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Academic publishing runs on its own schedule, Part 2

July 19, 2010 by protoscholar

As if sitting on our article for years (literally – nearly 3 years, see my first post on this topic) and then complaining that the lit review was out of date (well, DUH), the editors of the journal had the AUDACITY to send us an email less than 2 weeks after they sent us the revise and resubmit notice saying that if we didn’t get the revised article back to them by the end of July they would treat it as a new submission.

I am never, ever dealing with this journal again.  And I advise others to do the same.  If you are in education, email me at protoscholar at gmail dot com and I’ll let you know which journal this is.

Posted in Academic life, Being a scholar, Outrage, Whining | Leave a Comment »

Demystifying Dissertation Writing Part 1: Chapters 1-5

July 17, 2010 by protoscholar

In order to move myself forward on this process I have been reading Demystifying Dissertation Writing:A Streamlined Process from Choice of Topic to Final Text by Peg Boyle Single.  This is a different type of book from many of the other dissertation-writing guides out there, in that it’s goal is to present an organized process and tools for getting the dissertation done.  I’ve looked at a lot of these types of books but this one struck me as the most practical.

Let’s start with the bottom line:  Buy This Book.  It provides practical, useful tools and techniques that you can immediately apply to your academic writing, as well as a ton of things to consider as you move through your degree.  It doesn’t matter how early you are in your graduate career; in fact I wish someone had given me this right away.  The note taking method alone would have helped as I went through my coursework, and the thoughts on how to choose a topic and advisor are helpful very early in the process.

The book begins with a discussion of some of the statistics around dissertation completion; to say the least, they are kind of scary.  In the social sciences, only 20% graduate within 5 years and only 56% graduate within 10.  She emphasizes how a writing group can improve both your likelihood of finishing and your time to completion, and makes it clear that she understands the challenges that all too many graduate students face today (like families, full time jobs, etc.)

The second chapter focuses on questions of topic and advisor, and most critically interaction between these two parts of the decision.  Single talks about all the possible considerations in choosing an advisor, putting together a committee and then managing the process.  Her advice here is down to earth, practical, and realistic; a welcome change to many of the more philosophical approaches.  Frankly, I wish I had read it much earlier in my academic career.

The core chapters of the book focus on what she calls the “Single System for Academic Writing”.  It includes 8 steps:

  1. Interactive Reading
  2. Interactive Note-Taking
  3. Citeable Notes
  4. Focus statement
  5. One-Page Outline
  6. Long Outline with References
  7. Regular Writing Routine
  8. Dissertation

The first 6 steps fall into the category of pre-writing.  This is critical in the system because it is hard to know what to say until you’ve completed these steps.   Nonetheless it helped me a lot to hear that so explicitly.  I had been feeling rushed to finish reading and start writing, when in fact it is critical to do the first stages correctly.

She talks extensively about how the point of the reading and the literature review is to enter into the academic conversation, and how part of the goal of the reading is to learn the tone and style of that conversation.  The book provides extensive hints as to what questions to be asking as well as examples of what does or

One of the interesting features of this system is that you begin with the great stack of reading to do, work down to a focus statement of 3-4 sentences, then back up again to the completed dissertation.  Each step prepares both you and your materials for the next stage, although there is some extent to which you can move back and forth between the different steps.

Steps 1 and 2 are covered in chapter 3.  I’ve read it 3 times now and continue to find new nuggets of wisdom.  Single argues that you should read each article once, get the key notes out of it you need and, if done well, never have to go back to it again.  Further those notes should be organized and focused on the major elements of the article like theoretical framework, methods, hypothesis and results.  She also touches on when and how to use quotes.

Chapter 4 moves on to talk about how to distill those notes into usable citeable nuggets that can be used for your dissertation, as well as suggesting that you do this as you go rather than at the end.  Her system for both chapters 3 and 4 are practical, easily implemented and well thought out.  Not surprising since this book grew from her experience teaching a dissertation-writing seminar, which means that many of the kinks have already been worked out.

Chapter 5 talks about creating a focus statement to clarify where you are going.  While I understand why she places this step after the the others, I would advise any person beginning work on their dissertation to at least read through to this point and start to pull together a focus statement early.  You’ll revise it several times, but the process of writing and revising as you read will help you clarify your own thinking about your topic and express it to others.

