October 18, 2006
- What’s Your Contribution to the Chaos?
I’ve heard from a few of you over this past week-and several of you have been noting that dealing with your advisor is chaotic and stressful.
From complaints of “s/he doesn’t return my emails” and “s/he doesn’t seem to read what I send” to “s/he won’t let me sent a defense date”– all these issues would make dealing with your advisors chaotic and stressful.
January 16, 2006
- Different advisors, different dissertations.
Realize that each advisor will have different standards for an acceptable dissertation. If you want to know your advisorâs preferred approach, ask him or her. Also read through and study other dissertations he or she has chaired.
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May 6, 2005
- When your advisor doesn’t get back to you…
Ok- so you’ve (finally!) turned some work in and you’re waiting to hear back. How long should you wait? And what do you do if your advisor doesn’t get back to you? First, don’t panic. Second, don’t assume this means something negative about your work. It’s more likely that your advisor is busy and just [...]
February 8, 2005
- Identifying Unresolved Conflicts.
When working with my ABD clients who have suddenly stopped progressing, we always start by looking at the circumstances surrounding the derailment. In more than 90 percent of the cases, the derailment can be directly related to a negative comment or feeling of frustration/conflict with an advisor or peer. Many times, ABD’s don’t even recognize [...]
February 3, 2005
- Make sure your advisor agrees to your timeline.
When you are planning out your interim completion dates for each part of the dissertation, be certain to communicate your timeline and expected completion dates to your advisor, and be sure to obtain his/her assent with your plans. Making sure that your advisor is "on board" with your timeline gives you both a concrete platform [...]
December 15, 2004
- Clarify now or later?
Often, ABD’s feel frustrated in their attempts to work with their advisors, especially when the advisor suggests major revisions and then, once these are completed, has the student take out all the revisions and go back to the original version. Experiences like this are frustrating and challenging. When your advisor suggests revisions, especially in the [...]
December 10, 2004
- Regularly stay in touch with your advisor.
One of the best ways to keep making progress on the dissertation while managing your anxiety about finishing is to stay in touch regularly with your advisor and committee members. By making the effort to stay in touch with them on a consistent basis, you build in inherent support and structure for making regular progress [...]
November 4, 2004
- Choosing the Right Advisor
If you are in the enviable position of having the capability to choose your advisor, here are some ideas to consider when doing so: 1) Select someone who you work well with or believe you will work well with. Choosing a distant or "scary" advisor will not aid your process. 2) Ask other students for [...]
November 2, 2004
- What do you do with criticism?
Today, I found out that someone had said some unkind (and untrue) comments about me to another person. This upset me, and required that I find a way to deal with this, fast, so that it wouldn’t take over my whole day and ruin it (especially because the day has been really nice so far). [...]
October 28, 2004
- Working Most Effectively with your Advisor
If you’re just beginning to form your dissertation committee, the best piece of advice I can offer is to select an advisor that you can work well with. This means someone who is open, available, communicative, and wants to help you finish. If this is not possible, for whatever reason, here are some tips to [...]
October 12, 2004
- When your Advisor is holding you up…
I get asked, pretty often, about how to approach advisors who don’t seem to be on board with helping you finish. Here are some ideas to keep your dissertation process on track: 1) Consider asking your chair directly if s/he is on board with you to finish up by ‘X" date. Find out what s/he [...]