March 03, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part XII
Tip #12: Draft the proposal as quickly as you can. Then sit on it for a few days.
This is a good tip for any part of the dissertation. Always aim to draft as quickly as you can, and then take a break for a few days before revising/editing. This will keep your progress steady and your interest at peak levels.
Nothing becomes harder to finish than a paper you never stop working on.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 01, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part XI
Tip #11: Remember to restate and repeat.
Your proposal should begin with a statement of what you propose, should follow with relevant examples, and research, and should end with a restatement of your objectives.
This form of tell, re-tell is one key component of scholarly writing.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 03:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part X
Tip #10: Make your proposal easy to read.
Focus on making your proposal easy to read and easy to follow. Focus mainly on your conceptual creativity, your methodological rigor, and important, useful content.
Keep your writing style clear, direct, and straightforward. Avoid being verbose, pompous, or unnecessarily complex. Remember, the hallmarks of an expert scholar are that they can make even the most complex subjects easier to understand.
Demonstrate your expertise.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part IX
Tip #9: Use short, relevant examples.
Examples should illustrate your view point. Build the main points of your argument and then focus on supporting details and facts to bolster them. Be clear and definite. Avoid being abstract, "kitchen sinking" or using too many obscure references.
Good examples are clear examples.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 22, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part VIII
Tip #8: Outline your methodology.
Good methodology means that you have selected the best method to answer your primary research question. The choice of best method will vary by discipline. Methodology refers to the process of collecting, evaluating, and analyzing information to answer your research question.
For qualitative work, you may need to define your personal methodology for evaluating information as this is likely to have an impact on how you perceive, report, and explain the data. The reader should understand, in general, your background and experiences which lead you to treat the data as you do. Remember, research must be replicable (or at least understandable) by other people.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 20, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part VII
Tip #7: Pick the best and most relevant citations.
A good rule of thumb is to pick the most relevant 3-5 citations for every main point. Relevancy is defined as being some combination of coming from a primary text, being published in an well respected journal and/or being presented by a well respected researcher. You don't need to find 100 citations saying the same thing. Pick the best ones to focus on in your proposal.
This is especially critical if you must write a pre-proposal, as these are normally shorter (20-25 pages) and lay out the foundation for the full proposal. Be sure to focus on the most relevant research to adequately persuade the reader.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 17, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part VI
Tip #6: Be comfortable with "selling" your ideas.
"Selling" is a bad word in academic circles. But we use it as a quick way of saying "persuading". Your entire proposal (and dissertation) is, essentially, one long persuasive paper.
You are trying to present facts and information to persuade the reader to adopt your viewpoint. Remember this. You don't have to be fair in presenting all the sources. You have to be persuasive. Sometimes, there is a difference.
Be able to "sell" your topic in your proposal. Be able to "sell" your research methodology. You have to believe in it, and understand it, and articulate it in order to get others to accept and approve of it.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 15, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part V
Tip #5: Develop a plan for research.
You should have at least a basic idea of your question and how you will study it. Try to keep your research as simple as possible. While you want to impress with your knowledge and overly complex research designs, simple is better.
Why? Because if you propose a very complex research design and it doesn't work out (which you won't know until you try it), you may have to scrap the whole project and start over. (Bad outcome)
So, from the beginning, construct a clean, simple, DOABLE research plan. This will minimize the chances of having to start over.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 13, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part IV
Tip #4: Identify your current scholarly position.
In any research project, there will be voices for and against your scholarly position. This is expected. It is easier to 'combat' these voices when you are clear on what your scholarly position is.
More simply: what do YOU believe about the topic, and why? Who agrees with you? Who disagrees with you? Why?
Knowing your own position before you begin will diminish the intensity of feeling confused in the process..... Not that it won't happen, but it probably won't be as bad.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part III
Tip #3: Consider your past work as a base for the proposal.
What other writing, analysis, or research have you completed which you could apply to this proposal? The easiest proposals to work on are those which come from earlier work. If you haven't looked recently, go back through your comps questions and completed papers to see if there is any work on which you can base your proposal and build from.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 08, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part II
Tip #2: Find an angle to engage your advisor (and future readers). You might begin with a thoughtful question, a relevant anecdote, or a bold statement. Be sure to outline the intellectual problems and include a concise statement of why this problem is important to study here and now. Be sure to link your reasoning to intellectual scholarship and, where appropriate, to also include practical application.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 06, 2006
Tips for the Proposal Part I
The proposal is probably the most difficult part of writing the dissertation. The next few entries will contain tips to, hopefully, make it easier.
Tip #1: Get clear on your project focus, topic, and relevancy. Place your topic within current literature and research.
Spend some time outlining your project's main focus, purpose, and contextual relevancy.
Be clear on what you want to study and why it is important. Be able to articulate how your project will add to existing knowledge. Be able to explain how your projects fits within the current research and literature climate.
Remember, you came to this topic for a reason. Be clear on what those reasons were before committing yourself to this topic.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 01:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 18, 2005
Steps to take in developing the proposal.
Today's entry comes from a question asked by a website visitor. The visitor asked:
"I'm a first year doctoral student and having trouble deciding on my dissertation topic. Can you help?"
