Doing a Dissertation

by Vern S. Poythress,  Feb. 21, 2008

I.  Understanding your goal
	A.  Serving the Lord

	B.  A contribution to knowledge

	C.  A well-defined topic

	D.  Doable

	E.  Cogently argued

	F.  Clear

	G.  Inform yourself
		1.  Read your Ph.D. committee's description

		2.  Look over some past WTS dissertations in your field

II.  Hazards
	A.  Breakdown with your advisor

	B.  Wearing out

III.  Finding your topic
	A.  Interesting to you

	B.  Pleasant and edifying for you

	C.  Doable

	D.  Begin now

	E.  Look around
		1.  In your classes

		2.  In your reading

		3.  Professors' suggestions

IV.  Refining your topic
	A.  Particularize

	B.  Find a perspective (intersecting two fields is good)

V.  Researching your topic
	A.  Expect to spend lots of time refining

	B.  Finding what has been done

	C.  Your thesis

	D.  Your method

VI.  Writing your proposal
	A.  Expect rewrites

	B.  Five pages of proposal, plus five of bibliography

	C.  Structure
		1.  Your thesis

		2.  What has been done

		3.  Elaboration of thesis

		4.  Method

		5.  Chapter outline

VII.  Doing it
	A.  Persevere by the Lord's strength

	B.  The value of the edge

	C.  Be realistic before the Lord

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Copyright (c) 2008 by Vern Sheridan Poythress.  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found at the Free Software Foundation website.