I’m curious how you learned the conventions you are to use, the voice you should use, the way to argue within your field, or, if you’re learning as you go, now, as you write your dissertation. If you were at a U.S. university as an undergraduate, you may not have been writing exclusively in your [...]
Archive for the ‘discourse’ Category
Writing the Dissertation: Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, Part 3
Posted in academic, discourse, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, higher education, practice writing, Smart Tips, teaching writing, trusting yourself, write more easily, writing, tagged composition class, dissertation coaching, Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, learning to write a dissertation, learning to write an argument, rhetorical conventions, teaching yourself to write, writing instruction on October 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Writing the Dissertation: Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, Part 2
Posted in academic, acting as if, brave, courage, creativity, discourse, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, higher education, practice writing, resilience, teaching writing, top strengths, trusting yourself, underprepared students, using your strengths, tagged bluff, dissertation coach, Learning how to do something you didn’t know how to do, learning to write a dissertation, learning to write an argument, rhetorical conventions, self-taught writer, writing as if you know what you’re doing, writing instruction on September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dissertation writers are largely self-taught academic writers, and the learning process can be a bold and daring adventure. Over the years many of my dissertation coaching clients talk about the challenges in writing academic discourse. Academic writing is its own special discourse, with its own particular conventions. My dissertation coaching clients largely learn this discourse [...]
What Is the University’s Responsibility to an ABD Struggling with Her Writing?
Posted in academic, accountability, advice, coaching, coherence, discourse, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, isolated, isolation, resilience, resources, setbacks, Smart Tips, struggling, teaching writing, training, unclear writing, underprepared students, word usage, writing, writing, dissertation, tagged how to write dissertation, no feedback from advisor, struggling with writing, unclear writing, university's responsibility to dissertation writer on March 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
An ABD’s dilemmas with her writing underscore for me the problems dissertation writers have when they’re isolated from campus and from an advisor during the dissertation process. As a dissertation coach, I don’t fix people’s writing, but I listen, and if a client sends me some text, I see what the writing looks like. This [...]
5 Fast Tracks for a Running Start on Your Dissertation
Posted in writing, dissertation, coaching, academic, resources, research, planning, dissertation coach, writing, dissertation writing, getting started, dissertation advisors, strategies, start writing, structures, Smart Tips, discourse, writing models, tagged advisor, discourse, dissertation, dissertation example, dissertation model, getting started, How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation Sma, literature review, note-taking, proposal model, running start, success strategies on January 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Where do you start on your dissertation? The word review can start you on the following five fast tracks. Let’s get started: 1. Learn from your peers who are a bit farther along the road than you are—read and review carefully their dissertations. Even if you’ve been writing papers since you were a wee tot, [...]
Whose Dissertation Is It?
Posted in academic, advisor, coaching, discourse, dissertation advisors, dissertation coach, dissertation writing, resources, Smart Tips, writing, writing models, tagged accepting help, commenting on writing, procrastination, revisions, rewriting, talk to your advisor on November 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
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