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Reinventing Dissertation Writing for Sharing
On June 10, 2013, I successfully defended my dissertation and officially graduated from a doctoral program in instructional design, development and evaluation. I had grand visions (delusions?) of staging it as a play. Even as I was writing it, I had considered writing it as a play. My advisor finally let me organize it as different acts/scenes in a play but it wasn’t written like a play script or in a dialogue format. She asked me if I was ready to be non-conventional. I didn’t know what to think at…
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Research Update
Our research team is planning an update. My dissertation advisor has organized an Open House to disseminate our findings. This coincides with my Syracuse trip for graduation ceremonies. Here are the details, crafted by my advisor, Prof. Marj DeVault: It’s a mostly informal event where we’ll chat/sign. I’m looking forward to catching up with friends from both the hearing and Deaf communities in Syracuse. I’ll share more as the event unfolds.
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Percolating thoughts on diss writing
“The goal of a research paper is not to inform the reader what others have to say about a topic, but to draw on what others have to say about a topic and engage the sources in order to thoughtfully offer a unique perspective on the issue at hand. This is accomplished through two major types of research papers….” Argumentative and analytical. Purdue OWL web.
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Writing Tip
Something to note as I write: The group was “intrigued by the challenge of creating short stories that would defy audiences’ expectations of the subject,” said Aniston. “We wanted the balance of drama with humor and irreverence … we wanted stories that were informative without being heavy-handed. Oh, and they needed to be brilliantly written.” Read more.
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Next Steps in Arts Think Tank Part 2: Finding Penelope
The Play. I’ve been postponing this organization of my thoughts and my mixed (in a good way!) response to it. It is a beautifully crafted, complex and tender piece of art. I am half afraid to write about it. But “[f]inding Penelope” (FP) was one of the main reasons for my trip. So I want to document this learning experience. I had been following The Penelope Project blog for a while after Marj told me about it when she came back from the Seattle IA Conference. It inspired us, me,…
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Next Steps in Arts Think Tank: A Milestone Part 1
I had an enriching time at Milwaukee, learning and soaking in the experience of watching something profound unfold and transform everyone present — both the actors and the audience. Several people wept just talking about it. A-ma-zing. I’m grateful to be a part of history in the making. Yes, I do believe Dr. Basting’s research will mark a turning point in the use of arts for public health issues. This experience also marks a turning point in my doctoral journey. It’s a confirmation, a feeling I get that my dissertation…
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Just keep writing
I’m beginning to understand what dissertation-writing is about. As students reach this “terminal” stage in academic pursuit, the challenge is for students to identify/find their own problems, or set their own assignment topic (as opposed to instructors giving you a topic; although sometimes, it may not happen that way, :)). Write a gigantic long essay. Once it is approved and graded by a committee of experts, it passes for defense. The student then gets her PhD. As in creative pursuits, the greatest challenge is in problem-finding. Once a student gets…
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Another Year Beckons
Adieu, 2010, and salut, 2011. The year was packed with several academic accomplishments. I leaped onto the treadmill of dissertation writing, hitherto a much longed-for state. Now, I’m decidedly less sure if it’s the magical playground I had so desired, just like Narnia is to Lucy and Edmund. The thought of reading Lewis’ Chronicles stirs up greater excitement in me. Perchance I might move past this fog I seem to be suspended in? The drudgery of it all is that I have to distill exactly what I’m studying, yet again…
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Paulo Freire, Boal, hooks…
More names to get acquainted with. Wish I know how to speed-read! Just lugged 10 books back from the Bird Lib. The librarian even placed them in a bag for me. Wow! The library is spiffing up not just physically. R sent me a paper she had co-authored on a title I had envisioned for a possible project. But of course, my research will extend their study. I will develop a new perspective to the topic as an instructional design research student doing interdisciplinary work. She also sent me links…
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Funneling Down
I feel like I’m plunging deeper into the funnel, from a broad topic to an increasingly narrower focus (I think this metaphor came from Sari Biklen’s book on writing a qual research dissertation). What a blessing in disguise not doing my original topic is! I realize I’m a pretty intuitive person. I sensed from writing that 10-11 pages of my first proposal (a lot of hard work it was) that something was not going right. Abandoning it was hard. Not having support after thinking I had it was even harder.…
