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Services I Provide
I am a "full service provider", offering you complete consultation packages for each of the seven steps in the thesis/dissertation process. By letting me help you before you begin the process, I can show you how to avoid the potholes that can stop you. But, even if you’ve begun and are having difficulty, I can assist you with "damage control", getting you back on the road to success!
- Service 1 - Getting the Picture:
Understanding the "Research Culture"
The faculty members who will serve on your thesis/dissertation committee
are part of a professional community which has very specific expectations
for graduate student research. I explain these expectations to you, so you
can understand their "mind set" and thus create favorable impressions in
the minds of faculty members who will serve on your committee ("You
never get a second chance to make a first impression")
- Service 2 - Selecting Your Topic:
Creating a "Win/Win" Situation
Often, Universities allow graduate students some latitude in selecting
thesis/dissertation topics. I show you how to:
- identify several potential topics, plus
- select the one that’s best for both you and your University,
so you have a much better chance of getting your topic approved. In
addition, I give you all the coaching you want during the identification and
selection process (no one is impressed with a graduate student who attempts to
pick a topic out of thin air, even though this is the most common approach)
- Service 3 - Writing Your Proposal:
Building Personal Credibility
Probably the single most important factor in the decision by faculty
members to serve on your committee is their evaluation of you as a
competent researcher. Your proposal is the document they use to make
decisions about your competence. I show you how to:
- delineate your topic into its various components (i.e., statement of purpose, hypotheses, importance of the study, etc.),
- review the literature and write up what you find;
- decide on the most appropriate research design, measurement techniques, data analysis techniques, etc., and
- state them clearly and precisely in your proposal,
thus enhancing your personal credibility as a researcher. In addition, I
give you all the coaching you want while you’re creating the components
and writing you’re proposal (faculty members want to work with those graduate
students who demonstrate that they have the ability to succeed in research without a
major investment of the faculty members’ time)
- Service 4 - Assembling a Committee/Gaining Approval of Your Proposal:
The "Make or Break" Step
The person who serves as chair of your committee and the people who
serve as members are the most important (variables) in your
thesis/dissertation process. I show you:
- what to look for in these key people and
- how to approach them,
so you can have the greatest chance for success (the personalities of these
people, the way they discharge their respective responsibilities, and the way they
blend with each other - and with you - are critical to your success)
Also, I give you all the coaching you want to in responding to any
comments, questions, and/or suggestions for improvement from your
committee, so you can respond confidently and competently!
- Service 5 - Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Your Data:
The ‘Pay-off’ Begins!
- Adequate preparations for data collection are essential in order to avoid disaster. I show you how, and give you all the coaching you want, both before and during the collection of your data!
- Analyzing your data can be a nightmare if you do not have access to a sophisticated statistical software package and the computer to run it. I ‘run the numbers’ for you!
- Translating the computer printouts into ‘English’ so the analyses make sense in relation to your hypotheses can be bewildering. I explain to you what you have found, and give you all the coaching you want as you write up your findings (you need to understand clearly what you have found and be able to explain your findings with confidence to the chair and members of your committee, otherwise its not your study)!
- Service 6 - Writing Your Research Report:
The ‘Pay-Off’ Continues
Creating the various drafts of your thesis/dissertation can be a daunting
task, particularly if you are not a capable scholarly writer. I show you
how to compose each of the chapters in your first draft, then give you
detailed feedback on its contents before you submit it. Further, I give you
all the coaching you want on how to respond to the comments of your
committee. (many graduate students, even though they are native speakers of
English, do not have the ability to write well using scholarly prose. Graduate students
who are not native speakers of English should plan to hire an editor for this phase of
their research, prior to submitting the first draft to me)
- Service 7 - Preparing for the Oral Defense/Successfully Defending Your Thesis/Dissertation:
The ‘Pay-Off’ Arrives
Many graduate students who have been successful become (pot-holed)
because they don’t know what to expect and how to prepare for this
last step. I show you what to look for, including specific questions you
can expect to be asked, and give you all the coaching you want, both in
preparing for the oral defense and in responding to comments from your
committee, once you have completed it (poor preparation leads to lack of
confidence, which leads to poor performance in this crucial final step)
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