ABSTRACT
One thing that I would highly recommend to your readers is that they be incredibly detailed in their research. Duh. I thought I was. I read and re-read my study, silently and out loud, and still, still I made a mistake. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this but when I quoted my now boss in my study, three different times in three different places, I got her title wrong-in three different ways! It wasn’t until after it was all bound and finished, and I gave her a copy to read for her comments that the blunder was discovered-by her, not me. Oh my gosh! She still hired me and fortunately has a good sense of humor. Yikes! (Susan)
Defining the end is not easy, as we are never in an absolute sense quite there. Although most of the correspondents expressed relief at being finished, several chose to write in some detail about bringing closure to the dissertation experience. Edwina writes: “The major frustration, however, was that once I completed the study, defended the dissertation, and graduated, that was the end of it. The results of years of work and sweat stand on a dusty shelf in a library somewhere, having no effects on future teachers of writing. I had hoped to prove so much.”