There is so much great stuff in just these first 5 chapters that I haven’t made it past them.  As I said, I’ve gone back and re-read sections in order to get the steps down.  I can’t even begin to summarize all the nuggets I’ve pulled out so far and the changes it has made to how I approach my reading and note-taking.

The bottom line here is that you should buy this book.  Demystifying Dissertation Writing is about the most practical book on the topic I’ve found, and provides the tools you will need to move your research forward.  Even if the remaining chapters were blank (they aren’t) or advised only writing under the full moon by candlelight, the book would still be worth the money, time and effort to read.  Since a quick scan shows that the remaining chapters are every bit as useful, I can unreservedly recommend this book to anyone involved in a thesis or dissertation.  You will get the skills necessary to be a prolific and ORGANIZED academic writer.

Posted in Being a scholar, Dissertation, Graduate school, Organization, Reading, Tools, Writing | 2 Comments »

Gratuitous Puppy Pictures

July 14, 2010 by protoscholar

In case you’ve been wondering what’s been keeping me away from the computer….

He’s 9 weeks old, a german shephard mix, sweet, probably too smart, and needs to be watched which keeps me from doing much else!

Posted in Procrastination, Puppies | 1 Comment »

Academic publishing runs on its own schedule

July 4, 2010 by protoscholar

3 years ago my chair and I presented a paper at the premier conference in our field.  We took the comments, modified the paper and submitted it to a journal.

<crickets chirping>

A year later we heard that the journal had gone through a couple of “changes” and wanted to know if we wanted our paper back or were willing to wait*.  We said we’d wait.

<more crickets>

Friday we FINALLY got the paper back – revise and resubmit.

The number one comment by both reviewers?  The literature review was out of date.

^&(*^%$%$#^&^&()()%$&*)*&&^%#@&*(

Well, DUH!  Of course it’s out of date.  YOU PEOPLE SAT ON IT FOR YEARS!!!

*sigh*

So now, instead of working on my literature review, I’m working on the lit review for this paper instead.

It is always better to have published papers in the field, so I know that this is worth the effort in the long run, but if this takes too long I may never graduate.  Again.

* A while back I did a paper with someone in the law school and discovered that they basically shop their papers around to everywhere, all at once, and take “the best” [read: prestigious] offer.  I am so jealous of that system.

Posted in Being a scholar, Education policy, Rants, Research, Whining, Writing | Comments Off

For-profit education; potential martyr of higher ed reform?

June 26, 2010 by protoscholar

One of the hottest topics in education right now is the issues around for-profit higher education providers.  (Think DeVry, ITT Technical Institute, Capella, University of Phoenix, Walden, etc,, but also your local beauty school, Le Courdon Bleu cooking schools and such.)  Working in the industry, this is a subject I’ve been following closely and have a great deal of passion around.

All too many people are looking at this from a one-dimensional perspective; for-profit = bad.  To this group there is some kind of ethical issue with making money on education; these are the same people who have been tarring and feathering charter schools for the past decade. The corollary is that making money principally from money provided by the government is worse.  (Why this doesn’t apply to defense contracts and such is beyond me.)  The picture is much more complex.

We are caught in an explosion of credential-ism, whereby the administrative assistant who used to need a High School diploma now needs an Associates in Business and a promotion to manager needs an MBA.  Do these jobs really require what is taught in these programs?  Probably not.  But the degree is a short-cut; it indicates purpose on the part of the person, discipline to complete something and some assumed level of knowledge.  (Note that at the same time employers routinely complain that students don’t learn what they need them to learn in school, but that’s another post entirely.)  Regardless, most people can’t stop working long enough to get the credential, making the “traditional” college experience an unachievable goal.

At the same time we live in a society where the message for the past few decades has been that degree = success = money = middle class.  My father died in 1993, when I was in my late 20s.  I had dropped out of college after the first semester of my sophomore year and not yet gone back.  On his death-bed he informed me that I was going to be a bag lady because I hadn’t finished school.  At the time I was making $50k working as a tech support manager in silicon valley.  To him that didn’t matter, and we continue to deliver that message today.  We tell kids and adults that they HAVE to go to college, and we talk about increasing the number of graduates, all the while watching the benefits of that degree shrink.

