Seminar Call for Participants: The Dissertation Writing Journey

The NCA Research Board, together with the Text and Academic Authors Association, will sponsor a one-day seminar in Orlando designed for graduate students beginning or in the middle of their dissertation writing process. The leaders of the seminar will be Dr. Sonja Foss, Professor of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver, and Dr. William Waters, Associate Professor of English at the University of Houston Downtown. They are the coauthors of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation and lead highly regarded workshops for scholarly writing throughout the US. Drs. Foss and Waters will offer a one-day version of their workshop that will accommodate up to 20 graduate students at no cost to the participants. The workshop will meet from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 14, and up to 20 applicants will be accepted. Each seminar participant will receive a copy of Foss and Waters’ Destination Dissertation.

To apply, submit a one-page description of the status of your dissertation research and writing, including: (1) A summary of your dissertation (research question(s), data, and method; (2) Amount completed on your dissertation; and (3) Any obstacles you are encountering in completing your dissertation. The application should be e-mailed to Dr. Foss atSonja.Foss@ucdenver.edu.

 

Schedule:

8:00-8:30 Registration

8:30-11:30 Presentation: Destination Dissertation

Formulating the research question
Alignment among the parts of the dissertation
The literature review
Enacting the scholar role

11:30-1:00 Lunch on your own

1-3:45 p.m. Participants will be divided into two groups. Group 1 will meet with Drs. Foss and Waters from 1-2:15, to raise questions and discuss their individual projects. Group 2 will meet with the leaders from 2:30-3:45.