Recipes for Success is a unique, user-friendly guide that informs and empowers doctoral students with the skills and knowledge to start and complete their dissertation. Putting together an excellent dissertation is like preparing a gourmet feast for a gathering of distinguished guests who are connoisseurs of fine cooking. You, the researcher, are the chef and chief meal engineer for this eloquent repast. Careful preparation is needed each step of the way, along with a formal means to reach your desired goal. Recipes takes you gingerly through these steps. Recipes is presented in three phases. In PHASE 1 you start your initial preparation, gather ingredients, and prepare the menu for your feast. This includes your mental, physical, and psychological preparation along with the selection of the type of meal (research topic and method) you will serve. In PHASE 2 you gather your accoutrements and utensils to collect and analyze data to help you solve the problem you pose, answer your research questions, and achieve your purpose. In PHASE 3 you learn how to put your meal (dissertation) together to ensure a delicious high-quality study to serve at your feast. Included are several presentations and web resources to serve as your maitre d' for your banquet. Here is what readers are saying about Recipes: Very easy to read! Offers examples and a space to then write your own information. It is broken down into manageable pieces, which makes thinking about your work easier than thinking about the whole dissertation. T.R. (Georgia) Dr. Simon's book is the best resource for dissertations that I have ever seen. It should be titled, Dissertations for Dummies, because anyone can follow it. Brenda (New Jersey). I love this book! It is interesting and exciting, and written in a format that I easily understand. It is easy to read, it is concise, and when compared to the other books in my library on dissertation writing, all others pale in comparison. Sharon (Arizona).

A Dissertation Guide for Professional Learners Doctoral education has changed dramatically over the last three decades. Traditionally, pursuit of a doctoral or research credential involved intense study at a large, traditional research university, and was reserved for those seeking careers in academia or research. The process of completing doctoral level work at traditional universities usually required a commitment to full time study, varied tremendously between institutions, and was often somewhat mysterious. Today, all this has changed. The emergence and growth of online education has led to a proliferation of doctoral learning possibilities for busy professionals. Individuals in the industry, nonprofit, and education are sectors are pursuing doctoral study as a means to advance their careers, increase their market value in the workplace, and establish their professional stature. If this sounds like you, then you have come to the right place. Recipes for Success is the book that will launch you on a successful quest for the doctoral degree. Dissertations are very personal endeavors and accomplishments, originating with problems and issues that are meaningful and important to the doctoral learner. These professionals are deeply grounded in their understanding of the issues and needs of their profession. Recipes build on this this understanding, helping learners to discover and frame issues they are passionate about, and construct a credible and influential research study around this passion. While most dissertation guides focus largely or exclusively on the mechanics of writing and organization, Recipes approaches dissertation development as an iterative process of thinking and self-reflection that leads learners to discover what matters most to them and to their professions, and enables them to frame this meaning into a research problem and purpose, and to organize and execute a study design to fit, and thus solve the problem and achieve the purpose. From the very beginning of your doctoral journey to the ultimate achievement of degree completion, this book is your guide to the process and content of dissertation and research creation. In Recipes for Success, we articulate a process by which you can build the pieces of a successful and influential dissertation. Using a workbook approach rich in tools, templates, frameworks, examples, web integration, and hard-won lessons from experience, Recipes provides a friendly, easy to navigate process crafting issues and ideas into research and results. Based on our 40+ years of collective experience in the online educational setting, mentoring over 300 professional learners to success in completing their doctorates (including numerous award winners), we identify the most important factors for success and the traps to avoid. Whether you are considering doctoral study, are already in a doctoral program, or are working to develop and complete your dissertation, you will find Recipes for Success a key ingredient in your success as a doctoral learner. Our graduates tell us that Recipes is THE book that made a difference in their doctoral career and success. YOU can do it too! Good luck on your doctoral journey!