And I answered:
It may be a bit early to be worrying about a dissertation topic since you are just in your first year of graduate school. You might not have a topic in mind yet, because you haven't started really studying your field in depth. That being said, though, a good way to decide on a topic:
1) Notice what areas really interest you
2) Read some dissertations that relate to your interests
2) Look for holes or gaps in the current knowledge in those areas (these are usually outlined in the "future research sections" of completed dissertations).
3) Consider if the holes/gaps would be worth studying
4) Find possible advisors/faculty members who can guide you exploring your ideas
5) Narrow your topic to a few possible ideas
6) Discuss with your advisor/mentor
....and proceed from there.
He found this advice helpful, and I thought you might, too!
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 25, 2005
Test your idea in a short paper.
When developing your research ideas for the proposal, it's a solid first step to write about 5-10 pages on your proposed topic. Share this with your advisors/mentors/colleagues and get feedback on your ideas. This 5-10 page paper can then be expanded to fit the requirements of pre-dissertation doctoral essay or prospectus (requirements differ by school).
The 5-10 pages moves you to solidify your ideas more coherently and allows the reader to get a sense of where you are and where you're going. The slightly longer format allows the reader to understand the story and your thought process in a way that presenting an outline or presenting your ideas verbally does not provide.
If you can't write a 5-10 page paper on your ideas, this might not be the dissertation topic for you. Best to know this early, wouldn't you say?
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 29, 2005
Writing the Introduction.
I suggest that all ABD's write their introductions last (or close to it). A good way to think about it is this:
After you've written all your substantive chapters, then I would read the whole dissertation and figure out what information you'd need to include before the first chapter to provide the reader enough background to understand the rest of your dissertation in context. Assume that the reader has a moderate amount of knowledge about your topic, but needs a bit of framing/information to get the best value from reading your dissertation.
Your introduction would include information that would help the reader understand the major issues underlying your dissertation research, and whatever she/he needs to know to understand the context within which your dissertation is written.
My dissertation was on the personality correlates of marital satisfaction- so my introduction dealt with the general underpinings of marital satisfaction- what it was, who was studying it, why we should care- before moving into the more focused literature review about specifically what I was studying in my dissertation.
The introduction is usually not too long about 1/2 to 3/4ths as long as your regular chapters.
Another good suggestion is to read other dissertations in your topic and see how they handled the introduction. If you read 2-3 other dissertations, you'll have a great sense of what to include in your specific case.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 05:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 07, 2005
Building the proposal is similar to building a house. Part II
After you've figured out what the dissertation will show, you're ready for step two:
Working backwards, list what types of research methodology would support your desired outcomes. Be sure to keep in mind your limitations- time, resources, etc. There's no use in designing a complex study and then not being able to collect enough data on it.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 01, 2005
Make the methodology fit the research question.
It might sound beyond obvious, but you need to make certain that your methodology "fits" your research question. By "fits", I mean you need to make sure that your methodology will answer your research question. This came up today because I spoke with a dissertator who had just finished up her full proposal- but then found out that her methodology wouldn't actually answer her research question.
A good mechanism for checking this is to work backwards. Start with what you want to know or find out, and then work backwards to understand what pieces of data you'd need to collect to answer these questions. Once you've figured out what pieces of data you need, work backwards to find instruments/techniques [methodologies] that will allow you to collect these types of data.
Sounds simple (hopefully not simplistic) and yet this still can be a stumbling block. Make sure your methodology will answer the research question.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 06:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2005
Building the proposal is similar to building a house. Part I
One analogy I often use when coaching clients to develop the proposal is that of building a house. The proposal represents the foundation or "frame" of the house, and, as such, needs to provide a sturdy foundation for the upper floors (data collection, analysis, reporting). Often, many dissertators try to write the first three chapters in order- chapter one, chapter two, chapter three. I don't recommend this.
The first place to start is to think about what your finished (dissertation) will look like. What will the dissertation show? How will it add to existing literature?
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 02:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 15, 2005
Beginning plus end equals middle.
When you are developing your proposal, it's a good strategy to figure out the introduction and methodology first, and then use this information to refine the literature review.
Some graduate students work on the proposal in order- introduction first, then literature review, then methodology. Some work in reverse order- starting with the methodology and then literature review and then introduction.
What I recommend is that you start with a general outline of the introduction, jump ahead to methodology, and then use these two chapters as "bookends" to support the middle (the literature review). Remember, the literature review is meant to be an overview or survey of the issues surrounding your study/approach. Can you see that it would be easier to see out relevant literature when you've figured out your approach, first?
Working on the introduction, methodology, and literature review can help you avoid numerous additional research trips, can help refine your literature search efforts, and can help your entire proposal process come together much more quickly. Try it and see.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 10:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
The proposal might be the toughest part.
If you're in the midst of developing your dissertation proposal and are finding it difficult- know that you're not alone- the proposal process seems to be the toughest part.
As you know, I believe that most dissertations can be completed in a year or less- with a majority of that year taken up by developing the proposal and another significant segment of time given over to data collection. On average, most of my clients have taken between 2-3 months to develop the proposal question and to write some portion of it. Generally, the time from idea to three chapters (a 'standard' proposal length) takes about 4-6 months. After this, data collection takes another 2-3 months, and the rest of the time is given over to writing.
So if you're in the midst of working on your proposal, know that it is the toughest part, and the process will get easier from here. Stay tuned for more ideas on how to develop your dissertation topic and methodology in upcoming entries.
Posted by Dr. Rachna D. Jain at 04:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack