Instead of being an ordeal to survive, a dissertation can be a rewarding opportunity to develop your own vision and voice as a researcher. Getting the Best of Your Dissertation: Practical Perspectives for Effective Research by Dave Harris offers perspectives that support practical action and positive motivation. Research is hard work, but with the right practice, it can be a labor of love. Published by Thought Clearing.
Dear Dr. Noelle: Reciprocal Relationships of Advisors With Students
By Dr. Noelle Sterne
Q: How much about yourself should you divulge to create a reciprocal relationship?
–Approachable Advisor
A: The benchmark is boundaries. For your poor suffering student, you want to be approachable, supportive, encouraging, and all the other wonderful adjectives of a sterling advisor. BUT—you don’t want to be over-open or fall into a sinkhole of too much sharing.
What’s appropriate for you to share:
How you struggled in graduate school, the nightmare of your defense.
What’s not appropriate for you to share:
Your latest root canal agony, your septic system failure.
!–more–>
Welcome to TAA’s Newest Column: Dear Dr. Noelle
By Noelle Sterne, PhD
Welcome to Dear Dr. Noelle!
Unashamedly, I have modeled this column on the popular “Dear Abby” advice column but aimed at us more evolved intellectuals. The column is for you graduate students, new academic doctors, and professors who have questions that burn in your minds even when you’re binging on a Netflix series.
Fair game: anything pertaining to a dissertation, article, monograph, or book: intellectual, expressional, procedural, psychological, emotional, relational, maddening.
2025 TAA Conference Bookstore Featured Book: ‘Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation’
For doctoral candidates struggling with their dissertations, Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation, by Noelle Sterne, is different from other how-to-write-your-dissertation books: they deal with the structure and contents. Challenges, with lively examples, humor, and provocative questions, addresses the surrounding, often overlooked or ignored but crucial aspects that can seriously delay dissertation completion: emotional, interpersonal, and even spiritual issues.
Writing a Dissertation: Don’t Fall Down the ‘Rabbit Hole’ of Theory Shopping
Often, when someone begins seeking a theoretical framework for their dissertation, they take for granted the one they are already implicitly using, said writing coach and editor Dr. Dave Harris, with Thought Clearing.
“To be at the point where you’re writing your dissertation, you’ve already been a scholar in a graduate program for multiple years and have learned a lot,” he said. “A lot of people at this point go shopping for theories, thinking ‘oh, I need this person’s theory and that person’s theory,’ and they don’t sit down and say to themselves, ‘well, how do I think the world works and where did these ideas come from?’
2025 TAA Virtual Conference on Textbook & Academic Authoring Call for Proposals Now Open
The TAA Conference Committee invites proposals for its 2025 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, which will be held online June 6-7. Presenting at TAA’s 2025 Conference provides an opportunity to share your knowledge, experiences, and ideas with other textbook authors, academic authors, and industry professionals. The theme is “The Future is Now.” We welcome proposals from first-time and veteran presenters! The deadline for submitting a proposal is October 13, 2024.