7/30/2019 What Does It Take to Graduate This Year
1/2
Helping Doctoral Candidates Finish Faster
By E. Alana James, Ed.D. Professors Blog, 3 January, 2012
Do you know someone else who could use these two articles? Feel
free to download them here andemail them to other doctoral students
our mission is to help everyone succeed in meeting their goal
of graduating this year.
Page 1
What Does It Take to Graduate This Year? Part One:
Backward-Mapping
Its heartening to see the amount of traffic increase on our site
that DoctoralNet at two different timeseach year: January and
September. While they both follow the normal ebbs and flows of
academic
school calendars everywhere, the increase in January comes we
know with goals and hopes and dreams
of finishing your dissertation this year. For some who read this
it will be finally finishing the dissertation
this year, because as we know through statistics anywhere in the
world, only 50% of those who start a
doctoral degree finish it and the longer you go the less likely
you are in percentage.
We say these things not to discourage but to hearten as we
believe that only by looking the adversity we
face clearly in the eye can we find that inner courage and
strength it takes to overcome the challenges.
This short blog post has two purposes: the first to help you
with a model for analyzing what it will take
for you to finish this year, and the second is to look at those
challenges straight in the face and discuss
them.
Elmore (1979) developed or at least published, a process called
backward mapping. It was used in New
York City schools to implement change in the 1980s, and I used
it to make sure that I graduated on time.
My own personal story is that my graduation was absolutely
needed because I was moving to Ireland
therefore a precise set of milestone deadlines kept me on track
and finishing. In fact, I was the first and
only person in my department to finish in the three years that
Columbia University told all of us was
possible.
The process below is written as though you were a doctoral
student in the United States. Students other
parts of the world will find it to be accurate enough from
numbers one through seven. Doctoralcandidates working in
universities based on a more European model will be aware that you
have a much
longer data collection/analysis timeframe. You, however, should
leave a longer period of time for
writing, as you may be retro-fitting a methodology which was not
as well spelled out as those to which
students in the United States would have been required to
adhere. All in all, no matter where you are in
the world, youll catch the drift of what this process is trying
to get you to do, and will be able to adjust
according to your personal situations.
Ill walk you quickly through the process:
1. Look at your school calendar and determine what is the last
date you would need to have yourwork published documents submitted
in order to graduate this year? Put this in your calendar as
your end date.
2. Go backwards three weeks this is likely the time it takes for
the University to take in yoursubmission and process it. Put this
in your calendar as the day you need to have your
dissertation not only accepted, but all the small changes made
ready for publication.
7/30/2019 What Does It Take to Graduate This Year
2/2
Helping Doctoral Candidates Finish Faster
By E. Alana James, Ed.D. Professors Blog, 3 January, 2012
Do you know someone else who could use these two articles? Feel
free to download them here andemail them to other doctoral students
our mission is to help everyone succeed in meeting their goal
of graduating this year.
Page 2
3. Go backwards another three weeks this is the length of time
it usually takes for candidates tofinish the small changes required
by their defense. Put this in your calendar as your defense
date.
4. Go backwards another three weeks this is the minimum length
of time it takes a university tosubmit your work to all of the
readers in preparation for defense. Prior to putting the state
in
your calendar talk with people at your University to see if in
fact it might be much longer than
that. But for now, put this date in your calendar as the day you
need to be finished with your
writing.
5. Go back four to six weeks this is usually the time between
the first submission of collected andanalyzed data written in the
final chapters, and the complete rewrite that is often needed
after
the first submission. Put this date in your calendar as when you
need to have your final chapters
submitted in rough draft back from your advisor.
6. Go back two weeks this is the time it usually takes advisors
to read a piece of work, adjustaccording to your knowledge if it
should be longer than this. Put the state in your calendar as
the day you need to have your rough draft of the entire
dissertation finished.
7. Six weeks before this you need to have your data collected.8.
One month to six weeks before this you need to be beginning your
data collection.9. Prior to data collection you need to have your
ethical review board approve your work.10.Prior to ethical review
you need to complete whatever proposal defense and agreements
are
required by your University
Why do I lay this out in such detail? Because it is been our
experience that most doctoral students are
not properly prepared for the length of time End Game takes. Now
that you have your calendar for
the year laid out in detail, the next article moves on to help
you face the dragons which keep you from
finishing.
Reference:
Elmore, R. M. (1979). Backward mapping: Implementation research
and plicy decisions. Political science
quarterly, 94(4), 601-616.
