Ph.D. Career Resources: Dissertations

This dissertation page includes Web Resources aimed at helping doctoral students through the dissertation process, Online Articles giving specific advice, Research and Formatting Tools, sample guidelines for Traditional and Electronic Dissertations, places for Publishing the Dissertation, a Bibliography of articles about dissertations, and a link to Dissertation-Related Promising Practices.
  

Web Resources

All-But-Dissertation Survival Guide
http://www.ecoach.com/  This monthly newsletter provides practical strategies for successfully completing your doctoral dissertation, periodic interviews with scholars about the tips they wish they'd known at the beginning of their own careers, and teleworkshops. 

Association for the Support of Graduate Students 
http://www.asgs.org/index.htm  ASGS provides services aimed at helping students complete their dissertations; services include a thesis newsletter (Thesis News), a moderated email list (Doc-Talk), a Professional Consultant Directory, Computer Templates for Editorial Styles, and results of ASGS surveys on major thesis problems.

Claremont Graduate University Writing Center: Thesis and Dissertation Guide
http://writecenter.cgu.edu/students/dissmain.html  Offers advice for all phases of the dissertation, from "Choosing a Topic" and "Writing the Proposal" to "Obtaining Feedback" and "Revising," as well as "Additional Resources."  Some of the Writing Center's additional Links are useful research tools as well.

The Dead Thesis Society
http://is2.dal.ca/~dts/   A student-organized thesis support group that provides a listserv, online resources, and on-site meetings in Canada. 

The Dissertation Doctor
http://www.dissertationdoctor.com/  This commercial site offers individualized dissertation coaching from a university director of doctoral research.

Ph.D. Information (University of Queensland)
http://www2.ems.uq.edu.au/phdweb/fr_phinf.html  Offers suggestions for designing, researching, organizing, and writing the dissertation, as well as links to other sites.

Phinished
http://www.phinished.org  A discussion and support site aimed at helping people finish their dissertations.

Online Articles

Choosing a Research Topic  
http://chronicle.com/jobs/99/11/99111902c.htm  Richard Reis explains what factors to consider when staking out an area of research in the sciences.

Dissertation Advice 
http://chronicle.com/jobs/archive/topical/dissertation.htm  A collection of articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education dealing with writing and completing the dissertation.

The One-Year Plan
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2001/11/2001110201c.htm  Advice on completing the dissertation and finding a job (academic or otherwise) in the space of a year.

Some Thoughts on Dissertation Proposal Writing
http://www.education.wisc.edu/edadmin/faculty/facultyextras/disspropose.html  Chris Golde offers suggestions for drafting a proposal.

Summary Notes of Writing for Social Scientists
http://www.brint.com/papers/writing.htm  An outline of Howard S. Becker's suggestions for writing.  Taken from his book, Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986).

Thesis Writing, Guru-Style
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2001/02/28/10  Andrea Lord offers a highly structured approach to finishing the dissertation on time.

Thinking About Your Thesis
http://publish.uwo.ca/~simpson/publish/pub2001_001.htm  This article by Erika Simpson provides guidelines for finishing a thesis or dissertation.

Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation
http://www.learnerassociates.net/dissthes/  This article by S. Joseph Levine provides guidelines for thinking about a thesis or dissertation, writing a proposal, completing the project, and defending it.

Writing a Dissertation
http://www.apsanet.org/PS/winter86/scheppele.cfm  Five winners of the American Political Science Association reflect on what they learned in the process of writing a dissertation and what advice they would pass on to others.

Writing Your Dissertation 
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/dissertation.html  This handout from the University of North Carolina Writing Center gives an overview of the steps necessary for starting, drafting, and completing your dissertation. 

Research and Formatting Tools

American Psychological Association 
http://www.apastyle.org/index.html  Get information about the APA guide at the organization's site.
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/bibliography/apa/apamenu.htm  The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's online version of the APA guide.

Council of Biology Editors Style 
http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/library/cbe.htm  Monroe Community College Library's highlights of formatting rules for mathematics and the sciences.

