Helpful guides for writing a dissertation?

August 17, 2007 6:51 PM

What guidebooks did you find helpful for the writing of a doctoral dissertation? (I'm writing a dissertation on literature, but guidebooks with a broader disciplinary scope are OK too, if you think they are particularly good.)
posted by limon to Education (8 answers total)

Best answer: The folks at Phinished will probably help you out-- they are a great bunch. They have a collection of links to book reviews that are related to what you want.

As for me, I just finished Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day and found it useful, in a "obvious, but I hadn't really thought of it before like that" kind of way.
posted by synecdoche at 7:24 PM on August 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

The guidelines from Fordham, posted recently on the blue, are actually pretty good.
posted by janell at 7:34 PM on August 17, 2007

You might consider David Sternberg's How To Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation, although bear in mind that the book hasn't been updated since the advent of modern word processors.
posted by mcgillicutty at 8:00 PM on August 17, 2007

I and several friends who have completed dissertations swear by Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis by Joan Bolker. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
posted by annabellee at 8:13 PM on August 17, 2007

Best answer: A friend (who finished her PhD last year!) recommended The Clockwork Muse; I haven't looked at it yet.

Two websites that have helped me at times are successfulacademic.com, and academicladder.com. (I'm not affiliated with either of them.) I participated in a 30-day "writing club" through the latter, which actually kick-started me into writing some papers for candidacy.

For the most part, I think dissertation books usually say similar things, but I do find that reading a few pages here and there is inspiring.
posted by splendid animal at 8:13 PM on August 17, 2007

The Clockwork Muse has a great strategy for overcoming procrastination.
posted by Crotalus at 11:18 PM on August 17, 2007

There's a book called "Getting What You Came For" that covers the entire road through grad school & should be helpful. also it's not academe related but David Allen's "Getting Things Done" might be worth a shot.
posted by citron at 5:40 AM on August 18, 2007

I found the Routledge study guides to be interesting and easy reads, although the ones I read were geared towards Masters study, and they have a UK focus when talking about grades and such.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:52 PM on August 18, 2007