Demystifying the Defense

Tis the season to defend dissertations! Since a number of us are defending this semester, as Tara warmly pointed out, the group's been exchanging ideas and information on defense preparation and strategies, and were lucky enough to have Marc Redfield, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and Professor of English, come speak to us. (For previous posts on defense prep, check out the defense tag.)

Planning for your dissertation defense can be an anxious time, but it doesn't have to be the harrowing experience many of us build it up to be. The key, according to Prof. Redfield, is to approach the defense as the last chance to get some quality feedback on your work so you can file the strongest final dissertation draft possible--exploit the opportunity to your advantage.

Remember you're now the expert on your dissertation, so you're in a position to speak confidently about your work and its larger ramifications. At CGU, each school organizes its defenses a little differently, so make sure you speak with your dissertation chair about what's expected of you at each part of the defense. Typically, this is your opportunity to hold a meaningful conversation with your committee about the value of your work--relish it! It's not every day you can sit in a room and talk about your work with people who know about it and are interested in it! Prof. Redfield reminded us that if your dissertation chair allows you to schedule the defense, that's a clear sign that s/he believes it's defensible. At American universities, the defense may seem like a ritual, but you should prepare to speak about your work. This begins as simply as making sure you've read through your entire dissertation at least once. Another great tip is to attend someone else's defense, even if it's not in your field; the experience will help give you a better sense of how the process works. If your department is known for rigorous defenses, practice your presentation and try to set up a mock defense to help you prepare.


So what can you expect to happen the day of your defense?

Typically (and remember, each chair and department is different so make sure to talk to your chair!), the chair will introduce you and talk a little about your work, then you will be asked to talk about your work. At CGU, this ranges from a few minutes to a 20-25 minute presentation that gives an overview of your project. After this, comes the Q&A--possibly the most anxiety producing part of the defense. Your committee will ask you questions that will help you elaborate on points in your dissertation, and expand on what you chose to include or not, and why. As Prof. Redfield reminded us, at this point, it's appropriate to defend your work, and it's also appropriate to acknowledge any weaknesses. If you don't know, say so, don't pretend you do. It's ok to admit you don't know something but that you'll find out--that's how we learn and grow. This is also why it's appropriate to acknowledge a glitch you hadn't addressed--this is all part of the conversational exchange. At this point in the dissertation process, you should know what you set out to prove, what surprises you found along the way, and how your research differs from that of other scholars, so draw on these ideas as you weave together your responses.

Throughout the conversation, help yourself out by taking time with your responses. A good strategy is to write down the questions you're asked, and to ask for clarification on a question if you need it. Jotting down questions gives you the double advantage of helping you remember what was asked, and allows you to direct your responses as you move between questions. Your chair or committee members may also ask you what you'd change about your project if you had to do it over again, or what you're most pleased with, or consider your most original contribution to the subject.

Towards the end of the defense, your chair will ask you to address what future projects you envision developing out of your study. This is your chance to talk about the journal articles, conference papers, and books you have lined up or are planning. More importantly, this is the time to talk about how you plan to turn your dissertation into a publishable book, and get practical advice from the published scholars on your committee about how to best go about this.

That's the basic process! Once the committee confers in private, they'll then tell you whether or not you've passed. It's very rare that a dissertation is passed as it's submitted for the defense, so don't be surprised if your committee passes you with minor or major revisions. Once again, if you've gotten this far, it's because your chair thinks you're ready to defend. At CGU, we have a window of approximately two weeks after the last-most day to defend to file your final dissertation draft with the Registrar. Often, candidates have about 30 days after their actual defense date to file, so don't put off scheduling it!

Congratulations for finishing this milestone! We'll be calling you Dr. --- very soon!

***

Useful defense preparation tools:

"Defending Your Dissertation: Advice from a Doctoral Program Director and Journal Editor" by Mary Renck Jalongo, Ph.D.

"Perform Your Best at Your Orals" by Judith Schweiger Levy, Ph.D.
(aside: the ABD Survival Guide has lots of good tips for getting through the entire dissertation project)

Surviving Your Dissertation by Kjell Erik Rudestam and Rae R. Newton

The Portable Dissertation Advisor by Miles T. Bryant

Congratulations to Everyone Defending!

Just a quick note to send warm wishes and astonishingly astute thoughts to the members of our group defending their dissertations in the near, near future!

Marie - March 23
Tanya - March 25
Fay - March 25
Tara - March 26
Sandra - March 26
Aya - April 9

Just a note - even though defenses are open to the public, it's always considered polite form to ask the dissertator first if he or she would like the support. Some people would prefer a private or small defense, and others may have small rooms and large families. So if you're interested in attending a defense, just ask.

And if there is anyone else scheduled in the group, just send an e-mail.

Congratulations everyone!

Deadlines for Spring 2010 Graduation

Manuscript Deadlines

Several members of the Writing Center's Dissertation Workshop have their sights set on May graduation, which means defending in March / first few days of April. Depending on your discipline, you may have a much earlier deadline for the completed manuscript.

