The Doctoral Dissertation: Comparing and Contrasting ArticlesEssay title: The Doctoral Dissertation: Comparing and Contrasting ArticlesThe Doctoral Dissertation: Comparing and Contrasting ArticlesUnderstanding the necessity of the doctoral dissertation is one of the most important aspects of being a graduate student. Thus, it is essential for the doctoral student to read, research, and understand the dissertation process. The article written by Nancy Coppola (2005) titled “Writing the Qualitative Dissertation” and the article by David Boote and Penny Beile (2005) called “Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation” both help to highlight the doctoral dissertations significance. Both articles discuss the concept of the dissertation process, providing valuable advice to doctoral students. However, the approach and focus of each article is different. Coppola focuses on reviewing one book in particular, Understanding by Doing by Judith Melroy, and discusses several important and helpful concepts for doctoral students discussed within the book. On the other hand, Boote and Beile analyze the importance of the literature review for doctoral students, especially those in education, offering tips for the graduate student about this particular section of the dissertation, and where to further find information. Therefore, both articles are helpful for the graduate student, although the articles offer different advice about the dissertation.
Coppolas article analyzes Melroys book, which primarily focuses on peer advice from doctoral students, for doctoral students. For example, Melroy states: “The doctoral students who are the research components give advice both traditional and quirky” (2005, p. 217). Various students within the book express themselves and their own search for developing their voice and style. Each student gives very different advice, as would be expected for a writing project that requires an individual to discover his or her own personal voice. As Coppola states, “Correspondents write about struggling to find their voice in writing” (2005, p. 217). Overall, it is important that the book shares such a wide variety of personal experiences, because the hope would be that the doctoral student reading this book would relate to one or two of these experiences, and be able to progress on his or her own project.
The doctoral students in Coppola’s group have a responsibility to read the book after it has been evaluated and approved by the College of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy. The degree of confidence that students have in Coppola’s work is critical for their quality of their own professional outlook. “While I do love his work, that is not to say that I’m going to enjoy it all if no one else gives it a try,” says coppola.
Coppola, however, says he’s always done his PhD research to learn how to improve our work ethic, by finding creative ways to get in our own head more efficiently. “It can be challenging and frustrating to work on problems that people have faced,” says coppola.
“This was very much about making me a better person”, coppola says. (And, as is often said, I’ve enjoyed my job too. )
Some of that frustration stemmed from coppola’s being in college when, as a young scholar at the University of California, he had one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had in my professional life. Coppola didn’t have a PhD at the time, and his research did not advance his career. He never dreamed about becoming a pharmaceutical engineer, like he once had. His job included writing about the field of bioengineering—it is a broad field, and is covered in lots of detail in the book. Coppola and his collaborator on coppola’s dissertation also made a great impression on one another.
“You can be pretty much a PhD student by actually reading the book and trying to understand it yourself,” says Coppola.
Of course, that may mean reading an entire paper or a whole book—the process takes its toll on the writing of the book. Some studies show that even when some students are successful in certain areas of writing the book, the most influential ones do not perform very well while other students aren’t.
A better predictor of success is a positive rating in his professional journal after the graduate student was evaluated for academic accomplishment. Coppola says that he’s particularly pleased that he’s made this finding while in high school because he thought the publication of a PhD would make this a less embarrassing process.
“He thought of this like an academic journal, but instead of being happy with this post, he felt like he was being judged in a negative way,” says coppola. This is the moment when he realized the pressure to publish could actually make a lasting impact.
Coppola explains, “To be judged in academic literature and then in graduate student literature is what really changed things for me. If I would have gotten a certificate just to be able to work in a classroom and actually have conversations with my mentor about what I could do, I would never have had that much influence over how I ended up doing things. My sense of self and others, my career and my experience as a human being are just the tools you use to create value in your work.”
One important factor was that the way coppola’s PhD thesis advisor approached the situation, he thought that the experience of the university was a good one. “People in the faculty or others might think I was just doing some kind of weird bullshit that took up a scholarship to study for PhD,” Coppola says. And, as Coppola himself admits, “I went there to look for some new approaches to the work that I had done while I was in college. If
The doctoral students in Coppola’s group have a responsibility to read the book after it has been evaluated and approved by the College of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy. The degree of confidence that students have in Coppola’s work is critical for their quality of their own professional outlook. “While I do love his work, that is not to say that I’m going to enjoy it all if no one else gives it a try,” says coppola.
Coppola, however, says he’s always done his PhD research to learn how to improve our work ethic, by finding creative ways to get in our own head more efficiently. “It can be challenging and frustrating to work on problems that people have faced,” says coppola.
“This was very much about making me a better person”, coppola says. (And, as is often said, I’ve enjoyed my job too. )
Some of that frustration stemmed from coppola’s being in college when, as a young scholar at the University of California, he had one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had in my professional life. Coppola didn’t have a PhD at the time, and his research did not advance his career. He never dreamed about becoming a pharmaceutical engineer, like he once had. His job included writing about the field of bioengineering—it is a broad field, and is covered in lots of detail in the book. Coppola and his collaborator on coppola’s dissertation also made a great impression on one another.
“You can be pretty much a PhD student by actually reading the book and trying to understand it yourself,” says Coppola.
Of course, that may mean reading an entire paper or a whole book—the process takes its toll on the writing of the book. Some studies show that even when some students are successful in certain areas of writing the book, the most influential ones do not perform very well while other students aren’t.
A better predictor of success is a positive rating in his professional journal after the graduate student was evaluated for academic accomplishment. Coppola says that he’s particularly pleased that he’s made this finding while in high school because he thought the publication of a PhD would make this a less embarrassing process.
“He thought of this like an academic journal, but instead of being happy with this post, he felt like he was being judged in a negative way,” says coppola. This is the moment when he realized the pressure to publish could actually make a lasting impact.
Coppola explains, “To be judged in academic literature and then in graduate student literature is what really changed things for me. If I would have gotten a certificate just to be able to work in a classroom and actually have conversations with my mentor about what I could do, I would never have had that much influence over how I ended up doing things. My sense of self and others, my career and my experience as a human being are just the tools you use to create value in your work.”
One important factor was that the way coppola’s PhD thesis advisor approached the situation, he thought that the experience of the university was a good one. “People in the faculty or others might think I was just doing some kind of weird bullshit that took up a scholarship to study for PhD,” Coppola says. And, as Coppola himself admits, “I went there to look for some new approaches to the work that I had done while I was in college. If
Like Coppolas article, Boote and Beiles (2005) article also discusses elements of the dissertation helpful for the doctoral student. However, unlike Coppola, Boote and Beile do not focus on a book; instead, they focus on one of the most important parts of the dissertation: the literature review. According to Boote and Beile: “A sophisticated literature review is the foundation and inspiration for substantial, useful research” (2005, p. 3). Following this assertion is an argument of the literature reviews