Modern Language Association
http://www.mla.org/  Get information about the MLA guide at the organization's site under "MLA style."
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/bibliography/mla/mlamenu.htm  The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's online version of the MLA guide.

Online! Citation Styles
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/citex.html  Gives information about MLA, APA, Chicago, CBE, and other styles; particularly useful for documenting online sources (websites, listserv or newsgroup postings, etc.).

Proquest
http://www.il.proquest.com/proquest/  Proquest provides access to online materials including periodicals, newspapers, and dissertations.

QualPage
http://www.ualberta.ca/~jrnorris/qual.html Offers a range of links to other resources including calls for papers, discussion groups, online qualitative resources, journals, conference proceedings, and Qualitative Data Analysis software.

The Qualitative Report Research Resources
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/qualres.html  Offers links to webpages, papers, and online journals including The Qualitative Report.

Qualitative Research Site
http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/qualresearch/  Bobbi Kerlin's site links to sites dealing with theoretical and methodological issues, writing up research, ethics, software, and more.

Quantitative Advisor 
http://llanes.panam.edu/research/advisor/statistics.html   Offers statistics programs, sources for real data, lists of publications, and links to organizations.

Research Design Explained (Clarion University)
http://spsp.clarion.edu/mm/RDE3/start/  Methodologies and tools for psychological research.

Research-It!
http://www.itools.com/research-it/   Academic research engine that includes translation tools and search portals for people, quotations, maps, and more.

Sage Publications
http://www.sagepub.co.uk/  Click on "Books" on the left sidebar, then click on "Catalogue Listing" for books about qualitative and quantitative methodology.

Suppliers of Statistical Analysis Software
http://www.the-scientist.com/images/yr2001/pdfs/lab_010709.pdf  Provides a list of twenty-eight suppliers and information about their statistical analysis software programs.

Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Quantitative Research
http://www.socresonline.org.uk/threads/quant/quant.html  This discussion forum for Sociological Research Online seeks to stimulate debate on key issues within sociology.

Traditional Dissertation Guidelines

Cornell: Doctoral Dissertation and Master's Thesis
http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/grad/students/thesis/contents.html

Rackham (University of Michigan): Dissertation Handbook
http://www.rackham.umich.edu/StudentInfo/Publications/DissertationHandbook/

University of Georgia: Guidelines for Theses and Dissertations
http://graduate.gradsch.uga.edu/etd2/style.pdf

University of Alabama Dissertation Guidelines
http://www.uab.edu/graduate/thesguid.htm

University of Washington Guidelines
http://www.grad.washington.edu/stsv/00styletoc.htm  
See thesis template at http://staff.washington.edu/fox/tex/thesis.shtml

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) Guidelines

East Tennessee State University: ETD Manager
http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/index.html

Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archives: ETD Guidelines
http://etd.vt.edu/guidelines/

Washington State University: Digital Dissertations and Theses
http://www.dissertations.wsu.edu/p&pforddt.htm

West Virginia University: ETD Guidelines
http://www.wvu.edu/~thesis/

ETD's from different fields

Architecture
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-121799-123221/

Dairy Science
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-82498-05536/

Engineering Mechanics 
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-32498-21232/

Music Performance (natural horn)
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?osu991314575

Networked Digital Library of Dissertations and Theses
http://www.theses.org/

University of Virginia Electronic Theses and Dissertations in the Humanities 
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ETD/ETD.html 

Virginia Tech Digital Library and Archives 
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/

Publishing the Dissertation

This list is by no means exhaustive: many publishers and print-on-demand publishing services can be found online.  These are publishing services/houses that either specialize in non-fiction and dissertations or are fairly well-known.  We welcome additions to this list at envision@u.washington.edu. 

Academic Dissertation Publishers 
http://dissertation.com  Publishes dissertations on demand for a fee and makes them available for sale through Amazon.com and other distributors.  A subsidiary of Universal Publishers.

