Sunday, July 31, 2005

Social Process of Dissertating

At age 34, I thought creating my own structure to work on writing a book would be relatively easy. I mean, I was a successful director of a small student affairs department at Large Urban Research University-Southeast, if I may toot my own horn. I know how to focus, get work done, and then share the results with necessary constituents. However, finding the structure to work on a topic that itself does not yet have a lot of structure is proving to be more difficult than I imagined. My advisor suggested I get together with another extravert on a regular basis to discuss progress, topics, etc. She knows full well about my need to think out loud.

Her suggestion was a helpful one. I've started regular meetings with Colleague, a fellow fourth-year doctoral student with the same advisor. Of course the meetings take place at Favorite Internet Cafe (FIC?) in SCT. Food intake is an essential part of these meetings (of course), along with endless cups o' java.

My goal for Tuesday is to show Colleague the reading list I've completed and another list I aim to read soon, all organized around topical themes. Hopefully these themes will grow into a structure for the literature review chapter. Her goal is to show me a draft of a survey she's creating as part of her dissertation. She'll collect data this fall, while I'll collect (Lord willing) in the spring.

I'm glad to have finally found a direction in my work and a colleague with a similar way of thinking (all entirely out loud!). Everyone says the dissertation stage is an individual process. I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. While the physical act of writing is individual, the process of getting to the writing stage can be very social, indeed!

Cal me a relieved extravert in this realization.

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