These competing pressures are driving more and more non-traditional students back to school.  (Traditional students are full-time, 18-21 year olds usually living on campus and working maybe 10 hours per week.)

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, about half of today’s students are financially independent; 49% are enrolled part-time; 38% work full-time; 27% have dependents of their own. Almost half — 12 million — attend two-year community colleges rather than four-year schools.

And most students who start college don’t finish. Only 56% of students at four-year colleges complete a degree within six years, and just 20% of first-time students at public community colleges get a degree or certificate within three years. — USA today citing NCES

We have a system in place that is made to support a small fraction of what today’s college student is actually like at a time when public funding for education is being drastically cut, limiting innovation in the public sector.  Is it any wonder why for-profit firms have stepped in to fill the gap?

For-profit colleges work with a disproportionate number of

  1. working adults
  2. minorities
  3. first time college students
  4. first college student in the family

This is not a chosen strategy; every school would rather have the easy students who all complete their programs, know how to deal with the system and make the school look great by going on to great accomplishments.  For-profits work with this audience because that is the one that exists and is being drastically underserved by other higher education organizations.

On the one hand, many people see these groups as disadvantaged and therefore in need of protection from the “big bad corporate wolf”.  But on the other, most non-profit colleges aren’t interested in supporting these students or don’t have the resources to help them navigate the process.  For example, only 58 percent of community college students eligible for Pell Grants applied.

The study, conducted in collaboration with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), identified several reasons that community college students are reluctant apply for aid. These reasons include:

  • a lack sufficient human and technology resources at financial aid offices to provide students with information and one-on-one assistance
  • financial aid needs of students may not receive adequate priority or attention because public funding is scarce for many community colleges.
  • students not having a basic understanding of financial planning for a college education

    • Say what you want about for-profits, but they provide students the information and resources to apply.

    Are there crooked for-profits out there seeking only to game the system?  Of course.  There are also crooked churches, crooked social service organizations and crooked businesses.  This doesn’t make them ALL crooked.  Are there bad apples at every school doing the wrong things?  Yup; if I could take the enrollment counselors who were recruiting from homeless shelters out and paddle their bottoms I would.

    But just as there are bad for-profits, there are bad non-profits as well.  Segregating the system based on incorporation status doesn’t provide any benefit to the discussion.  Bad apples in both barrels need to be dealt with, students need to be educated on smart college borrowing, and schools that provide sub-standard education need to be weeded out regardless of whether they put their money into shareholder dividends or new buildings and endowments.

    The higher education system has some really big issues right now, and picking on the new kid isn’t going to solve them.  The most sensible voices in the current discussion realize that.  The rest need to come down off their high horses, stop throwing the baby (innovation and superior service) out with the bath water (predatory recruiting practices and uninformed lending) and focus on supporting the students we HAVE, not the ones we wish we had.

    Is a for-profit always the best alternative for a given student?  No.  Neither is Harvard, or StateU or Local Community College.  However singling out the for-profit sector isn’t reasonable; there are lots of people flipping burgers with degrees from third-rate universities who struggle just as much with their loans, and many with non-vocationally oriented degrees from top universities who are drowning in debt.  The problem is systemic and needs to be addressed as such.  Access, funding, and the desired outcomes are all in need of some serious re-imagining, and removing the most imaginative group from the discussion (even if you don’t like what motivates their imagination) isn’t going to help anyone.

    Posted in Education policy, news | Comments Off

    Three steps forward, two steps back…

    June 20, 2010 by protoscholar

    I realized today while reading that redirecting my topic was not actually a painless exercise.  I had a very comprehensive outline of my literature review for my prior topic, and reading it over am relatively happy with it.  I have no such thing for my new one, and am not at all happy with that.

    On the other hand, there is NOTHING specific to the new topic; it appears to be a question no one has asked.  This seems both good and bad; good in that it is certainly a unique contribution, but bad in that there is little in the way of a template to work from.  Which is making it harder to write that outline….

    Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

    How I use OneNote for my Dissertation

    June 20, 2010 by protoscholar

    The question came up recently about how I am using OneNote for my dissertation note taking.  Sometimes show is easier than tell.

