Successful Academic Newsletter

Stuck?

If you are either facing an impasse in your research and writing–or facing a life crisis–please take the time to read the suggestions I’ve given Badger. Some of her complaints may resonate with your own situation.

Here is her list of complaints:

I’m not going to finish my dissertation this year.
One of my committee members is retiring.
I think this dissertation will be a great book, but I’m not sure it will get me a job.
I seem to be writing primarily about dead white guys.
The head of my department claims she was able to write her dissertation even though she was caring for her dying father.
One of my chapters requires watching films that no one here in the US has copies of. DVD release has been perpetually “forthcoming.”
Several of my chapters require travel to libraries and archives far, far away.
I’m not sure how I can swing travel and research right now … or in the near future.

Please feel free to make comments in response on my blog.

Read the whole blog

Aim For Reasonable Goals

On Monday, I posted a blog entry in reply to some concerns expressed by “Badger”, an ABD whose husband has a terminal illness. Understandably, her dissertation has been on hold and one of her concerns is that she won’t finish the dissertation within the next year.

My response to her discouragement about finishing her dissertation inspired the topic of this newsletter: How high should we aim?

I’m very opinionated about how we should approach our work when we’re stymied, stuck, sidetracked, or at any time life intervenes causing our projects take much longer than we anticipate.

There is a general tendency, when we’re spending more time on a project than we think we “should”, to try to make the product of our research a masterwork rather than a serviceable contribution.

“The longer it takes me, the better it should be,” seems to be our misguided mantra.

Instead, whether the factors causing the delay are external life crises, or internal self-doubt and resultant procrastination, I believe that the phrase we repeat to ourselves should be something like “the longer it’s taking, the less ambitious my goals should be.”

In my opinion, for example, there are only two types of dissertations that should be attempted: the marketable career builder (MCB) or the smallest defendable thesis (SDT).

A Marketable Career Builder (MCB) is what you should be writing if you want to go into academia and get a tenure track job. It is a discrete, manageable topic that you should be able to complete in a reasonable amount of time. It is NOT the final word on your topic, a groundbreaking contribution to your field, or a manuscript that can be sent to a publisher as soon as you defend. Trying to write a stellar, brilliant dissertation is a recipe for perfectionism. And, of course, perfectionism is the ally of procrastination. So, if you are an ABD who wants to be a professor, keep your goals modest, and save it for the book.

Ah, but if you don’t want to practice in the guild – if you now know that you don’t want to go into academia – then instead of an MCB you should be writing a Smallest Defendable Thesis (SDT.) This is also the type of dissertation you should aim for if you have been an ABD for years, if you have a horrible advisor, or if external life events are disrupting your work in significant ways. By the way, if you have a nasty dissertation chair, or an obstreperous committee member then your mantra should be “Don’t Get Angry. Get Finished.”

I often work with students who, for one reason or another, have been struggling for a long time. “Aim for an SDT,” I advise. “Get it done and move on with your life. You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: The Best Dissertation is a Done Dissertation.”