I also made a list of the smaller research ideas I’d jotted down over the past two years, that I didn’t plan to incorporate into my dissertation research, but which I hoped to investigate someday. I made a list of all of the questions and sub-topics I still found fascinating. During the process of reevaluating my project, I found that breaking it apart into smaller research questions was helpful. Writing the prospectus can feel a little bit like performing surgery on your ideas. It proved such a valuable opportunity, though, because it forced me to step back from my research and reevaluate what seemed most interesting and important about it.Ģ. But as an obsessive planner, this was still a slightly alarming experience. And because so much of the dissertation depends on what one’s sources deliver anyway, I know that the project proposed in the prospectus might look different from the one I end up writing. I’d often heard more advanced graduate students and academics say that it’s common to change course from the dissertation idea you come into your PhD with (especially since many projects start large and gradually become narrower). I still found it really interesting, but suddenly felt less certain about committing to this project long-term.
Part way through my second year, I realized that this project was not quite what I wanted to spend the next several years of my life investigating.
I had identified a primary research question and potential archives, as well as the body of secondary literature into which I hoped to write. I came into my graduate program with a clear idea of what I wanted to research. (Disclaimer: I’m an historian, so some pieces of this list might prove less helpful to grad students in other disciplines.)ġ. So as I settle into the long process of dissertation research, I thought I’d share a couple of things I learned while writing and revising my prospectus. But when it came time to fulfill the final phase of the candidacy process - writing and defending the dissertation prospectus - I found fewer resources here (but found these two especially useful). Along the way, I’ve taken advantage of many of the strategies suggested here on GradHacker, and have found the archive of advice and reflections very helpful. Last quarter, after surviving coursework, qualifying exams, and the dissertation proposal, at long last, I arrived at the glorious land of being ABD. You can find her on Twitter at or at her blog, dighistorienne. Emily VanBuren is a PhD student in History at Northwestern University.
0 kommentar(er)
