Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sanity Inducer

I recently re-discovered the dissertation database (ProQuest at our library) where one can look at full and partial dissertations. Why, you ask? For inspiration. My husband's cure for dissertation blues was to read the worst dissertations that his department had passed in the last few years. He was pretty sure he could do better than that. Since I'm working on the chapter synopsis section of my prospectus, I found it really helpful to take a look at a bunch of different Tables of Contents to get an idea of what people actually cover in real dissertations that get people their degrees. I'm also keeping my eye out for some "worst of" dissertations to keep me going later.

2 comments:

Good Enough Woman said...

What a coincidence! Two days ago, I found a database with dissertations from my university! I was doing the same thing--looking at the table of contents--because I was working on my "making it real" notebook, thanks to you, Amstr! I love playing around with chapter titles. I haven't really read the dissertations yet, but I will. Oh, I will! :)

Bavardess said...

I've looked at the database recently to get a feel for what types of research are being produced in my areas of interest, but your husband's idea is great! I'll be tucking it away for future reference.