Did you know that some schools at CGU have official departmental manuscript deadlines for the dissertation, while others do not? (Everyone must make the final submission date to Edris, of course) If you don't know if your discipline has its own deadlines, talk to your department secretary or chair.

For example, manuscript deadlines for Spring 2010 graduation:

School of Arts and Humanities - no departmental manuscript deadline

School of Politics & Economics - full diss must be given to all committee members by February 1.

School of Religion - has a deadline for a style check. Religion students must submit a chapter to Betty Clements at the Claremont School of Theology approximately the same time, or at the end of the semester before they submit the complete preliminary draft to their committee (first day of the semester in which they plan to graduate). The style checker reads the sample chapter (fee $50) and sends a report to the committee chair and the chair of the School of Religion.

Defense Deadlines

February 19 - deadline to file Intent Form
March 22 - deadline to schedule defense for Spring degree
April 2 - deadline to defend for Spring degree
April 16 - final draft filing deadline


Is there a manuscript deadline for your school? If so, e-mail me and I'll add it to the list.

Tips from the Other Side: Margaret Finishes!

There may be days when it feels like you'll never finish...but someone in our group just has!

On July 6th, Margaret successfully defended her dissertation! As the most recent member of our group to pass the finish line, Margaret offered some sage advice about her experience.

Dr. Margaret MacKenzie

This included:

• BUY A DECENT PRINTER. The little aggravations, like having a crappy printer? They're not worth it. I invested in a laser printer...I bought it for $800 a few years ago, they probably sell for a lot less now. I got a Hewlett Packard 3005 Business Printer. Prints 5000 pages on one ink cartridge. It's high volume - you can print up lots and lots and lots of pages and it lasts forever. (Tanya also bought a printer specifically for her dissertation). I printed 1,200 pages at home, which was was cheaper than going to Kinko's. You can get some printers that have the photocopying function as well.

• MAKE IT AS EASY AS POSSIBLE FOR YOUR COMMITTEE MEMBERS. I printed every chapter out all over again before giving it out to my committee members one final time before the defense. I binder-clipped individual chapters, and then gathered all the binder-clipped chapters together in one expandable file folder (since the whole thing is too big to staple). It was 326 pages long. I went to Staples, put each professor's name on a label sticker and put the labels on the folders, then put the folders in their mailboxes. The professors later thanked me for giving them their own binder-clipped copies. Ideally, I'd put these in their boxes 2-3 weeks before the defense.
  
  On the day of the defense, I brought Some Crust cookies and cold bottles of water for my committee. If my defense had been in the morning, I would have brought coffee.
  
  
• PRACTICE YOUR PRESENTATION. I slept the night before my defense, no problem, because I knew I was prepared. My committee chair had suggested, "PowerPoint is quite useful at this stage," so I put together a PowerPoint presentation and practiced it twice a day, every day. I don't know if that's typical for other defenses, but I made 60 slides and used them as notes / outlines for myself as I talked. The defense was at noon, so I set up my breakfast preparations the night before.
  
  
• DRESS AHEAD. My defense was in McManus 31, a basement classroom, right after the 4th of July, so I knew the room would probably be warm because CGU turns off the air during holidays. So I wore layers. I dressed dressy casual (dress pants, sweater top, short sleeves), hair back. I get warm when I'm embarrassed, so I wanted short sleeves.
  
  
• KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. In my department, they announce the defenses to the whole listserve and invite everyone, so a totally random person came. But that was good - I could explain more basic material to her, and she didn't ask questions (although she could have). My defense lasted about 90 minutes. I got in there half an hour early to set up with AV - the secretary of my department reserved the room and AV.
  

• BRING FORMS. The secretary had taken care of the official form, but had asked me to bring the title page and signature page to get them to sign then and there. It's good to remind them to sign it at the end, because they often pack up and leave soon afterwards. And who wants to track them down later?
  
  
• THANK EVERYONE BEFORE YOU START. Thank them, then introduce everyone before you start.
  
  
• GET EDRIS TO OKAY ONE COPY BEFORE YOU MAKE THE OTHERS. I took Stephanie's advice (Stephanie McKinney, recent CGU Ph.D. in History who came and talked to our group) and only took 1 copy in to Edris. Then, only after it cleared with Edris, did I go and make the other copies.

Congratulations, Margaret! Tullach Ard!

(the MacKenzie war cry)

Curious about Margaret's dissertation? She kindly made an extra copy for the Writing Center's library. Stop on by and take a gander at it!

Edris Stuebner: Submitting Your Dissertation Q + A

Thanks to Bennett for the ultimate organized procrastinator supplies

During our last meeting, we invited Edris Stuebner, Assistant Registrar, to come and talk about the nitty gritty details of submitting your dissertation for final approval.

You may think that this is a step that is in a galaxy far, far away from where you are right now, but having this information at the beginning of the process can be really useful and help you to avoid last minute craziness at the end.

Without further ado....

Edris can be your beacon of hope to help you to the finish line!

Notes from Edris

How long does it take students to go through the whole Ph.D. process at CGU?

