ENGAGING GRADUATE
WRITERS IN THESIS AND
DISSERTATION WRITING
A Workshop for the Graduate Students of
Qatar University
James A. Salzman, Ph.D.
March 18, 2015
This Professional Development Presentation was developed by the Edward
Stevens Center for the Study and Development of Literacy and Language, in
the Patton College of Education and Human Services at Ohio University.
All materials are copy written and should not be reproduced or used
without permission Edward Stevens Center for the Study and Development of
Literacy and Language
Presentation Leader: James A. Salzman
A BRIEF INTRO


Educator for 38 years
14 years in public schools teaching reading and ELA
First computer writing classes in high school in CA
 Led the writing of manual of common expectations for
writers in high school program
 Co-created a seminar approach to teaching writing to 9th
graders


24 years in higher education in both English and
Education
Dissertation on college writing teachers
 Used writing skills to secure more than $30 million in
grants/contracts for literacy efforts
 Lead the Stevens Literacy Center at Ohio University
whose mission is to “research, develop and promote literacy
across the life span.”

AGENDA
Common Myths about Writing
 The Only Good Dissertation . . .
 On Becoming a Writer

Developing a Point of View
 Critical Issues in Chapter 2 – The Literature Review
 Mechanical and Organizational Issues


Working with Faculty on your Terminal Projects
and Beyond
A BRIEF POLL
KWL ON GRADUATE WRITING
What do you KNOW about the challenges of
writing for the thesis/dissertation?
 What do you WANT to KNOW about the
challenges of writing for the thesis/dissertation?
 At the end, we’ll briefly discuss what you’ve
LEARNED about meeting these challenges

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT
WRITING
3 COMMON MYTHS
Skilled writers write effortlessly
 Skilled writers write from a carefully plotted
outline
 There are two stages to the writing process:

Writing a draft
 Editing that draft

EVERY WRITER WRITES EFFORTLESSLY

Most every writer:
Procrastinates
 Gets anxious
 Loses focus


Successful writing is like weight loss: Strive for
small, daily advances
SKILLED WRITERS AND OUTLINES
Writing is seldom a linear process that you can
plan out ahead of time
 Outlines can be helpful but most writers don’t
begin there
 Writers write and see where their ideas lead
them, then they can organize them into an
outline

WRITING IS A TWO-STAGE PROCESS
Writing is a multi-stage, iterative process
 Re-writing is what real writing is all about
 And re-writing generally requires rethinking and
reorganizing what you originally wrote

THE ONLY GOOD DISSERTATION . . .
The only
good
dissertation
is a done
dissertation
WHY DISSERTATIONS DON’T GET
FINISHED
Issues
 Task seems overwhelming
 There are no clear deadlines
 Writer is overpowered by negative thoughts


I can’t do this
It’s got to be perfect before I’m going to have anyone
look at it
Becoming isolated
 Becoming too anxious about your mentors’
reactions

SOLUTIONS FOR TASK BEING
OVERWHELMING
The dissertation/thesis is a series of small
papers. Break it down
 Use a flexible outline so that you can organize
and reorganize as you work through

SOLUTIONS FOR NO CLEAR DEADLINE
Set a timeline for yourself
 Work with your advisor to have a series of
meetings, scheduled at appropriate times, with
the expectation that you will provide
something in writing several days or a week
before the appointment

SOLUTIONS FOR NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
Progress, not perfection
 Break the subject down into manageable topics
(use subtitles that are descriptive)
 Replace negative thoughts with positive ones
(you have been successful to this point; there’s no
reason that you can’t accomplish this last task)

SOLUTIONS FOR ISOLATION
Find peers who are going through the same
process and use them as sounding boards
 Have regular and ongoing conversations with
your advisor(s)

SOLUTIONS FOR ANXIETY ABOUT
CRITIQUES
See the critique for what it is, an effort to help
you to reach your goal
 Consider asking your advisor for specific advice
that is limited to areas that you know need
his/her comments to improve
 As you work through the process, you eventually
need to own your work. Differentiate between
comments that you must address and feedback
that may lead you to additional research but is
not necessary for completion of the
dissertation/thesis.

