Six Dissertation Strategies

It’s so much easier to say it now that we’re into 2014 and the holidays are over (though I’ve got a Christmas tree to take down still). I hope with the blessing of 20/20 hindsight, your holidays went well and precious time was spent with loved ones.

 To me, the end of the holidays and the beginning of the year indicate that it is time to focus more than ever on completing my dissertation and ultimately a decade of post-secondary education. Naturally, with each passing day I struggle more to stay focused because anyone in this position has a lot on their mind. For me, I’ve got my mind on what I’m doing to be doing next, trying to decide exactly what I want versus need to be doing next, how to make the leap to the next step (which, for once, won’t be more schooling), and how to balance all of these nailbiters with my husband. Regardless, all of these changes have the ability to be really good, but they can be so darn distracting!

 I have managed to figure out a few strategies that help me stay focused on that end goal.

• Even if you’re just working on it at home in your pyjamas, schedule a minimum amount of time each day that is dedicated to dissertation work. More is better, but on those lazy days it seems much easier to put in the time if it’s staring me down in my Google Calendar.
• Have some healthy snacks and beverages available. I’ve met many grad students who swear by a bottle of wine to get the creative juices flowing. I think it’s merely important to make sure your thirst or hungry can be sated at arm’s reach. If you’ve got to get up for something, you’re going to get distracted.
• Take breaks. If you’ve been working for a few hours and your hands aren’t typing things correctly or you can’t seem to conjure up the right word, set it down. You might need more than fifteen minutes, you might need a few hours, but stop. The dissertation process is too long and arduous to let yourself get frustrated if you’ve already put in some time.
• Back up your work! Don’t go more than a day or two without emailing your work to yourself, saving it to Dropbox, or putting it on a thumb drive. If you do go the wine route and you knock the bottle over onto your laptop, you’ll want to be able to pick up, almost, where you left off.
• Kick the cats out of the room. I don’t know about you, but my cats are pretty awesome. They’re so awesome that they’re usually big distractions. Even if Sylvester is curled up in my lap behaving himself, he’s a distraction. I want to pet him. I want to give him little cat kisses. He’s just so darn cute!
• Get enough sleep. This may be last time in your life until retirement that you have a lot of control over your sleep schedule basically all of the time. Sleep until you can’t sleep anymore. A good night’s sleep is truly the best medicine for the ability to focus. The dissertation process is relatively long, you should have enough time for an entire night of sleep.
• Talk about what you’re doing to anyone who will listen. It’s never wise to discuss exact research methods, but talk about the general ideas. It will get you used to what you’re working on and how you want to describe your research and findings. The response from others could really help formulate that last chapter when you’re discussing how your awesome research could translate into awesome future research.

The length of the dissertation process sets it apart from most of the other things you’ll do in school. Good study strategies help but will not necessarily get you all of the way there. Everyone finds their own strategies that help them cross the finish line, these are mine, and I wish you the best in finding your own.

Could I ask you a few questions?

One component of my dissertation research is a pair of surveys. The purpose of the surveys is to find out how individuals and transportation agencies/organizations use social media. I want to understand how useful sharing transportation via social media is.

The survey targeted toward individuals is interested in the types of transportation information people consider best for sharing transportation information, what expectations (if any) they have of transportation agencies on social media, and how well they believe these agencies are using social media. If you’re interested in taking the survey and haven’t already, here’s the link: http://bit.ly/1eH28pa. Those who take either survey may also enter into a drawing to win one of two $25 Amazon gift cards!

The survey targeted toward agencies is interested if they use social media and why or why not, in what information they think is best to share on social media, if and how social media has affected their outreach strategies, and how well they believe they are doing in reaching their desired public. If by the off chance you’re at a transportation agency or organization and work in communications and haven’t already taken the survey, here’s the link http://bit.ly/182vw3X.

In February, the data from each of these sources will be analyzed statistically to hopefully derive what the best practices are in social media use for both agencies and the general public. By surveying both agencies and the public, understanding what is important to each group and what is feasible by each group, these best practices will hopefully be more meaningful than what has been developed so far.

Want to help? Share this post with everyone you think may be interested—social media users or not. If we understand what people need and what agencies are realistically capable of in austere time we can create a better informed transportation network!

"My life's normally about a 2, this week it's a 10"

It has been a challenging week, filled with twists, turns, and surprises. The title of this post refers to the level of excitement of my life on a scale of 1 to 10.

First, my advisor dropped a bombshell on me. I wrestled with it because he made the same decision I would have, I merely think I would have executed it a little differently. But with short notice, it means an already stressful time in wrapping up a major project is even more stressful. Though I do pride myself on being awesome when busy and entirely over-committed in every possible way, I believe that is what is presently shining through (confirmed by the comments of colleagues). It is always better to hope for strength in a trying situation, strength helps you the next time you’re thrust into a tough situation. I'm learning incalcuable amounts.

Then another faculty member had to urgently take a leave. With no provisions made for his class, I stepped up to fill some very impressive shoes. I have craved and, at times, simply begged to get more teaching experience in my PhD program. This isn’t exactly how I envisioned getting that experience. Thankfully, everyone in the class has been a good sport about it as we bravely forge on into the world of “alternative transportation approaches.”