4 years is about the quickest I've seen a student go through the entire Ph.D. process....the longest has been 20 years.

What types of things do you do at CGU?

I order the diplomas, check to make sure you've got all your units and reached all your milestones, take the dissertation, and put your name in the convocation program.

I have an open door policy and I'm happy to talk to anyone.

Do you read all those dissertations that come in?

No. I check margins, pagination. I even had a case where a student spelled his own name wrong. Simple things can be missed, so that's why my eyes are there before it gets too far.

How many copies do we need? What are they for?

You make 1 original, with original signatures, and 1 copy.

I sent a copy to the library, then release one to Ann Arbor. It takes 7 months to process that copy into ProQuest.

Some day, this whole process will be electronic. But for now, you need these copies. Ann Arbor will go through it all again and check it. The most common problem they find is a missing page. So please, check pagination.

I will count your pages.

I send the original back to the library, then send it out for binding, then they put one copy in archives. If someone steals a copy off the shelves, they'll make a copy from the original.

That's the reason for the 2 copies.

What's the deal with the margins? What size should they be?

The binding is 1 and 1/2 inches on the left. I get 1 and 1/4 from students lots of times. I don't know why. They'll swear that their computer program was set to 1 and 1/2, but when you measure it with a ruler, it comes out to 1 and 1/4.

This is especially important for appendices.

Tables - remember, you don't want your table chewed up in the margin. You can reduce it to make it fit or have a foldout.

Can I use color?

Absolutely. It looks beautiful. Color graphs, color photographs.

What font should I use? What font size?

Type: At least 10 point, 12 is better. Times New Roman is best.

What about justifying the text?

Justified left, not necessarily the right.

What about running headers?

Running headers are okay.

How should I do the page numbers?

50% of all dissertations that I take in have the pagination wrong, usually in the first part. Look at page 3 of the handout.

Small Roman numbers look like this: i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii. They go on the Acknowledgements (optional), Preface (optional), Table of Contents, and Table of Figures (optional).

Arabic numbers look like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. They begin on the Introduction (optional) or Chapter One (if there isn't an Introduction).

Usually if I see this kind of error (goofing up the pagination), I will accept the dissertation temporarily. I don't want someone not to graduate because of page numbers. But I'll send them home to fix it.

Where you start putting numbers on the pages --> the Acknowledgements page
at the bottom, center bottom

Personally, I would like to see all pagination centered at the bottom. Why? If you make it into a book, its easier. But as long as whatever you use is consistent, I'll accept it. Ultimately, go by whatever your committee tells you.

Once, it took a gentleman 5 hours to figure out his pagination.

There are two ways to do copyright in terms of pagination - either on the title page or its own page (count it, but don't put a number on it)

Remember to double space everything. The abstract, Acknowledgements, etc.

Chapter One / page 1 ------> Arabic page 1

Don't take off from the preliminary pages. I see this happen about once a year.

Is there a way to format the margins and pagination from the very beginning so I don't have to fix all this stuff the week before my defense?

It's good to know that for some students, there is a discrepancy between what their software says is the margin size and what it actually prints out. It's always better to trust a real ruler and the page in front of you rather than assume the software is doing what it says it is.

Remember, there's the preliminary pages versus the text. Make two different files! Don't have a different document for each chapter, but make one document that has the Small Roman pagination, and one document where the Arabic pagination begins.

Margins should be: 1 and 1/2 on the left, 1 inch on the other three sides each.

I don't measure the right, but the left is extremely important for binding purposes.

Why is this all so complicated?!

You know, when you're at the end of the process, you're tired, you start reading into things, seeing things that aren't there.. Sometimes, it's a lot more simple than you think.

Title page - you count it, but you don't put a page number on it.

What's the format for the title page?

There's a sample title page on page 6 of the handout.

Title - The title of your dissertation does not have to be in all caps, but you should follow the usual guidelines for capitalization of words in titles.

Your Name - Watch out for this. I've received title pages that have "Your Name" instead of the student's actual name on them.

Name of Field - For example, you may be in Women's Studies and Religion, but you write down just "Religion." The degree is Doctor of Philosophy in Religion. You might think, "my degree is Urban Studies and Blah Blah Blah." Nope. It's Education. It's the school you're in. And it should be capitalized.

Just a note, if you are doing a degree in Music, the title pages are different. Music students turn in a project.




What's the deal with the abstract? How long should it be?

Abstract - You might be confused because on page 8, it says the abstract should be no more than 350 words, and later on it says 775 words. Why? I get a thousand phone calls about this!

It changed about a year and a half ago. I called and asked. 350 words...is that everything? Just text? Does it include your name? It includes everything. The title, your name, etc. It even includes the words "Abstract of the Dissertation."

The 350 word abstract goes in the Abstract Indexes. Then they take 20 pages, microfilm them, and publish them for the world.

I recommend doing the 350 words abstract and forgetting about it. If you do the 775 word abstract, they're going to truncate it anyway. When if you're working up to a great thought and -blip!-.

The abstract that you turn in at the proposal stage just goes into the CGU file. It does not get published.

