75 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very helpful classic, December 31, 2001
This review is from: How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation (Paperback)
This book was my "bible" during grad school; it was my "mentor" as I fought to complete my dissertation. As I've counseled graduate students over the years, many have found this book helpful. I wholeheartedly recommend it, despite some of my comments below. Sternberg spent years working as a dissertation counselor, and he knows what he's talking about. Here are some features that I found particularly helpful:
1. This book *is* about survival. Of course, Sternberg could spend more space discussing formatting and other gritty details. This book is more concerned about cutting to the chase -- how to get a Ph.D. in the minimum amount of time, with the minimum amount of damage and the maximum amount of personal and professional growth.
2. It communicates very effectively to us that the process is typically lonely, dangerous, and costly. The process frequently ends badly. Sternberg focuses on practical solutions that carry us through.
3. He anticipates many barriers to completing a dissertation, and provides valuable advice for getting past them. For instance, he discusses issues such as (a) difficult members of the committee, (b) sexual harassment, (c) difficulties staying motivated, and (d) effective (and ineffective) ways to get support from friends, faculty members, and professional counselors. His advice isn't always politically correct (e.g., tolerating sexual harassment), but it reflects the voice of a strongly opinionated, experienced mentor who is aware of worst case scenarios and ways to survive them. In my own case, he was dead on, in various ways. I needed to stay focused on completing my work while tolerating and minimizing the damaging effects of my committee-member-from-hell. I needed to make sure my work was "good enough" while dispensing with the "magnum opus" myth.
I didn't take all of Sternberg's advice. He generally seemed to recommend weeding people out of one's life who were not particularly understanding or supporting of the dissertation focus. He seemed to recommend maintaining a constant focus on getting the work done--just keep working. In my own case, I moved forward when I budgeted plenty of time and psychological energy away from the dissertation. When I conquered workaholic tendencies, the time I actually spent working was much more productive. If I allowed myself time with friends and family who weren't particularly concerned in my dissertation, it was quite energizing. In other words, this is akin to "incubation effects" that one reads about in introductory psychology classes. (e.g., Crick and Watson took plenty of time off to play while discovering the DNA double helix...)
If you feel that your dissertation effort is on the skids despite all your work, I might suggest finding a good dissertation coach (or therapist). Several years ago, I heard a presentation by a dissertation coach in the San Diego area who seemed to be on target. Her site on the web was something like "dissertationdoctor.com" or some such... I'm sure there are others out there.
I wish that Sternberg would publish a new, updated edition of this book, especially now that there are newer competitors on the market.
Final note: If you are shopping for a book on this topic, then get this one. Lots of people have found it to be very helpful; some haven't. For [the money], or so, it is worth the gamble.
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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A structured approach which gives one a feeling of control., June 30, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation (Paperback)
Sternberg's book performs two important functions for the ABD: providing basic (but sensible) advice on rearranging one's personal life to accommodate the dissertation writing activity, and soothing the panic of the dissertation myths which he insightfully identifies and disarms. I had been trying to write my dissertation at my office (I'm a college lecturer); naturally I met with the difficulties of a remote and distracted work environment. Sternberg's suggestion of creating a separate dissertation office at home (and keeping a log to monitor how much work one is really doing there) turned out to be a boon. Secondly is his suggestion of an on-going, revised, expansive "prospectus", as a mini-dissertation. This gives the candidate a concrete picture of the end product. Lastly, his suggestion of the "dissertation file" was a life saver. I had been drowning in inspirational scraps of paper, and was easily distracted by "new and cool" things that I hit upon (my dissertation is in "cultural studies," a field full of inspirational cul-de-sacs); his suggestion of having a file even for these things did much to both defuse the power of these sparks of enthusiasm, as well as allow me to focus and expand in the areas which are clearly important. The demythologizing of the dissertation myths is fairly reassuring, and shows that Sternberg (who apparently runs a dissertation completion consultation service) has a lot of experience with these anxieties. There is, however, little here for the www generation, and almost no mention of use of personal computers, but that is not the focus of the book. It doesn't tell you how to research and compose your proposals and the like; it's about adjusting your life to complete the task. Also, most of the advice on the "politics" of the the committee is wasted on many European ABDs as the committee is often not assembled until the work is already submitted and accepted by the university. Sternberg's book gave me ! a feeling that I was "riding my dissertation" instead of it riding me, which, as any ABD can tell you, is an especially intense nightmare.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you're approaching your diss READ THIS BOOK!, June 23, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation (Paperback)
After finishing my comps I wanted a book that would address the last hurdle toward my PhD. I spent a couple of hours in the library thumbing through "how-to-write-a-dissertation" books and finding nothing more than uninteresting collisions of the MLA Manual of Style and Williams' Style (an excellent book BTW). Then I found How to Complete and Survive a Dissertation -- the only reason I pulled it off the shelf was the word "survive" in the title. I believe this book will help me not only survive the diss but also complete it in a timely fashion - Thus far, after a mere week in my possession, it has explained the reason I have become invisible in my department! I knew I needed my own copy. Yes, it is depressing -- but it is better to know what you are up against than to stick your head in the sand and ignore the problems. Yes, it is dated in parts -- you don't need to read the sections on using a computer -- still, even though the statistics are from the late 1970s, they are no less telling about the plight of many an ABD over the last 30 years. Lastly, I would also recommend this book to the significant other of the ABD. It clarifies the process and the pitfalls. It is, as promised, a survival guide surpassing all the deadly "how-to" books.
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