Writing Your Doctoral Dissertation: Invisible Rules for Success (Paperback - 2005)

Writing Your Doctoral Dissertation advises doctoral students about what it really takes to write a dissertation. Written from a student advocate stance, it is a candid, informative handbook and survival manual based on the experiences of hundreds of doctoral students. It offers a realistic understanding of both the academic and the social pieces of the process and contains practical, step-by-step guidance. The book makes explicit the invisible culture of dissertation writing, giving doctoral students information that increases their likelihood of success.
Three major sections correspond to the stages involved in the dissertation writing process:
• 'Getting a Sense of the Terrain' provides a comparison between a dissertation and a long term-paper, identifies the stages in writing, and offers hands-on advice for survival
• 'Preparing for Your Study' considers such issues as identifying your research topic, forming your dissertation committee, and creating productive and professional settings
• 'Doing Your Study' covers conducting your study, analyzing and interpreting data, presenting your findings, and defending your dissertation.
About the Author

Rita S. Brause is Professor of Language and Literacy Education at Fordham University's Graduate School of Education and a teacher-consultant to public schools. Responding to an award early in her academic career from the National Council of Teachers of English as a Promising Researcher, she has authored numerous books, articles and chapters in books reporting on her research on teaching, learning and research processes. "