On page 5 of the ProQuest handout, it has an optional copyright registration form. Do I need to copyright my dissertation?

I get this question a lot. You have to make the decision for yourself. I don't know what you'll do with your work after you leave here. If you have further questions, call UMI (the company that provides the service) and ask.

It's really copyrighted already, the date, defense. But if you have to go to court, you need a copyright. It's there for litigation reasons. It costs $65 to get the copyright. Once you have it, you can move the copyright to a publisher.

How many students opt for the copyright at CGU?

It's about 50 / 50.

What if you want your own copy of your dissertation?

The only school at CGU that allows this is Psychology. The other programs and schools do not. So if you want a bound copy, you're on your own.

Go to a book binder (there's one in Pico) to have it done. We do not have this service on campus. If we did, it would be through the library and they don't have the staff for it.

Wait...who is ProQuest again?

ProQuest - the people you send your dissertation to - It's good business for you. But you have to fill the forms out. You can opt out...but why would you?

You absolutely need this thing filled out for the dissertation to go to Ann Arbor. If I don't get it, it doesn't go on record with ProQuest.

I know when you see this packet of information, your immediate reaction is: "More reading! Legal stuff! Oh my gosh, what now?!" I sympathize.

Dissertation Submission Form
If you're going to do copyright, page 5.
Money order or cashier's check ONLY!

Wait - can't we pay by credit card or check?

$65, no credit cards, no personal checks.
Why is this? Because the whole process can take 7-8 months to clear.

Where can I get my own bound copies of my dissertation?

Bound copies of your dissertation - you can order them on the ProQuest form. It will be the size of a book. But it takes a long time. What if you want a copy of your dissertation to give as a gift to your advisor, your chair? You don't want to wait 6 months for the copy. And usually your school wants a copy too.

There are several book binders in the area, including Kater-Crafts in Pico Rivera. Any of the dissertation copies you see in the library are from there.

Go right to the source and call them. They're really nice people.

One of my committee members lives out of state. How am I going to get her signature?

As of now, I will take a fax if I have to for the Dissertation proposal signatures, but not for the dissertation. You need original signatures on the form for the dissertation.

If you have a committee member off-campus, send the form to that person first - send it overnight express. Then once it comes back to you, take it to the members of your committee that are on campus.

If you absolutely have to (for example, in the case of a committee member passing away after the form has been signed), you can have original signatures on different pages.

If I'm graduating, when do I have to start worrying about my student loans?

If you are planning on a summer degree, you should know that if you have loans, you will not be considered a student over the summer. If you're planning on a summer degree and it's July first, and you start wondering, "Why am I not getting an in-school deferment?" It's because you have to be enrolled to receive a deferment. As of May 16, your loans are going to kick in. During the summer, you're not a student, even if you're going for a September degree!


Thank you, Edris, for coming and talking to the Dissertation Workshop!


Please note, all of the handouts from today's talk are available online.

Intent to Receive a Degree form

Information Concerning the Preparation and Submission of Doctoral Dissertations (10 page packet)

Timelines / Deadlines for May 2009 degrees

ProQuest: Publishing Your Doctoral Dissertation with UMI Dissertation Publishing (14 page packet)

Lorie also noted that the AIS (Association for Information Systems) website has a page of information for doctoral students that is really helpful.

Don't Be So Defensive!

The Elizabethan Stage in Ashland, Oregon. Your dissertation defense won't get a stage like this, you'll probably get some random room in Harper or Burkle. But still, a dissertator can dream, right?

'Tis the season for Dissertation Defenses!

If you're planning one, good luck on ya! But if you're not, you might think about attending some.

At CGU, dissertation defenses are open to the public (For more on why this is, and why it's not a bad thing, see Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell's earlier remarks). Many departments send out mass e-mail invites announcing defense dates, times, and locations.

You should definitely attend defenses in your field: they help you see what kinds of questions are being asked, how certain professors do their defenses (you might get to see someone on your committee in action), and be able to visualize it for yourself: you're going to be in that room some day soon!

However, it is the unspoken rule that you should always ask the person who is defending for permission before showing up at their defense. Some people really don't mind strangers at their defenses, others don't even want their closest family members in the room. Proper etiquette and decency requires that you ask the person first.


You may feel awkward about attending a defense of someone you don't know. If so, just send them an e-mail. Say hey, I'm really interested in your topic and I'd like to attend your defense. Would that be okay with you? I'm sure they'd appreciate the gesture.

Some people who attend defenses take notes and give them to the defending student (and newly minted Ph.D.!) later. Often they're so "in the zone" and stressed out during the defense that they don't remember all the details later, and many appreciate having the little notes you take during their defense. It also helps you stay focused - a defense on a dissertation you haven't read can be pretty arduous to listen to.

Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell Tells All

Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell demonstrating how to plot out your foreseeable future

"Professor Lori Anne Ferrell (Ph.D., Yale University) holds a joint appointment in Early Modern History and Literature in the School of Arts and Humanities. Her research and teaching interests concentrate on the effect of religious and political change on early modern texts--theological, literary, theatrical, and practical--in the turbulent century before the outbreak of civil wars in Britain. Professor Ferrell has been awarded research grants from the Fulbright Commission, the Whiting Foundation, the British Academy, the Huntington Library, and the National Endowment for the Humanities” (http://www.cgu.edu/pages/1096.asp).

