April 28, 2006
- How to accept feedback more gracefully.
Ask yourself: What’s the absolute worst feedback I could receive on my work? (Remember, keep this work focused rather than self-centered. Meaning- make the answer about your work, not about yourself.) For example: My argument is really weak and you can tell I haven’t read all that I need to read. NOT: My argument is really [...]
April 26, 2006
- How to give valuable feedback to your peers.
Keep it constructive. As a graduate student, there may be times where you need to provide feedback to a peer. If you are in this situation, be sure to keep it constructive. Speak in terms of what you’d like to see more of, learn more of, rather than focusing on what is missing. Be honest, [...]
March 10, 2006
- You choose how you feel..
You choose how you experience your dissertation process. Only you. What this means? That you decide if you are suffering through it, or whether you are enjoying your way through it. You decide if you feel anxious and overwhelmed, or not. You get to choose. And, at any time, you can choose something else.
That [...]
January 30, 2006
- Build in regular feedback.
In order to make sure you’re on the right path to finish the dissertation as quickly as possible, be sure to elicit and accept regular feedback. You can get regular feedback from your advisor, writing group, a spouse, friend, or colleague. The important thing is to actually seek it out. It’s too easy to become [...]
November 1, 2005
- Your own feedback counts, too.
When working on the dissertation, it’s easy to get caught up in the feedback you get from other people. You continually assess if your topic is rigorous enough, your study well executed enough, and your results definitive enough. Some of this assessment is vital- you need a certain kind of research to successfully complete your [...]
October 13, 2005
- Clarify now or later?
When receiving feedback on your dissertation, it’s important to clarify, especially near the end of the process, whether the feedback is crucial to successfully defend, or, instead, represents input necessary to turn your dissertation into a book manuscript or publishable article. While this question seems self-evident, you’d be surprised at how many students get feedback, [...]
August 17, 2005
- Feedback doesn’t mean your work is horrible.
It seems to be a misconception among dissertators that receiving feedback means your work is horrible. Yes, of course, when you’ve put your heart, and sweat, and tears into a project and then get it returned to you with red marks and question marks, you’re bound to feel a bit dejected. However (and this is [...]
December 7, 2004
- Get Feedback often.
Practice getting feedback often- it wonât be so shocking and upsetting. Often, graduate students complete large sections of work before turning these in for feedback or comments. This, unfortunately, can lead to a vicious cycle of delaying feedback, feeling badly when you get it, and then delaying feedback further. If you can find a way [...]
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). [...]