Rubber, meet Road: On starting the dissertation process
So. It is finally upon me! The time to put pen to paper (or in my case tap some keys on the keyboard to throw some stuff called text into a Google Doc) in order to start putting together my dissertation proposal. In some respects I am doing this backwards. I am taking a Research Methods course this summer as a way of getting re-acquainted with some things, and to get better acquainted with others. I think that the more you practice something the better you become at it. And, heck, one of the assignments in this course really lends itself to (1) getting at least part of the research methods section done, and (2) getting some feedback on it before I go into my actual dissertation prep seminar in the fall (EDDE 805). So, what am I doing "backward". Well, typically (as I am told) you are meant to start with an intro chapter which talks a bit about your setup. This is generally something like 15-20 pages. Then you have a chapter on the review o...