Professor Ferrell kindly stopped by the workshop to answer questions and give advice about the dissertation process. She's also provided her own list of guidelines for proposal writing, which you can find here.

What was your own experience dissertating?

Back in the late 80s / early 90s, I went through this. I was an anomaly in grad school because I loved grad school.

* * * * *

“You were expected to be Rapunzel…go away and spin straw into gold.”

- Prof. Ferrell on the process of writing a dissertation

* * * * *

Looking at the questions you submitted, I noticed that, at first, all the questions appeared process-oriented. But writing-oriented is process oriented. I noticed that the members of this group are either in early stages (proposal) or late stages (finishing, defending). If you were in the middle of writing, you’d have that haunted look. That’s a whole different phase.

When you’re just starting or just finishing writing, you focus on process. You’re managing a social group called "a committee."

You write a very different way before you have a Ph.D. than after. Right now, you’re trying to get approval. Later, your audience will be the editors who sit in judgment on your work, the bad reviews…all the unfairness, but in different places.

My dissertation became my first book.

What do people not realize about this process?

What you may not realize right now is that you’re an apprentice – there is a sense of instability and inequality. Your committee members see themselves as your mentors, they’re turning you into them, in some sense.

Writing as a demonstration of academic personality

Your writing is you. That’s why you get so crazy.

You’re the last in a line of a cloud of witnesses. Your mentors, their mentors. It feels personal. It is personal.

You’re asked to jump through hoops; this may not jibe with the kind of writer you think you are.

What are tips for working with a committee?

“I’m not going to invite you over to my house, I’m not going to bake you cookies. But when I’m on your committee, I will answer your e-mails within 24 hours, read your work, and help you improve it.”

What are tips for writing?

The habits you learn now you’ll take into your careers later.

Writing is not inspiration. It is a skill; you do it as a job. This is true for most people, most of the time.

How many hours a day should I be working on my dissertation? What’s the maximum recommended amount?

It does not matter how much you can do in one sitting. It matters if you’re consistent. Don’t binge-write. You don’t feel like you’re in control of your writing when you do that (do 6 hours at once instead of spread out over the week).

If you can't establish a routine:
Use a timer. Set it for one hour. When it goes off, stop. Next week, add 15 minutes more.

In the humanities, no chapter should be over 40 pages.

Create a Master Plan – plot out the year, the month, the week, the day.

Sample day: (When I was writing my dissertation)

9-12 Write

12-1 Lunch

1-3 Go Write

3-on Son comes home. Rest of day was for me and him.

I took every Sunday off.

You do your best work 4 ½ to 5 hours a day. After that, it’s diminishing returns.

Things that give you downtime will make you more productive on the uptime.

I still write on a regular schedule. But now I have to teach. I don’t have the luxury of time I had in grad school.

Now, I do an hour a day, 5 hours on Thursdays, 2 hours on the weekend.

You can do anything you have to do.

Novelists write this way. John Updike wrote every day from 9 to 12. Stephen King. One writer wrote give pages a day, stopped at the end of the fifth page, even if it was in the middle of a sentence.

That’s the only way that I felt I had any control at all. Making those schedules.

Or it could be, 9-12, research and take notes, then 1 to 3, organize your notes.

“Writing” means “your work” not always sitting at the laptop typing. It can be researching, taking notes.

Never read passively when you’re doing research!

“I wish I could still read passively!” joked someone in the group.

Some day you will! On your day off, read Jane Austen.

It takes about 5 weeks to develop a habit, and about 5 weeks to break one.

You don’t write like you preach and you don’t write like you talk.

My proposal is only 15 pages…it took me 2 months. What’s your advice for slow writers?

I have those days, but I show up to write anyway.

Slowness could be worrying, making a schedule could help. And fast writers have their own set of problems – blurting out everything.

How do I keep going?

Writer Anne Lamott writes about KFKD (“K-fucked”) – an imaginary radio station that plays in your head. The radio station that can play while you’re teaching, saying “That’s enough! They hate your guts! You’re going to get bad evaluations!”

* * * * *

“Listening to KFKD is a waste of time.”

- Prof. Ferrell on overzealous self-criticism

* * * * *

Should I have picked a topic that was better suited to the market?

You’ll learn to write by writing about what you love. If you picked a topic for the market and not for what you love, I feel sorry for you.

“What if your advisor says you must do x, and you don’t love it?” asked someone.

“Then you need another advisor.”

Of course, you want to get a job but never forget you are an amateur. In the oldest and best sense of the word. You do it because you love it. You have to. If you were doing this for the market, none of you would be doing the Ph.D.

* * * * *

“You do it because you’re in love but you have to be hard-headed about it. You can’t be all gooey and wait for the flowers and candy. Writing a dissertation is one of the most marvelously scary and supposedly-useless-to-the-rest-of-the-world thing…just like love.”

- Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell

* * * * *

You chose this topic for a reason. Trust your instincts on why you chose it.

What are some strategies for getting feedback from your committee? Do you have any strategies for busy / nonresponsive committee members?

The reason that we work here is to work with graduate students who do this.

Whenever I petition the Dean for a sabbatical, that’s when everyone wants to finish! When I’m on sabbatical, CGU exempts me from serving on certain committees but not from working with working on their dissertations.

Your committee members are supposed to be able to respond to you. If you haven’t talked to them in three years and now you want everything in two weeks, yeah, I’d get testy too. So cut faculty some slack.

What’s a good turnaround time for a chapter, a letter of recommendation?

I think its good to ask them that. A healthy timeframe is the time you’ve decided in advance.

Remember, they have other advisees besides you. If you say to everyone, “What do you want? How much time do you need? How do you see your role in this committee?”

Many students avoid asking hard questions. They’re afraid of offending.

With respect, you can ask anything. Ask the way you’d like to be asked.

When I am not on sabbatical, I will answer your e-mail within 24 hours.

You negotiate what you think is a fair amount of time.

Your chair is primarily responsible, should be reading the most.

If you don’t know this about your committee members, then you haven’t asked.

I won’t be a copy editor. That’s not fair. I’ll do that for only a few pages, and then make general suggestions on sound, tone, fluency.

What about committee members who are outside CGU?
I have some, and the relationship is tenuous. They’re not obligated to help us and we don’t want to lose them because they’re doing us a favor.

Your chair has to be responsive. Your chair is the one you have to worry about in terms of reading. The other members could just show up at your defense. The second and third readers? There’s no rule specifically for what they have to do. When I’m the third reader and I see something wrong, I’ll go to the chair.

How do I get a reader who is outside CGU? Is it inappropriate to say, "Listen, I really need just a third reader, I don't need someone who's really engaged or involved."

It’s rude coming from you. It should be coming from your chair.

Don’t cold-call readers. Say to your chair, “I’m happy to find someone, but I’d like you to write the note.”

Go with a letter of introduction from your chair. You should be introduc

ed first. It could be just an e-mail, ‘You’ll be hearing from a student of mine named Jane…”

I feel that there’s not much collegiality here. Should I be worried about going to the 5Cs professors?

The occasionally fractious relationship at the colleges is partly because too many CGU students just show up on their doorsteps.

One general remark for all of you: have an open, mutually respectful, candid, grown-up relationship with your chair. The chair should be running interference for you. If your chair will not or can not do that, you talk to the Dean. If your chair is the Dean, then talk to Jim Whitaker.

How many dissertation committees are you serving on right now?

In the next few years, 8, maybe 10. And those are ones I’m chairing.

I’m second or third reader on 6 or 7 more. I’m practically sitting on every committee in History.

Do you read it differently as a third reader…like, do you say, “I can’t be as vicious on this

one”?

I would prefer “interactive.” If the chair is happy, that’s not my job. If I see a deal breaker, I talk to the chair.

What would a deal breaker for you be, being a second or third reader?

Plagiarism, obviously. Grammar problems, you can go to the Writing Center. I’m looking at flow, seeing if you sound like someone in the field.

Is it risky if the student doesn’t contact the chair every week and just works alone?

I like being checked in with a lot. I won’t be angry if you don’t check in, but it is risky for you. The less you see your advisor, the less real this process will feel to you.

I love to look at people’s thesis statements. I’m a m

onster about them. If you can’t say what a chapter is about, you’re in trouble.

What advice do you have for the defense?

Avoid being surprised by the response. Ask your chair, “Are all the committee members on board with this?” Some professors like the pop quiz appro

ach / see you think on your feet. That’s fine too, but then know that about them.

Don’t answer immediately! Take out a pen and paper. “Can I repeat your question back to you?” Take a breath. Think! Buy yourself time. Don’t let KFKD play in your mind. Say, “When you ask a question, I’m going to write it down.”

Never go into a defense without talking to your chair the day before.

Don’t bullshit! If you don’t know, you don’t know.

What if I think the chair hates me?

If the chair hates you…that’s your chair. They’re working with you. If it’s too much for you, you can’t do it. If you can deal with the person not being war

m, etc, but they do what you need them to do, that’s enough. You need to have a working relationship. You can ask questions in writing, in e-mail. Not for litigious reasons, but just to remind the professor.

Is there more pressure on the student if it is an open defense? Or is your committee less likely to squash you if your grandma is there?

No. They’ll say the same thing either way. I have been to one where the person failed in front of everybody.

In that case, they took the student out and said, “We’re not gonna pass this.” The student did not use due diligence.

You’re all looking horrified, but it’s important to know it’s possible not to pass. Because what kind of school would this be otherwise?

I’m going to pull the defense if I think it’s not going to pass (when I’m the chair).

You can’t walk into the defense already knowing that you’ll pass. That would make CGU a diploma mill.

Defenses are never as awful as you think. There’s a variety of ways that a dissertation can squeak through. It can pass with corrections, lots of ways to negotiate.