BrownWalker Press
http://www.brownwalker.com/  Publishes dissertations on demand for a fee (beginning at $49) and makes the dissertation available for sale through Amazon.com and other distributors.  A subsidiary of Universal Publishers.

Publishers' Addresses 
http://chronicle.com/books/publishers.php3  An alphabetical listing, posted by The Chronicle of Higher Education, of publishers in the U.S.

UMI Dissertation Services 
http://www.il.proquest.com/hp/Support/DServices/   A product of Proquest, UMI publishes, archives, locates, and sells doctoral dissertations.

UPublish.com
http://www.upublish.com/index.htm  Publishes dissertations on demand for a fee and makes them available for sale through Amazon.com and other distributors.  A subsidiary of Universal Publishers.

WritersWorld
http://www.writersworld.tv/flash_index.htm  A British-based company that publishes dissertations for a fee (roughly $700) and makes the book available on demand in British, European, and most major American booksellers.

Xlibris
http://www2.xlibris.com/index.asp  In partnership with Random House Ventures, Xlibris publishes print on demand and distributes through major booksellers.

Bibliography

Acker, S. H., T.; Black, E. (1994). Thesis supervision in the social sciences: managed or negotiated? Higher Education, 28, 483-498.

Blanton, J. (1983). Midwifing the dissertation. Teaching of Psychology, 10(2), 74-77.

Brunell, J. S., & Judge, C. (1996). Research workshops advance Harvard's "Community of Scholars". GSAS Bulletin, 26(2), 1, 8.

Damrosch, D. (1995). We Scholars: Changing the Culture of the University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Damrosch, D. (2000). Mentors and Tormentors in Doctoral Education. Chronicle of Higher Education, B24.  [On-line]. Retrieved March, 2001, from the World Wide Web:   http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i12/12b02401.htm

Deem, R. (1998, July 15-16). Doctoral routes-Different paths to the same destination? Paper presented at the Paper presented to the UK Council for Graduate Education Summer Conference, University of Greenwich.

D'Onofrio, A. (1993). Dissertation supervision: A new path, an old guide and reflections on William James. Continuing Higher Education Review, 57(3), 130-146.

Duke, N. K. B., Sarah W. (1999). Education Should Consider Alternative Formats for the Dissertation. Educational Researcher, 28(3), 31-36.

Goodchild, L. F. M., Margaret M. (1997). The American Doctorate and Dissertation: Six Developmental Stages. New Directions for Higher Education, 99, 17-32.

Green, K. E. (1997). Psychosocial Factors Affecting Dissertation Completion. New Directions for Higher Education, 99, 57-64.

Hines, S. (2001, December 6). Urban ecology: Collaborative program prepares students for real world. University Week. [On-line]. Retrieved December, 2001, from the World Wide Web:  http://depts.washington.edu/uweek/archives/2001.12.DEC_06/ 

Isaac, P. D., Quinlan, S. V., & Walker, M. M. (1992). Faculty perceptions of the doctoral dissertation. Journal of Higher Education, 63(3), 241-268.

Leatherman, C. (2000). A New Push for ABDs To Cross the Finish Line. Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(29), A18-A20. [On-line]. Retrieved March, 2001, from the World Wide Web:  http://chronicle.com/weekly/v46/i29/29a00101.htm

Lenz, K. S. (1997). Nontraditional-Aged Women and the Dissertation: A Case Study Approach. New Directions for Higher Education, 99, 65-75.

Menand, L. (1996, September 22). How to make a Ph.D. matter. New York Times Magazine, 78-81.

Nerad, M. (1997). The institution that cares: Berkeley's efforts to support dissertation writing in the humanities and social sciences. New Directions for Higher Education, 99, 75-90.

University of California at Berkeley. (1997). Communities of scholars: Dissertation accelerators. The Graduate, 13(1), 1-3.

University of California at Berkeley. (2001). Material for dissertation retreats at Berkeley/Stanford [On-line]. Retrieved July, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://ias.berkeley.edu/DissertationWKSP/