It’s not over until it is over—or at least, until you’re off campus.

Candidacy

In terms of academics, one thing has weighed heavily on me all summer: the candidacy exam. The purpose of the candidacy exam is to demonstrate that a student is sufficiently proficient in their subject area that they are qualified to add knowledge to the field. For many students pursuing a PhD this is the turning point from taking a full-time course-load to primarily focusing on research for their dissertation.

I had been warned in late April that I would be taking the exam soon. After differences in schedules among faculty members I finally received my dates in early July. Of course, the dates framed my planned great vacation. For my department the candidacy exam comes in three parts: a written essay to demonstrate English proficiency, a technical written exam, and an oral presentation.

My primary concern was the technical written exam. I’m a native English speaker and an experienced public speaker. So long as I did not allow myself to make any foolish mistakes, I felt confident in my performance. The technical written exam, well, that’s a completely different animal. It is nine hours answering some tough questions from four basic subject areas within transportation.

Thankfully, the essay and technical exam were before my vacation. But the oral presentation and the question and answer period on the technical exam came after my vacation. No matter what we did on our vacation, I was mentally going through every single thing I did on the technical exam to try and find faults, so I could share them with the faculty panel, explain the mistake, and beg them not to end my academic career. In retrospect, I was being just a little bit dramatic.

Two days after returning from my vacation I stood before the panel and gave my presentation. I chose to make minor modifications to a presentation I had previously given on the roundabouts in Fairmont, WV. Then, I had to respond to questions about the technical portion of the exam. The intention is simply to determine if a student sufficiently understands the fundamentals of the field, transportation engineering. Of course, regardless of your preparation it feels like you’re being ambushed. The first question in particular threw me for a loop, requiring me to remember basics from courses I took several years ago. While the faculty attempted to help me, I was getting more confused and froze up before the white board. I thought I was doomed. As I continued to answer questions I thought it was worthless because I bombed the first question.

When it was finished, I sat out in the hall certain that the verdict was that I failed.

After what seemed like an eternity, my advisor came out into the hallway with a smile on his face. He shook my hand and said that I passed.

I have a reputation for being tough, but once I was out of ear and eye shot of the faculty panel, I was fighting back the tears.

When I started college, I never imagined I’d be here. I had no plans for a PhD, let alone a PhD in engineering. I was ready to enter college early so I wanted to kill time before becoming a railroad conductor. But now that I’m here and a doctoral candidate, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Lessons from Grad School: Work Doesn’t Evaporate

Part 1

Sometimes I believe grad school has taught me more about things having nothing to do with transportation than those related to transportation. Some of these lessons, however, have significantly shaped how I look at very common aspects of my life. My primary task as a grad student is to perform research, this is my job. But no matter how fast I work or how many hours I work, there will always be more research and related tasks to accomplish.

It is fundamental that I dedicate substantial quantities of my time and effort to research, coursework, writing, and preparing for life after graduate school. But there will never be a time I am without work to do. That said, I have begun to learn how to effectively take time to step back from work and even find ways to release the stress that it causes. Believe it or not, sometimes it is very challenging to study death every day, especially when the majority of the death and injury you’re studying is from people who did nothing other than try and live their lives normally.

Weekends are not time for passive languishing. Weekends are time to fight back. Weekends are when the light comes shining in.

7:30am comes perfectly as the sun is at the right angle to catch all of the shades of green in Sylvester’s eyes. He’s hungry, he wants some attention, and he doesn’t want me to waste the day. He purrs until I get out bed and is underfoot until his food dish is piled high, giving me the opportunity to throw on a t-shirt and yoga pants and sneak out the door with Chris.

Deep Creek Lake is about an hour away from Morgantown, West Virginia near Oakland, Maryland. It is a gorgeous lake that is a popular summer vacation spot for folks in the region. The lake is created by a dam and has long, narrow coves splintering off of the very busy main channel. After a few weekends getting reacquainted with kayaking and teaching Chris the basics, we’re ready for a bigger lake (no horsepower limit here!). We rented kayaks from High Mountain Sports and with their recommendations on nice places to paddle, we’re off.

Despite it still being early, not even 10am, the lake is alive with traffic. Pontoon boats, speedboats, jetskis, and even a few other kayaks are everywhere, along with a pretty stiff breeze. Step one is crossing the main channel of the lake in one piece. The first few minutes were a challenge, but once we mastered the movement of the water, the waves were like a carnival ride. As I paddled fiercely, not wanting to dilly-dally in the middle of the busy lake the stress was evaporating. I left it in the main channel of the lake. We paddled up Cherry Creek Cove, getting unique views of lovely vacation homes and the wonderful flora of western Maryland.

The wind seemed to pick up as we approached the main channel heading back to the marina. But it was time to head back, we powered across the lake. It seemed to take forever as the wind and the wake were beating us up. In this situation, I couldn’t think about issues I’m having with my data or the specifications of my regression models, rather I had to focus on my kayak and me. Every time a large boat would pass I’d spin the kayak to take the wake head on and lift my arms in the air to keep the paddle from catching the water. It was a blast.

But this mental vacation day is hardly over. Next time: great food and great finds in Maryland and West Virginia!