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Archive for the ‘advisor’ Category

An ABD student wrote to me about her advisor’s generous rewriting of the dissertation text.  According to the student, the advisor doesn’t change the thought, only the language.  
The ABD student recognizes that the advisor’s writing is superior to her own, Her question is if the advisor has rewritten a lot of the language of the [...]

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Procrastinating on finishing your dissertation’s conclusion?  If so, you have company.  Writing the conclusion can be a time when many people clutch.
Needing Feedback?
One reason why many dissertation writers start to slow down when they’re at this point is that they aren’t getting feedback from their advisor or mentor.  If you don’t have a sense that [...]

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By now, you’ve probably heard that Randy Pausch died Friday at the age of 47. 
Though known in the field of computer science, he had gained world-wide fame from his wise, clever “last lecture” at Carnegie Mellon in the fall of 2007.  At that time he had been told that because of aggressive pancreatic cancer, he had [...]

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Is your university enforcing hard deadlines for finishing dissertations?  Are you getting any signals from your university about what might be ahead for you? Has your advisor become more critical of your work?
Every day I talk with dissertation clients who are trying hard to finish their doctoral degree.  This week several people sounded a similarly unsettling [...]

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I always look forward to Memorial Day week-end.  As I enjoy the current Memorial Day holiday here in the U.S., I am thinking back to a Memorial Day week-end a few years ago when I had to choose my dissertation over the holiday week-end with my family.
In my Washington, DC suburb, Memorial Day has always been [...]

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What do you want from your advisor that will make your life as a writer easier? 
Great feedback, some feedback, or maybe just feedback once in a while?  How about an email saying hello?
If you’re not getting feedback or not even getting answers to your straight-forward questions, here’s one idea.  I’m not advising that you take [...]

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The doctoral experience is rife with minefields and potholes and all other kinds of things you don’t want to step in.
It’s important to be politically savvy in order to make your way to the other side of this experience. 
1.  Are you writing for your dissertation advisor?  If you’re not writing for your dissertation advisor, then [...]

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Are you hoping to do a bunch of work over the summer?  You’re not alone.  Almost every day I hear those very same words from my clients.
What can you put in place now that will help you be a productive writer this summer?
1.   Find out exactly how much time you are working now and what [...]

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Writing this blog for the past year has been an act of joy for me. 
Many of you also write blogs, and so if you blog frequently, I would wager that you, too, find writing for your blog compelling.
I get to write about something I know, about a process that intrigues me and that is always [...]

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