How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation

This book is written mainly for those in social sciences who've begun work on their dissertations. It's comforting timely overview - while written a while back, still applies. It's practical guidance is both comforting and helpful -and will encourage any doctoral student who has begun the process.

We're taught that info more than 10 years old usually isn't apprpriate for a dissertation. However, this is a MUST READ for all who intend to complete the dissertation process. It is guaranteed to save you time and heart ache (not to mention many of the frustrations that are a natural part of the dissertation process). In fact if read BEFORE you even start your Review of Literature you will find that manyfrustrations that are usually presumed to be "natural" can also be avoided or at least limited in their scope and severity. If you are already well into the process read it any way. It is still going to save you time and hassles.

After finishing my comps I wanted a book that would address the last hurdle toward my PhD. I spent a couple of hours in the library thumbing through "how-to-write-a-dissertation" books and finding nothing more than uninteresting collisions of the MLA Manual of Style and Williams' Style (an excellent book BTW). Then I found How to Complete and Survive a Dissertation -- the only reason I pulled it off the shelf was the word "survive" in the title. I believe this book will help me not only survive the diss but also complete it in a timely fashion - Thus far, after a mere week in my possession, it has explained the reason I have become invisible in my department! I knew I needed my own copy. Yes, it is depressing -- but it is better to know what you are up against than to stick your head in the sand and ignore the problems. Yes, it is dated in parts -- you don't need to read the sections on using a computer -- still, even though the statistics are from the late 1970s, they are no less telling about the plight of many an ABD over the last 30 years. Lastly, I would also recommend this book to the significant other of the ABD. It clarifies the process and the pitfalls. It is, as promised, a survival guide surpassing all the deadly "how-to" books.

I thought it was just me. I had a HORRIBLE experience at the end of my thesis. My defense went perfectly and then a week before graduation a committee member (not my advisor) told me I had to re-write an entire chapter. No matter what I did she was unsatisfied. A friend recommended this book to me when I was near suicide. I thought I was going crazy and didn't know why all these 'blocks' kept occuring. After talking to her and reading this book, I realized it was one woman on a power trip. It easied my mind (I thought I was going crazy, close to a nervous breakdown)and allowed me to finish ON TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This book should be given to EVERYONE who is starting a thesis or dissertation. It was a huge help!!

Do. Not. Be. Fooled. into the "truth and beauty" of the academic world ideals-- finishing and going from ABD to PhD is HARD. The ABD student doesn't need encouragement as much as warnings, in my opinion. I very nearly didn't finish for a variety of reasons, mostly work-related, but thankfully I successfully defended in December 2005. There are some other books that are better for the nitty-gritty of writing the dissertation (Authoring the PhD by Patrick Dunleavy comes to mind) but this book is a classic in terms of the many pitfalls facing the ABD student, many of which you really need to know BEFORE you are ABD.


The one piece of advice in this book that is worth the whole book itself is the warning to limit your committee to those who want you to succeed. I faced just such a choice at a certain period and thankfully I decided NOT to ask a person whose scholarship interested me but whom I did not trust to be on my committee. BOY, was I right! The fullness of time and the things he did to other people in the department, showed me the truth of that warning.

Not to be missed.