By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: It’s time for me to find a dissertation chair. I’m panicked. How?
—Chairless
A: You’re right to have at least a little trepidation. Here’s what a new “doctor” said in a study of how the choice and behavior of chairs affect doctoral students’ satisfactions:
By Dr. Noelle Sterne,
Q: Whenever I start writing, all kinds of ideas start swirling around. How do I corral them?
— Creatively Dizzy
A: I’ve experienced the same, often. Whether I’ve scribbled a handful of notes in a frenzy of inspiration or actually made an outline, once I start to write that same itchy, unsteady, slightly nauseous feeling pervades. Not exactly illness or indigestion, it’s more of a nervous disquiet I can only describe as “creative limbo.” Doesn’t matter how often I’ve felt it or how many pieces I’ve started and completed. It rears up, and the ideas threaten to overtake me.
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: What do you do if you missed a deadline you created for yourself? How do you get through the feelings of guilt and set another deadline in a way that you can hold yourself to it?
— M. Culpa
A: I empathize with you! It’s hard to miss your self-imposed deadline. As a fellow deadline-misser, I’ve arrived at several methods that make myself easier to live with.
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: I work full-time and more! How can I write my dissertation?
— Overworking and Underwriting
A: Most doctoral candidates work full-time. And have families and responsibilities. If you’re at the dissertation stage, finding time for writing is especially hard. Maybe a few fortunate students can quit work and devote themselves completely to the dissertation. But if you cannot quit, there are still ways to make decent time for it. Other than speaking harshly to yourself to devote Saturday to the dissertation instead of the game, one way that many candidates have found effective is to meet with your employer or supervisor.
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: I’m dreading the holiday dinner table and all those questions about my dissertation. How to handle them?
— Lost My Appetite
A: Holidays can be welcome respites from our daily routines and the seemingly relentless pressures to produce. But, like Lost Appetite, when we’re at holiday gatherings and in the throes of our dissertations, we also risk often inevitable and embarrassing questions from well-meaning relatives and friends. With all the gorging, you can be sure that at least one person will ask those questions that make you squirm, right up there with the personal in-your-face ones like “How come you’re still single?” or “When are you going to have kids?”
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: I follow a spiritual practice and was advised to pray about my dissertation. Is this wrong?
— Repentant?
A: No, it’s not wrong or blasphemous, nor do you have to confess.
More students than we imagine use their spiritual practices for school. Yes, they seem contradictory. School requires your intellect; spirituality requires surrendering your intellect. School subsists on logic and realism; spirituality survives on faith.
I used to hold fiercely to these boundaries. Spirituality and school, I thought, were at opposite ends of the heavens, or at least unequivocally separate.