    I have one OneNote notebook called Dissertation.  Within it, I have 8 sections:

    A few things about this:

    • The first 5 sections reflect the 5 chapters required in my dissertation: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Findings, Conclusion
    • I have a tab called Media into which I put less scholarly discussion around my topic. I probably won’t use this stuff in my Lit Review but may use it for context in the introduction.
    • Meta is where I put notes on things like how to write a literature review, what constitutes a good one, etc.
    • Old is where I put notes related to things I may not end up using.  In this case I am looking at changing the specific focus of my dissertation, so the prior focus is under OLD now.  I don’t want to lose that work, but I don’t want it cluttering things up, either.

    Within each section, I am creating multiple tabs with notes on specific sub-areas.  For example, here is the literature review pages:

    Notice that the first tab is labeled structure.  I am working on an outline of what the eventual document will look like on that tab. That tab also contains search terms I am using for each section of the outline so that later I can revisit and see if I come up with any new ones.

    Below that, each 1st author has a tab.  If they have just one applicable paper, the title is part of the tab name.  If not, then I’ll throw in the word Multiple.

    Within each tab, I take notes on the paper.  I am trying very hard to make those notes brief, useful, and as much about my observations on the paper as a restatement of the paper itself.  Here is an example:

    Key things to notice: the bibliographic reference is at the top.  I am using Zotero to track my references, but including items here just to make sure I take no changes on losing the information.

    In this case I copied the abstract in, since it did a good job of summarizing the paper.  I then put in a number of bullet points about things important to my work.  In this case, there were several methodological issues, such as the data used and the lack of confounding variables included in the study. I also put in a bit about the theoretical approach, which was interesting in this case.

    If I see a specific number or quote that I believe I will use, I include those in the page.  In general my goal is to keep each paper to under half a page.

    OneNote automatically enters the times and dates when the document was started, so that I can revisit items on which my perspective may have changed.

    I have done some playing around with tags, but find that to be OneNote’s weakest feature.  In the end I find I’m not using those much.  In fact I don’t even recall what some of those tags were intended to mean.

    Today my goal is to put some more thought into the structure given the modified topic.  I had a really good structure for the old review, and am genuinely mourning it’s loss today.  The new one is nowhere near as thorough or well thought out.  Without that structure go guide my reading I feel as though I’ll be wandering around blind again, so while I will certainly update it as the process moves forward, for now I want to get enough down to guide my work.

    Posted in Being a scholar, Dissertation, Organization, Productivity, Writing | 1 Comment »

    The dissertation topic….

    June 16, 2010 by protoscholar

    In December 2008 I wrote a post related to choosing a dissertation topic.  More specifically, I was looking at weighing the choice between choosing a topic about which you are passionate, or choosing one that is marketable.   A few months went by and I went down the marketable path.  Then I essentially took a year off to teach myself the equivalent of a Masters in Psychology (may go get a real one after this is done…interesting stuff….).  I was also waiting for my chair to get back to me with news that he had gotten the data and needed my help managing it.  He didn’t, and I jumped to the conclusion that he hadn’t gotten the data.

    Throughout this last year I have collected articles that I saw that seemed related to the topic I was planning to pursue.  Or so I thought.  When I went through those articles this weekend I discovered that they were scattered; it was nearly impossible to identify the theme of those articles (which, mind you, I had not read).

    This weekend I reflected on that lack of coherence.  Part of the problem was lack of time; I picked up anything that seemed passingly related and set it aside for later.  But part was a lack of clarity around the core question I was trying to ask.

    You see, a dissertation is a research project, meaning that you have to have a question or hypothesis to test.  And to me, it’s even MORE important to know that your data will be able to answer your question.  You don’t need to know the answer right now, and in fact you shouldn’t.  But without a clear question and confidence that the answer is in there, it becomes hard to focus your research and writing.

    For someone intending to gather their own data, this is a bit different.  The question for you is whether you can get the right sample, perform the correct techniques, generate unbiased  instruments  for use with human subjects, and in the end get the pieces you need to answer your question.

    But part of my area of expertise is large data sets, and it is impractical for a dissertation project to collect one.  It is also unnecessary.  The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) does large scale surveys/studies and makes much of the data publicly available.  As a great professor told me when I just started my PhD, those data sets contain thousands of unwritten dissertations available for the taking.  And that is WITHOUT any potential data from my advisor.

