; it's also the only way to make sure that it will eventually end! A careful, comprehensive outline is indispensable. As a dissertation author, the outline is your yellow brick road!

 

5. Confine your bibliography to sources that support your point of view.

In contrast to the popular view, the purpose of a dissertation isn't to prove a pre-determined point; it is to study a worthwhile question. After all, if the answer can be determined before the research is even done, then what's the value of the work? In the end, a dissertation that disproves your initial hypothesis is equally as valuable to the academic community as one that proves you directly. What isn't precious at all is that a dissertation that is half-baked because it's only considered a few of the available evidence, arguments, and points of view. In the procedure, your ideas will mature. The final result will be a dissertation which has a far greater thickness --and credibility.

 

6. Presume that if it is not in English or even online, it should not be important.

Believe it or not, there is a reason for those language requirements which doctoral programs inflict on us. It's not merely that smart men and women speak more than one language! The purpose is to open the door to valuable literature that is available--but not in English. Determined by English alone usually means that a few kinds of literature (and ideas) will be entirely inaccessible to you, along with other literature that will be available only through the interpretation of a translator. It really is worth the effort to learn how to read the languages where your most important sources are composed. Without them, your study is faulty.

 

And read novels... and articles! As blessed as we are to have access to numerous resources on the world wide web, we can not forget that there is something printing resources have that entirely Web-based sources don't: gatekeepers. For a book or an article to appear in print, a person (typically a set of scholars in the field) has decided that it was worthwhile. They may not necessarily have agreed with its perspective, but they found that it met the standards of sound methodology, logical argumentation, and timeliness. On the Internet, anyone can publish anything anytime --which makes the caliber of internet sources dangerously irregular. Internet research is here to stay, and that's a fantastic thing. Be confident that Web-based sources don't constitute the bulk of your bibliography, or you could discover that you've left the mainstream before realizing it and resigned from several of the most important tools that are available to you.

 

7. Permit your assertions to stand by pressure, not by proof.

Spend hours listening to cable information and you might start to get the impression that the aim of the debate is to triumph, and the best way to win is to outshout the other hand! Being a geek by nature, I sometimes like to play little academic games once I watch T.V., and one of these is"count the fallacies" in the arguments that T.V. pundits create: ad hominem disagreements, red herrings, non-sequiturs--they sometimes result in entertaining T.V., but they never result in a solid argument. If your the dissertation will withstand serious critique and make a contribution to your area, every assertion must be warranted and every debate has to be fallacy-free.

 

8. Turn in your initial draft.

The revision process is about polishing your job. Weak arguments get strengthened, fuzzy thoughts become clarified, redundancies get removed, the language gets tightened. If you are like most doctors and, you're always rushing toward another deadline. When operating out of time, the easiest thing to cut is the revision process. Resist that temptation.

 

9. Don't bother with input from others.

You've probably had only a class or two in statistics; why not let a professional statistician assist you with the statistical portions of your work? You may not be confident of your APA formatting (or whatever style sheet you're using); why not allow a professional editor to evidence your text? What about just having someone in your department provide you with comments on the cogency of your arguments? There's nothing like a fresh pair of eyes to catch the things which you're too close to see. Staying well within the boundaries of academic ethics, don't be afraid to reach out to assistance with the facets of your work in which you're not a specialist, so the expertise you do have is presented as efficiently as possible.

 

10. Establish your point at all prices.

The practice of discovering that reality will be an important contribution to your field. Academic work is a process of discovery, and sometimes that means finding that our initial hypotheses were incorrect. The honest demonstration of the sound methodology leading one to that conclusion will be rewarding reading for your coworkers. Any effort to go around the reality will reveal prejudice --the single biggest threat to some rewarding dissertation. In academia, there is no failure where there's genuine learning. By comparison, there is nothing but failure when points are"demonstrated" by doctored results, ignored signs, faked methodologies provided after the research has actually been achieved, and forced arguments designed to cover up the facts and arrive at a preferred conclusion. You may begin your project with this confidence: If you carry out your research with integrity, follow a solid methodology, consider all important points of view, and report honestly what you find, then whatever conclusion you reach will be rewarding.