Academic Dissertations in the News

(The Chronicle of Higher Education by Noah J. Toly) We need a new metaphor for the long process from dissertation to tenure. . . . Yep, now all I have to do is write the dissertation." I really said that—"all I have to do" —as if I'd quickly sprint through to the doctoral finish line. . . .

Read more at http://chronicle.com/article/The-Zombie-Marathon/137809/

Krishnan’s dissertation, which is a continuation of Rajasekaran and Jia’s promising nanotechnology work, earned him the Gerald B. Grindey Memorial Scholar-in-Training Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Read more at http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2013/mar/leukemia-drug-delivery-030513.html

(Stanford News by Kelsey Geiser) Stanford literary researcher ties our modern obsession with zombies to the survivalist mentality that developed after World War II

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/february/why-zombie-fascination-022013.html

(Quartz by Noah J. Toly) A pivotal moment in your PhD is known as “the deposit.” It’s the last step in the process; the physical submission of a successfully defended dissertation. . . . . I was a grim no-job-PhD statistic, but that was mostly my fault. . . . Despite an inauspicious start . . .

Read more at http://qz.com/56035/how-the-ivory-tower-is-ruining-phds-job-prospects/

(Inside Higher Ed by Colleen Flaherty) A doctoral student can spend years upon years exploring . . . a single, narrow topic for an audience of dissertation committee experts in the field.

Although 30 to 60 seconds may strike some as too short a time to effectively communicate one’s research, she said, it’s a concrete opportunity to prove one’s “mastery” of a topic . . .

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/22/duke-proposes-mandatory-short-video-pitch-accompany-dissertations#ixzz2Lw81drqV
Inside Higher Ed

Blogging and academic writing are often perceived as water and oil: They just don't go together. At least that's the perception I have encountered since I started pursuing my Ph.D. and writing blog posts.

In Steven Soderbergh's movie Contagion, one protagonist declares that blogging is like graffiti but with commas and periods. There is some truth to that, as many blogs are uninteresting and poorly written. And I am well aware that blogging does not always produce the highest quality of source material, as you might find in an article published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Go to Chronicle.com for article.

How do you publish your dissertation as a book? The question has been asked countless times yet still animates scores of ambitious graduate students—and their advisers—in the humanities and social sciences. (Leonard Cassuto Chronicle.com)

http://chronicle.com/article/From-Dissertation-to-Book/127677/