My experience is that mos

t people pass. However, nobody goes in and they put a crown on their heads and praise them for two hours.

How long is a defense?

It can be anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours.

But why does the defense have to be open to the whole CGU community?

It’s a good thing that we have open defenses. The mystery of it is taken away when it’s open.

Just remember how much static is coming from Radio KFKD when you’re in there.

Take a break. If you’re getting upset, ask, “Can I stop for a moment? I feel like I’m going off base here.”

The way you’re seeing the world during the defense, is not as bad as you think.

You can say, “Can I have a different question? Can I restate that? Can you restate that?”

The worst they can say is no.

This is not a secret. This is an honest academic talk.

Your defense will be like prom, like quals: it’s always anticlimactic.

Is it easier when you have defense committee members that were also on your qualifying exams?

I’ve had some people on my quals that were also on my Ph.D. defense. I thought they were harder on the dissertation defense, as they should be.

What if you’ve heard about someone you could add to your committee, but that person is an outsider, or has a very different perspective that might conflict?

Do you want to work with this person? No? Then don’t.

Do you have any advice about getting an academic job afterwards?

The first thing – they’ll see how long it took you to write your dissertation. They’ll place that. So address that up front in your letter: “I was teaching, etc.” They’ll look at time in degree.

Give a professional reason: “I interrupted my studies for family, working, whatever.” Don’t expect to dodge it.

When I’m on a hiring committee, I look for time in degree, a finished dissertation. When someone’s ABD, I call and ask. If you’re not defending in May, don’t say you are. Don’t be slippery. I wouldn’t ask, but I’d think if a person in your field at your school is not on your committee, and wonder why.

Letters of rec: overrated or not?

I read them absolutely. I never look at transcripts or grades. Writing samples, talk to diss chair if they say they’re going to defend and I want to make sure that’s the case.

You’re almost always at an advantage if you have a defense date set (or done).

Remember: open communication = working relationship

Mutual respect, honesty, and trust – not necessarily friendly. You have a right to the first three.

My chair’s comments are crushing my soul. What should I do?

Say, “I’m having a hard time with this feedback.”

Address it. They might squash you, but too many people just quit contacting their chair. Silence doesn’t solve anything.

* * * * *

“Too many people just quit contacting their chair. Silence doesn’t solve anything.”

- Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell

* * * * *

You should be able to go them when you’re stuck. Not in a “child-saying-I’ve-been-bad” kind of way.

If you want to talk more, you can come and find me. I don’t want to hear names, and I don’t want to know who is on your committee, but I’d be happy to talk further.

* * * * *

“I actually love writing. I love my job.”

- Prof. Lori Anne Ferrell

* * * * *

Q + A with a recent CGU grad

This week we had a special guest speaker, Stephanie McKinney, a Ph.D. in History who specializes in modern war, history, and genocide memorialization. She finished at CGU in December. Her dissertation is titled “Speaking of the Dead: Reconstructing Identity in Post Genocide Rwanda."

Here are some of the questions from the group that Stephanie answered.

Q: Is there any advice you wish someone had told you about the process before you began?

A: “The final stages are really hard," said Stephanie, "I wish someone had said, 'It is not pretty and it sucks and it will be the most humiliating thing in your life.'"

Tanya mentioned how she's noticed that many people she's talked to about their dissertations are all in therapy. The room quickly chimed in about how great the free therapy at Monsour is, and how everyone should be going there.

Stephanie also related a story about attending a recent Halloween party for her kids. One of the other moms said, “I just finished my Ph.D., so of course my self-esteem has never been lower.” Stephanie said she wanted to say, “thank you!” to the woman for expressing the exact same way she felt.

CGU Flame Pumpkin Courtesy of Alexandra Dove, MA History 2006

Q: How long did it take you to write it?

A: “My husband says I wrote the whole thing in five months,” Stephanie said, “ But I had spent about a year and a half researching.”

Leading up to her defense, Stephanie encountered many obstacles. Her initial dissertation advisor left CGU for a position elsewhere. After she returned from research in Rwanda, her youngest child became seriously ill with salmonella poisoning, requiring surgery and a week in the hopsital. Stephanie juggled adjuncting at different universities, raising two children, and trying to power through her dissertatation. And she did it!

Q:Is a 4^th reader a CGU requirement?

A: "No. However, the rules about outside readers depends on your school."

Because CGU doesn’t have any European history specialists (Stephanie’s field), she had to look for outside readers to help her through the process. She made connections at conferences and ended up having a few top genocide scholars willing to read her dissertation and help her polish it.

Paula noted that only CGU people are allowed to serve on your quals committees, you have to petition (as she did) if you need an outsider member. Aris noted that in SBOS, you won’t know who your 4^th reader is.

Paula also reminded everyone to hold onto the CGU Handbook from the year you were admitted. That is a legally binding contract. As a student at CGU, you have to abide by the rules laid out in the Handbook, but so do the faculty members. So if you find yourself getting caught up in some kind of red-tape nightmare, it wouldn’t hurt to check the handbook and make sure you’ve fulfilled everything they originally said you had to, and that they fulfilled their end of the deal.

