In its short-chapter format, Foundations of Academic Writing by Julie P. Combs focuses on the skills of reading, writing, searching, and organizing a research study. Instructors have used this book to advise thesis/dissertation students and in courses about writing and literature reviews. Students learn to select a topic, take notes using systems, summarize, avoid plagiarism, develop editing strategies, and build a writing practice.
Dear Dr. Noelle: Are You Thrashing Around in the Undertow of Dissertation Revisions?
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: How do I get out from the endless waves of dissertation revisions?
— Almost Drowning
A: In the throes of writing your dissertation, you’ve submitted your drafts to your chair and committee more times than you want to count. And they’ve returned the drafts with seemingly endless rounds of revisions. Granted, they may drive you crazy, but—please believe me—you can handle the revisions so they don’t completely erode your confidence, deepen your depression, and thoroughly destroy your sanity.
A chair or committee’s insistence on revisions that keep kicking back (one student called them “regurgitating revisions”) generally stem from one of two main motivations. The revisions reflect the less-than-healthy inclinations of some professors who are perfectionist, vindictive, petty, and competitive. They may be frustrated with their current position, shouldering too many doctoral students’ dissertations, or still bitterly recalling their own chair who put them through the grinder. And they want to show you who’s boss.