Math and Dissertations
September 25th is National Math Storytelling Day. Doctoral students can’t afford to be mathophobes. Not when a little math storytelling can save you months off your dissertation journey… My kids’ favorite math story: Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because, 7, 8, 9! Here’s another: A wanderer found himself in the court of the Emperor […]
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Punctuation and Dissertations
September 24th is National Punctuation Day. Doctoral students often complain that their writing is thwarting their dissertation. The real problem is something else… Your dissertation will require you to develop many skills that you may not currently possess. One of the most important of these is perspective. Dissertation students (and some dissertation chairs) often find it […]
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Fall and Dissertations
September 23rd is traditionally the first day of fall. If it’s officially fall, then you should officially be back to work on your dissertation… Do you remember summer break when you were a kid? We didn’t have all that much when I was a kid, so summer break meant hanging around the house while my […]
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Acceleration, Moving Too Fast, and Dissertations
September 22 is the birthday of Nobel Laureate, Saul Perlmutter. It’s also the day the science moved too fast. Lessons for dissertation students abound… I’ve had a colorful academic past. Although I ultimately earned my Ph.D. in Organization & Management, mine was certainly the road less traveled. I started off in science, picking up degrees […]
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Hobbits and Dissertations
On September 21, 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit, was published. It’s the story of a long journey against impossible odds. Which should sound familiar to a dissertation student… The Hobbit is a story of small people, several dwarfs and a hobbit, on a treacherous journey to an unfamiliar home. They face great challenges from enemies, both new and […]
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Game of Thrones and Dissertations
September 20th is George R.R. Martin’s birthday. Let’s take a quick trip around Westeros to see how the characters there fit into your dissertation journey… (SPOILER ALERT, obviously.)
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Emotions and Dissertations
September 19th is the birthday of the emoticon. On this day in 1982, Scott Fahlman posted the first emoticon — 🙂 — on a Carnegie Mellon message board and asked users to include it in messages to indicated whe they are joking. Doctoral students experience their own catalog of emotions throughout the dissertation journey…
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Perspective and Dissertations
On September 18, 1977, Voyager I took the first picture of the Earth and the Moon. It’s tough to see things from a different perspective. But, sometimes that’s exactly what you need to do to get your dissertation done… Keep your head down! Keep your nose to the grindstone! Persistence! Do you ever feel too […]
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Monte Cristo and Dissertations
September 17th is National Monte Cristo Day. Hey, sometimes a dissertation student just needs a sandwich… Over the past several weeks I’ve written about all manner of issues related to the dissertation process… loneliness, simplicity, perfection, life, balance, persistence, and depression. Each day, I look for quirky hooks to twist and turn until they provide some insight into the dissertation process. Some […]
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Habits and Dissertations – 3 of 4
On August 15, 1989, Dr. Stephen R. Covey published his revolutionary book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 Habits have helped millions of people improve their performance in a range of applications. In Part 3 of this 4-part series, I’m going to show you how Habits 3 & 4 have been instrumental in […]
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