Thesis Help | Dissertation Help Newsletter for Graduate Students

Making Progress When You Don’t Feel Like Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation

Dr. Wendy Carter — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:47:48 +0000

To finish your degree, you have to establish several mini-goals for the end of the year and start working towards them. What is it you want to cross off your to-do list this year instead of rolling over to next year’s resolution list? Perhaps you are looking forward to making significant progress on your thesis [...]

5 More Rules to Making a Good Impression in Graduate School

Dr. Wendy Carter — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:56:39 +0000

To recap from last month’s newsletter rules 1-5: Rule #1: Let Your Hard Work Speak For You Rule #2: Dress Appropriately Rule #3: Speak Clearly Rule #4: Be Professional with Advisor/Committee Members Rule #5: Respect the Time Others Give The road to making a good impression continues here. Rule #6: Manage Your Time Effectively Your [...]

Making a Good Impression in My Graduate Department

Dr. Wendy Carter — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:37:50 +0000

Add this to your list of priorities for graduate school: making a good impression on your professors. Why? As a graduate student you need to find someone on the faculty who will be willing to become your advisor or mentor. Moreover, jobs and academic fellowships often require references. Faculty are ideal sources of references. In [...]

Do You Have What it Takes to Complete a PhD?

Dr. Wendy Carter — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:23:22 +0000

I recently attended the Ph.D. Candidacy reception at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), where Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III — president of the university — gave a speech on the characteristics of people who successfully achieve their Ph.D. Here are the characteristics he pinpointed, and my own comments about how they can help you succeed. COMMITMENT [...]

Thesis and Dissertation Help: Tips, Tools and Resources

Dr. Wendy Carter — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:29:33 +0000

This issue of FinishLine was written for those of you who are struggling with completing your Master’s thesis or dissertation. Many advisors think that the struggle to complete your thesis or dissertation is based on your inability to write and or conduct research but at TA-DA we recognize that completing your degree is about much [...]

Completing Your Thesis or Dissertation:

Dr. Wendy Carter — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:30:19 +0000

Pull Out Your Cape and Tights I got the idea for this newsletter after listening to past Dissertation House participants describe how they were able to complete their dissertation. Most of them relayed almost heroic tales of what they had to go through in order to complete their degree. One told of sleeping in his [...]

Make Graduate School Work for You: The Research Assistantship

Dr. Wendy Carter — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:41:59 +0000

The previous newsletter dealt with a number of ways to help you through graduate school more quickly. In my own opinion, how you support yourself financially also determines how quickly you finish your degree. One of the best options is a paid research assistantship. To begin with, this position can help you complete your degree [...]

Make Graduate School Work For You

Dr. Wendy Carter — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:20:34 +0000

Make it Work for You: Another Perspective on Graduate School Graduate school is typically viewed as a three-stage process, comprising: 1) Coursework; 2) Qualifying exams; and 3) Dissertation/thesis writing Most grad students don’t have any difficulty with the coursework, as they’re well accustomed to taking classes and receiving a grade. After the coursework is done, [...]

‘I Need Answers!’ … The Quest of the Research Problem

Dr. Wendy Carter — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:06:15 +0000

What problem do you wish to solve? What questions do you hope to answer? What pertinent knowledge do you want to uncover? What do you aspire to prove? These are among the questions you will need to answer before you can write a “problem statement” for a proposal or research paper … and certainly before [...]

Want to Finish Your Thesis or Dissertation in 30 Days?

Dr. Wendy Carter — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:30:44 +0000

You Really Can Do It! Many people would say it’s absurd to think that anyone could complete their dissertation in just 30 days. But with the proper motivation, people can accomplish almost anything … even completing a thesis or dissertation in such a short timeframe. I’ve heard of a professor who did exactly that. She [...]