Q: Can you defend in summer?

A: The general answer was: Yes. You can defend whenever you can get your committee together.

Q: Was formatting it a problem?

A: "Formatting – so, so important." Stephanie noted that when you’re ready to file, they ask for three copies. But she recommends saving yourself a lot of money and frustration by only printing one copy first, making sure its good to go, and then making the other copies.

“These are consecutive pages, not chapter pages,” Stephanie explained, “You

don’t want to print out three copies of the thing only to find out there’s an error on page 2. Bring in one copy, get it okayed, fix it if needed, and then go to Kinkos and get the next two copies made.”

Q: Did you have to make an appointment with Edris to file?

A: "They sent an e-mail and said, 'This is when we’ll be available.' So I dropped in then."

Please note: Edris Steubner, the Assistant Registrar, is going to be your main contact for filing. She will be coming to the Dissertation Workshop on March 23 to discuss the rules for formatting and submission. Stay tuned!

Q: Are they particular about the margins?

A: “She does take out a ruler and she does measure,” laughed Stephanie, “Serious as a heart attack. Always be nice to the secretary and the registrar, they’ll work for you.”

Q: What do you do when you’re not hearing back from your committee members or you feel like you’re in limbo?

A: “Act like it's happening and keep shoving it forward,” Stephanie answered, “If you don’t, who will?”

Q: What was the sequence of your revision?

A: “I revised it chapter by chapter,” answered Stephanie. “I had one chapter out in circulation and one I was working on. The sequence was: first I’d send a draft to the Writing Center, then I

’d make corrections before sending that draft to my committee, and then I’d make revisions and have my revision draft.”

Stephanie reiterated how helpful the Writing Center was in getting feedback on her writing. As a reminder: you can send up to 50 pages a week to the Writing Center, with a 1 week turnaround, up to 8 times a semester. For more info about the Writing Center's services for dissertation reading, click here.

Q: What happened going into the final weeks before your defense?

A: Dec 12 was the paper signature deadline for January graduation. Her committee told Stephanie, “These are the problems in your dissertation…can you fix them in 4 weeks? Here are the problems. These are what you’ll have to fix for us to sign off on this.” At her defense, Stephanie laid out her strategy for addressing remaining problems in the work.

Q: Do you have any advice about writing proposals?

A: “The proposal saved my butt in the end. I had a chapter that had to be two chapters. But one part wasn’t that good. It wasn’t in my proposal…so that allowed me to take it out completely. I’d added a chapter that was underdeveloped, but it wasn’t in the proposal, so it was easy to pull it. Your proposal changes, but it can also save you.”

Margaret noted that in some fields, there is no wiggle room in the proposal. In other fields (particularly the Humanities) it is quite common to have a final dissertation that isn’t that close to its original proposal.

Q: Did you use Endnote or Refworks?

A: Stephanie answered, "I think you have to start that from the beginning. I wish I’d know about it before I started, but I didn’t, so I just typed my own footnotes and such. It’s easier that way when you know how to do it already. I did get a new laptop during my dissertation…and it did all kinds of things more easily!"

Q: What were your methods of backup?

A: "CGU gives you a free webpage – I put it up there. You can e-mail it to yourself, even the copy you send to the Writing Center will be saved."

Lynda reminded everyone to keep a backup flash drive, but don’t keep the drive with your laptop (if the laptop is stolen or damaged, the flash drive could be as well).

Margaret mentioned SuperDuper, a system recovery resource that makes a mirror image of your hard drive.

Q: I’m writing my bibliography, and it has 500 books! And there are more being published. How do you make it manageable?

A: "You hit the point where you decided you’re done. You know, 'our library doesn’t have it, I can’t LINK + it, it’s $127 on Amazon…I’ll let that one go!' At some point, you have to figure if you get something wrong, your committee will let you know. At some point, you just make an executive decision to stop," said Stephanie.

“My bibliography is about half of what it was at the proposal,” noted Lynda. “The same, same things kept showing up in everything I was reading. I decided that those texts had to be my foundation.”

"You hit the point where you have to throw it out there and see what happens.”

“There was a day when I realized I was done reading,” said Lynda.

“It’s like on Thanksgiving, deciding when you’re going to stop eating.”

Q: How do you decide what goes in the footnotes and what goes in the main text?

A: "That’s where your readers come in," replied Stephanie.

The group brainstormed places to get a quick glimpse of the current work in your field:

Wikipedia (no one will cop up to using this, but there it is)

Amazon lists ("very up-to-date")

Google Scholar

Dissertation Express ("You’ll say, well, if they got that published, I can get mine done.” "You’ll look and be surprised by the ones that aren’t very good. Makes you feel better.")

And remember, no matter how careful you are, small mistakes are bound to happen. “After I turned mine in,” Stephanie admitted, “I realized I forgot to print out the appendix. The dissertation refers to an appendix that’s not there. Oh well, that’s there for history.”

Rainbow over Harper Hall