    Anyway, the point here is that I realized my inability to focus was related to having no idea what data I would have.  I was trying to cover every possible question my advisors data might hold because I didn’t know what was there.  Rather than continue to thrash like that, I have decided to work off of one of the NCES data sets for a similar topic.

    There are countless great ideas for dissertations but it is critical that, while assessing your ideas, you consider whether they are actually feasible.  The dissertation should be the worst research project you ever do, but you need to make sure that you can finish it.  That means a tight topic, limited scope, and making sure that the data you are either collecting or using can actually answer the question you are asking.

    Posted in Being a scholar, Dissertation, Research | Comments Off

    Time to get back to work.

    June 16, 2010 by protoscholar

    Apologies for the long absence; the spring semester involved a change of my day job and teaching 3 classes.  I didn’t touch my dissertation or really anything but what needed to be done for my job or my courses.  Now that I’ve more or less recovered (yes, it really did take a month) I will get back to regular posts as I get back to regularly working on my dissertation.  I’ve set myself a goal of graduating no later than December 2011 (optimally August, but I am still teaching and working full time so I need to not be overly aggressive with deadlines).  Time to get back to work.

    Posted in Blogging, Productivity, Stress | Comments Off

    Student expectations

    March 28, 2010 by protoscholar

    Some days it’s a bit odd being on the other side of the lectern; there are many ways in which I am still very familiar with the plight of the average student, and often adjust my assignments accordingly.  However I’ve been hearing a couple of themes lately that concern me.

    The first theme is that the readings are optional.  That opinion has become so pervasive that in my Psych 101 classes I new derive 32% of their grade from homework assignments that are essentially multiple choice quizzes of the readings due that day.  The homework appears in blackboard 1 week before and disappears at class time.  If it isn’t done before, they get a zero.  I drop the lowest 2, because we all have bad weeks.  Yet I am still stunned by the number of students who don’t do (or do poorly on) these assignments.  This is an open book, open note, open internet, untimed multiple choice test.  They can take it up to three times and get to keep the highest grade.  Nonetheless there are students who consistently score in the 20s and 30s on the assignment.

    Here’s a clue to the students who might read this:  The readings are not optional.  There is NO WAY I can give you all the information in the limited time we have together.  My job is to help you understand what you read, incorporate it into the broader web of things you know and make connections for you that you haven’t made for yourself.  If you don’t do the readings, you are missing out on MOST of the class.

    A second theme is related; it is the assumption that if it wasn’t covered in the lecture, it isn’t going to be on the test.  One of the reasons the first test in my class is after just one chapter is to disabuse the students of this notion.

    This faulty assumption is often associated with the cry for study guides and review sessions.   Unfortunately when I attempt to provide them I discover that what the class has in mind is not at all what I have in mind.  My study guides provide very general questions that you should be able to answer thoroughly.  My A students tell me that these are perfect; it directs them to what they need to focus on.  (Psych 101 is such a huge area, and the book has some digressions, so I am comfortable giving clues about what will and won’t be on the test.)  My other students find the study guides too vague; they want to know specifically what I intend to ask on a topic.

    I’m beginning to feel as though I need to explain my pedagogical strategy to my classes, yet even when I do they don’t seem to get it.  I told my stats class this semester that I was following the “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, Tell them, then Tell them what you told them” approach.  Specifically, they were to read the chapter, I would go over it in class and do some problems on the board, then they would do homework on the chapter afterward.  I know for a fact that most have stopped doing the readings.  The only reason they do the homework is because I collect it periodically, and then many only do the parts I might collect.  (I have one of them roll a 6-sided die and I collect homework on the odd numbers.  Teaches them probability at the same time!)

    I don’t recall EVER making such assumptions when I was a student.  Study guides were rare and lovely things.  Review sessions were times when the class could ask the teacher anything and clarify concepts without having to find their office during office hours.  Readings were to be read; before class or at worst right after.  Homework was expected, and you didn’t have to threaten to grade it every time to get me to do it.

    I worry that this is something we are instilling in kids now in school, and it scares me.  A responsible adult these days needs to be able to learn constantly throughout their life, and more often then not WITHOUT a teacher.  College is a time to practice that skill while having guidance.  If they aren’t practicing it now, when will they learn it?

    Posted in Academic life, Teaching | Comments Off

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