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| Handbook for Socio-Cultural PhD Students |
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The challenges of writing a dissertation are as great as the intellectual rewards. Sustaining an argument and maintaining good writing over such a long piece can be daunting. Analyzing and then finding ways to integrate diverse material from ethnographic and archival research take effort. There are several things you can do to make the process go more smoothly. First, the work you do for your ACEs and dissertation proposal should be useful for the dissertation. The more care you devote to them, the more you will be able to use them as resources. Second, while in the field you should try to correspond regularly with your committee. Even if they do not have the opportunity to respond at length, the process of formulating your ideas and thinking about what you are learning will be invaluable to you. Finally, when you return from the field and are trying to write, you should get faculty advisors and others to read drafts of chapters or sections. Most students have found it rewarding to organize thesis-writing groups in which work can be shared and critiqued, deadlines offered, ideas and mechanics of writing and structuring argument discussed and sense of community created.
There are some sources, internal (Lindt) and external (Charlotte W. Newcombe, Spencer Foundation, American Association of University Women) for dissertation writing. It is most effective to apply for these after you have a substantial amount of your dissertation ready.
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