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My Reading Notes of Books on How to Write a Doctoral Dissertation/How to Conduct PhD Research

As I posted on Twitter in mid-May 2018, I’ve been reading a lot of books that focus on how to write a doctoral dissertation. I already have mine and I’ve already had doctoral students graduated, but I strongly believe that everybody can learn a new lesson on how to become a better PhD advisor.

I have students in all three stages (pre-proposal/coursework, post-proposal/fieldwork, and close to finishing) and thus I wanted to get a handle on the literature out there. This page is intended to store all the blog posts that summarize my reading notes for books on how to write a doctoral dissertation.

I will continue to store them in my Reading Notes of Books but I figured this page would make it easier for doctoral candidates to read them all in one place.

Becker, Howard (2007) “Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish your Thesis, Book or Article” University of Chicago Press.

Berdahl, Loleen and Malloy, Jonathan (2018) “Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhD.” University of Toronto Press.

Bolker, Joan (1998) Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis. Owl Books.

Davis, Gordon; Parker, Clyde and Straub, Detmar W. (2012) “Writing the Doctoral Dissertation: A Systematic Approach” Barron’s Educational Series.

Dunleavy, Patrick J. (2003) “Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation Palgrave Macmillan.

Eco, Umberto (2015) “How to Write A Thesis“. The MIT Press.

Erubavel, Eviatar (1999) The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Books. Harvard University Press.

Farkas, Dora (2009) The Smart Way to your PhD: 200 Secrets from 100 Graduates“.Your PhD Consulting.

Foss, Sonja K. and Waters, William (2015) “Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation“. Rowman & Littlefield.

Luker, Kristin (2010) “Salsa Dancing into the Social Science: Research in an Era of Info-Glut“. Harvard University Press.

Ogden, Evelyn Hunt (2006) “Completing a Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis in Two Semesters or Less.” Rowman & Littlefield.

Single, Peggy Boyle (2009) “Demystifying Dissertation Writing: A Streamlined Process from Choice of Topic to Final Text” Stylus Publishing.

Sternberg, David (1981) “How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation.” St. Martin’s Press.

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6 Responses

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  1. Moss says

    Thanks read all your notes, bless you!
    Moss

  2. Hunza Ahmad says

    Thank you, this is a very helpful list. My dissertation advisor can be helpful but is not a very good mentor. What do you suggest are ways to overcome this? Should I consider hiring an external mentor/consultant type folks to push me along – or ?? Any suggestions would help!

Continuing the Discussion

  1. How to Write a Thesis (Umberto Eco) – my reading notes – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD linked to this post on August 28, 2019

    […] How to Write A Thesis whose 2015 reprint was published by The MIT Press, particularly since I’ve been reading a lot of books on how to do a doctoral dissertation (mostly for my own students, but also to help others globally). As I mention in my tweet below, […]

  2. Identifying what an undergraduate thesis, a Masters’ thesis and a doctoral dissertation entail , and based on that, narrowing the research thesis topic – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD linked to this post on September 3, 2019

    […] If you liked this blog post, you may also be interested in my Resources for Graduate Students page, and on my reading notes of books I’ve read on how to do a doctoral degree. […]

  3. The Dissertation Analytical Table (DAT) – an overview device to formulate a 3-papers thesis/doctoral dissertation – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD linked to this post on January 17, 2020

    […] If you liked this blog post, you may also be interested in my Resources for Graduate Students page, and on my reading notes of books I’ve read on how to do a doctoral degree. […]

  4. A few pieces of advice for doctoral students in their first year – Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD linked to this post on January 17, 2020

    […] If you liked this blog post, you may also be interested in my Resources for Graduate Students page, and on my reading notes of books I’ve read on how to do a doctoral degree. […]



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