Doctoral DIY

Today I read an article analyzing self-help dissertation advice books. First, who knew there were self-help books for writing your dissertation? I guess there's a DIY book for everything, but really?? Just for the fun of it, I checked YouTube, my normal place for DIY advice, and found that YouTube can also teach me how to write a dissertation! There are dozens of "classes" about writing a dissertation, and many more showing various candidates' actual defenses. An hour later, I can say I didn't find a single useful video. (Yes, an hour. It is YouTube after all.)

It seems that one factor all of these "how to" manuals have in common is the claim that, if you follow their steps exactly as written, you will automatically have success. That's a tough one for me, since I typically think the step by step directions on putting together a bookshelf are only broad guidelines. Although the bookshelf makers presumably have tested this thousands of times, I do not necessarily believe that their interpretation of the steps and the order makes the most sense.

A second common factor in these dissertation advice books is providing writing guidelines, again as a set of steps. Again, I don't see that working for me. I'm perfectly happy to start with a piece of writing that's in the middle of my topic, and build out from it. I write like a spider web, and suggesting that the only correct way to do a dissertation is to write in a line just rubs me the wrong way. I do believe that there are other people out there who also are non-linear who have successfully managed to get a doctorate degree, and who have not compromised their writing style in order to follow a recipe for success.

The third common element that really jumped out at me was that these self-help books don't truly address the complexities of writing. They deal with mechanics and grammar, structure and vocabulary, but seem to completely ignore voice, tone, and nuance as literary tools. Which implies that dissertation writing is a dry reporting process rather than an interpretive learning and sharing process. For anyone who knows me, it should come as no surprise that I am hoping my dissertation and defense more resembles Hans Rosling's way of sharing data!

I'm hoping that it will be okay for my dissertation to reflect my voice - I'm optimistic that the fact that my program shared this article with us is a sign of that!