Pulling together your final dissertation manuscript is no walk in the park. From references and citations to proper academic formatting and professional-looking tables and data graphs, there are a lot of moving pieces that all need to be executed perfectly if you want to impress your dissertation committee. Luckily, there are lots of free and […]

The vast majority of coaching students who come to me for help do so because they have just received their dissertation proposal feedback and are overwhelmed by the scope of revisions needed. While it’s practically impossible to avoid revisions altogether, there are some common problems you can look out for while writing to help you […]

For many people (especially those who are already confident writers), the ethics of hiring an editor may feel a little hazy. Whether we are talking about a resume, a paper for publication, or a college application essay, the fact that we are often judged and assessed on our ability to produce quality writing raises a […]

When you’ve put in the time and paid the fees for your graduate degree, the pressure to get that last hurdle – the dissertation – right is immense. However, choosing the perfect dissertation topic is not always as straightforward as you would think. If you are struggling to choose a topic for your dissertation, these […]

Managing different versions of your work can be challenging when you are dealing with multiple dissertation revisions. Sometimes, a chapter or proposal goes through multiple rounds of revision. At other times, you may be working with separate sets of feedback, from more than one advisor or committee chair. The majority of students use either Microsoft […]

In my time as a university professor, I’ve listened to hundreds of students expressing frustration about their relationships with their doctoral advisors. Whether the issue is lack of support, unclear explanations about expectations and requirements, or simply a lack of rapport, the underlying cause is nearly always communication failure. You can’t do much to change […]

One common issue dissertation students face when writing their proposal is that the problem statement, the research questions, and the literature review fail to match up properly. This is known as a lack of “alignment,” and it happens when students have so many ideas that the dissertation proposal becomes unfocused and rambling. In this article, […]

You can be the best dissertation student in the world, but without good file management skills, your research talent won’t count for much. In my time as a dissertation coach, I have seen clients accidentally release rough drafts into the wild, lose hours of revision in the single push of a button, and discover that […]