ON BECOMING A WRITER
I spent every
night until four in
the morning on
my dissertation,
until I came to the
point when I could
not write another
word, not even the
next letter. I went
to bed. Eight
o'clock the next
morning I was up
writing again.
Abraham Pais,
Physicist
ABSOLUTE RIGID FLEXIBILITY – FOLEY,
2015

Must be firm on matters of principle

To prepare to be a scholarly writer, students must
write and be held to scholarly standards
Proper formatting
 Expectations of style and content


The mentor must:
Guide the writer in accordance with where they are in their
studies
 Provide substantive feedback that facilitates growth


Can be flexible where it benefits students’ growth
Pace of study
 Providing ancillary opportunities aligned with goals
and skills of individual students

COMMON CHALLENGES FOR MY STUDENT
WRITERS
Developing a Thesis
 The Lit Review – Toulmin’s Claim-WarrantEvidence Protocol
 Mechanical

Use of appropriate professional citations manual
 Framing of quotations


Organizational
Subtitles
 The Importance of Titles

DEVELOPING A POINT OF VIEW (I.E.,
YOUR THESIS)
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP YOUR THESIS
Identify the larger “conversation” surrounding
the issue. Your job is to persuade a reader that
your position within this conversation is credible
and on point
 Then problematize the conversation. Look for
questions, tensions, unresolved issues
 Develop your thesis statement: a single sentence
that conveys your position.
 A good thesis is:

Arguable
 Defensible with evidence
 Credible in the field

THE MAGIC THESIS FORMULA
Refute an argument
 Refine an argument
 Reveal a gap
 Fill a gap
 Ask a new question or refine an older one

In the end, an academic argument must be:
 Fair-minded
 Balanced
 Based on evidence while taking into account
alternative interpretations and counterarguments
CRITICAL ISSUES IN CHAPTER 2 –
THE LITERATURE REVIEW
GOLDILOCKS EFFECT
WHAT IS CHAPTER 2?
Your interaction with the literature that frames
your question.
 You should critique rather than simply
summarize the literature
 Demonstrates depth of knowledge in your field
and justifies your study
 There is no shortcut for reading the literature