How to transform a thesis into a publishable work that can engage audiences beyond the academic committee. When a dissertation crosses my desk, I usually want to grab it by its metaphorical lapels and give it a good shake. “You know something!” I would say if it could hear me. “Now tell it to us in language we can understand!” Since its publication in 2005, From Dissertation to Book has helped thousands of young academic authors get their books beyond the thesis committee and into the hands of interested publishers and general readers. Now revised and updated to reflect the evolution of scholarly publishing, this edition includes a new chapter arguing that the future of academic writing is in the hands of young scholars who must create work that meets the broader expectations of readers rather than the narrow requirements of academic committees. At the heart of From Dissertation to Book is the idea that revising the dissertation is fundamentally a process of shifting its focus from the concerns of a narrow audience—a committee or advisors—to those of a broader scholarly audience that wants writing to be both informative and engaging. William Germano offers clear guidance on how to do this, with advice on such topics as rethinking the table of contents, taming runaway footnotes, shaping chapter length, and confronting the limitations of jargon, alongside helpful timetables for light or heavy revision. Germano draws on his years of experience in both academia and publishing to show writers how to turn a dissertation into a book that an audience will actually enjoy, whether reading on a page or a screen. He also acknowledges that not all dissertations can or even should become books and explores other, often overlooked, options, such as turning them into journal articles or chapters in an edited work. With clear directions, engaging examples, and an eye for the idiosyncrasies of academic writing, he reveals to recent PhDs the secrets of careful and thoughtful revision—a skill that will be truly invaluable as they add “author” to their curriculum vitae.

Your dissertation is not a hurdle to jump or a battle to fight; as this handbook makes clear, your dissertation is the first of many destinations on the path of your professional career. Destination Dissertation guides you to the successful completion of your dissertation by framing the process as a stimulating and exciting trip—one that can be completed in fewer than nine months and by following twenty-nine specific steps. Sonja Foss and William Waters—your guides on this trip—explain concrete and efficient processes for completing the parts of the dissertation that tend to cause the most delays: conceptualizing a topic, developing a pre-proposal, writing a literature review, writing a proposal, collecting and analyzing data, and writing the last chapter. This guidebook is crafted for use by students in all disciplines and for both quantitative and qualitative dissertations, and incorporates a wealth of real-life examples from every step of the journey.

Recipes for Success is a unique, user-friendly guide that informs and empowers doctoral students with the skills and knowledge to start and complete their dissertation. Putting together an excellent dissertation is like preparing a gourmet feast for a gathering of distinguished guests who are connoisseurs of fine cooking. You, the researcher, are the chef and chief meal engineer for this eloquent repast. Careful preparation is needed each step of the way, along with a formal means to reach your desired goal. Recipes takes you gingerly through these steps. Recipes is presented in three phases. In PHASE 1 you start your initial preparation, gather ingredients, and prepare the menu for your feast. This includes your mental, physical, and psychological preparation along with the selection of the type of meal (research topic and method) you will serve. In PHASE 2 you gather your accoutrements and utensils to collect and analyze data to help you solve the problem you pose, answer your research questions, and achieve your purpose. In PHASE 3 you learn how to put your meal (dissertation) together to ensure a delicious high-quality study to serve at your feast. Included are several presentations and web resources to serve as your maître d' for your banquet. Recipes is also supported by a companion website (www.dissertationrecipes.com) with a large collection of dissertation-related resources, guides, slideshows, and videos. Recipes gets a perfect (5 star) rating on Amazon.com. Here is what readers are saying about Recipes: Very easy to read! Offers examples and a space to then write your own information. It is broken down into manageable pieces, which makes thinking about your work easier than thinking about the whole dissertation. T.R. (Georgia) This book is the best resource for dissertations that I have ever seen. It should be titled, Dissertations for Dummies, because anyone can follow it. Brenda (New Jersey) I serve as the chair on numerous doctoral study committees and highly recommend this book to all of my students. The writing is thorough, clear and easy to follow. After reading this book a student would have all the information they need to publish a professional, scholarly dissertation. If all of my students used this book it would make both of our lives much easier! K.S. (Arkansas) I love this book! It is interesting and exciting, and written in a format that I easily understand. It is easy to read, it is concise, and when compared to the other books in my library on dissertation writing, all others pale in comparison. Sharon (Arizona).

Expert writing advice from the editor of the Boston Globe best-seller, The Writer's Home Companion Dissertation writers need strong, practical advice, as well as someone to assure them that their struggles aren't unique. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Using positive reinforcement, she begins by reminding thesis writers that being able to devote themselves to a project that truly interests them can be a pleasurable adventure. She encourages them to pay close attention to their writing method in order to discover their individual work strategies that promote productivity; to stop feeling fearful that they may disappoint their advisors or family members; and to tailor their theses to their own writing style and personality needs. Using field-tested strategies she assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge.

This comprehensive manual offers direction for every step of the thesis or dissertation process, from choosing an appropriate topic to adapting the finished work for publication.