TOULMIN’S CLAIM-WARRANT-EVIDENCE
EXAMPLE
Professional development for teachers in K-3 classrooms
is the crux of Reading First. The professional
development in Reading First is built upon two pillars.
One is scientifically-based reading research, or SBRR
(National Reading Panel, 2000; National Research
Council, 1998). SBRR posits that reading instruction
include the five essential components of phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, and that concepts and skills in each of
these components be taught explicitly and
systematically by knowledgeable teachers skilled in
utilizing evidence-based teaching practices. Although
the work of the NRP and the identification of SBRR
methods is not without its critics (Cavanaugh, 2005;
Garan, 2003; Slavin, 2005), the use of “proven” methods
has become policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
and is addressed.
EXAMPLE OF CLAIM
Professional development for teachers in K-3 classrooms
is the crux of Reading First. The professional
development in Reading First is built upon two pillars.
One is scientifically-based reading research, or SBRR
(National Reading Panel, 2000; National Research
Council, 1998). SBRR posits that reading instruction
include the five essential components of phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, and that concepts and skills in each of
these components be taught explicitly and
systematically by knowledgeable teachers skilled in
utilizing evidence-based teaching practices. Although
the work of the NRP and the identification of SBRR
methods is not without its critics (Cavanaugh, 2005;
Garan, 2003; Slavin, 2005), the use of “proven” methods
has become policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
and is addressed.
EXAMPLE OF EVIDENCE
Professional development for teachers in K-3 classrooms
is the crux of Reading First. The professional
development in Reading First is built upon two pillars.
One is scientifically-based reading research, or SBRR
(National Reading Panel, 2000; National Research
Council, 1998). SBRR posits that reading instruction
include the five essential components of phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, and that concepts and skills in each of
these components be taught explicitly and
systematically by knowledgeable teachers skilled in
utilizing evidence-based teaching practices. Although
the work of the NRP and the identification of SBRR
methods is not without its critics (Cavanaugh, 2005;
Garan, 2003; Slavin, 2005), the use of “proven” methods
has become policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
and is addressed.
EXAMPLE OF WARRANT
Professional development for teachers in K-3 classrooms
is the crux of Reading First. The professional
development in Reading First is built upon two pillars.
One is scientifically-based reading research, or SBRR
(National Reading Panel, 2000; National Research
Council, 1998). SBRR posits that reading instruction
include the five essential components of phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, and that concepts and skills in each of
these components be taught explicitly and
systematically by knowledgeable teachers skilled in
utilizing evidence-based teaching practices. Although
the work of the NRP and the identification of SBRR
methods is not without its critics (Cavanaugh, 2005;
Garan, 2003; Slavin, 2005), the use of “proven” methods
has become policy under No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
and is addressed.
MECHANICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL
ISSUES
MECHANICAL ISSUES – APA FORMAT
Student Example:
Four studies reveal a
formative approach to
evaluation through
mixed methods
(Selman, Williams, &
Simms, 2012) (Jugo,
Sebire, Cooper, Haase,
Powell, Davis, McNeil,
& Montgomery 2012)
(Klorer & Robb, 2012)
(Orkibi, 2012).
My Feedback (the first
time)
Four studies reveal a
formative approach to
evaluation through
mixed methods (Jugo, et
al., 2012; Klorer &
Robb, 2012; Selman,
Williams, & Simms,
2012; Orkibi, 2012).
MECHANICAL ISSUES – APA FORMAT
Student Example:
Four studies reveal a
formative approach to
evaluation through
mixed methods
(Selman, Williams, &
Simms, 2012) (Jugo,
Sebire, Cooper, Haase,
Powell, Davis, McNeil,
& Montgomery 2012)
(Klorer & Robb, 2012)
(Orkibi, 2012).
My Feedback
(subsequent times)
Check APA
FRAMING QUOTATIONS
Unframed
Framed with context
“Students are capable of
reading far more than
they indicate on
surveys” (p. 24).
When discussing
students’ independent
reading, Billings (2002)
noted that “[they] are
capable of reading far
more than they indicate
on surveys” (p. 24).
SUBTITLES
Vague
Guided Reading
Descriptive
Effective Uses of Guided
Reading in K-3
Classrooms
Response to Intervention
A Brief History of
Response to Intervention
Practices
WORKING WITH FACULTY ON
YOUR TERMINAL PROJECTS AND
BEYOND
PREPARING FOR THE TERMINAL PROJECT
You must read and write a lot (e.g., journaling);
there is no shortcut to knowing the literature and
learning to use it to advance arguments
 Faculty must provide constructive feedback
 But faculty need not read and provide feedback
on everything that students write
 Converse with your faculty early and often in
your interests and passions

MAINTAINING MOMENTUM
Create your own informal group of peers to assist
each other with keeping up your momentum
 Seek ongoing counsel with faculty, especially
advisors, that may include:

Maintaining ongoing electronic communications
 Setting a mutual expectation at the end of meetings
for the next meeting
 Clearly articulating expectations for “next stage”
products through some sort of electronic
communication

FINISHING THE PROJECT
The dissertation (thesis) isn’t done when it’s
defended but only when it’s revised and accepted
 Hold a post-defense meeting with your advisor to
go over:

Expectations for revision and meeting requirements
for acceptance (What did you each hear in the
defense? What now needs to be done?)
 Collaborate on a timeline for completion and
document it with your advisor


The onus for completing the requirements MUST
be on the STUDENT
BEYOND THE TERMINAL
PROJECT
BEYOND THE TERMINAL PROJECT
Your professors are one of your greatest assets to
your career and future opportunities. Be open to
them
 Work with your advisors to find an intersection
between your interests and the “real work” in
your field
 Work with your professors to engage in
professional presentations, conferences, and
publications

Become discussants and chairs at professional
conferences and support their learning this skill
 Collaborate with faculty in preparing conference
presentations and manuscripts for publication

TOP 10 IDEAS FOR GETTING PUBLISHED
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Write about something you really care about
Collaborate
Let the piece rest for a time without working on
it and before doing the final draft and
submission
Patience and persistence are crucial in getting
published
Don’t minimize that writing is often difficult,
painful and discouraging
Remind yourself that writing is wonderfully
rewarding
TOP 10 IDEAS FOR GETTING PUBLISHED
7.
8.
9.
10.
Know your audience (or publication outlet)
thoroughly
Set aside time and conditions for writing
Get feedback of all kinds, even when the piece is
not yet finished
Don’t take personally criticisms and rejections –
instead, use them to improve your writing
-- Wepner & Gambrell, 2006, pp. 167-171