Your CIOS file request: COMGRADS hotline item

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Received:  by CIOS Mailer; Monday 14 Jun 1999 12:38:44
Date:          Mon, 14 Jun 99 12:24 -0400
To: "Multiple recipients of COMGRADS" 
From: "Lisa R. Barry" 
Subject:       Re: Too Quiet!

Ok, I've been out of town (finding a place to live in Michigan), so I'm
responding as I get the messages.  Hope I'm not repeating anything.

Jen asked:
> I have more questions however--if you don't mind.  I still want to know
>how I will know a good dissertation topic when I see it.

You won't "know it when you see it."  If you love it, are excited about it,
and can demonstrate the project's significance (to yourself, and then to
others) then it's a good topic.  But you can't rely on others to determine
whether or not your diss topic is "good."  And "good" is so subjective
anyway.  I don't find quantitative projects all that interesting (except
for some), because I'm more interested in rhetorical studies.  But that
doesn't mean somebody's diss topic isn't "good" just because "I" don't like
it.  Good is what YOU think is good.  Your excitement and enthusiasm will
demonstrate to the readers why it is good, relevant, worthwhile, etc.

>My problem is
>that I am interested in everything, well, not everything, but a vast area
>of stuff.  I've come with about 5 topics in the last month that I think
>would be cool to do.  Some of them are more philosophical, some are about
>argument, some are about mass comm effects, some are about political
>theory.  Sometimes my advisor has to remind me that I'm in Speech
>Comm...Will I just wake up one day and say Ah Ha!  (no reference to
>one-hit wonder Swedish band intended).  Or, is there some systematic way
>of figuring this out.

No systematic way of figuring it out.  And everything you've mentioned is
encompassed by Speech Comm.  Not sure what your advisor means.  Many
institutions have Comm depts that house everything from mass comm to
telecomm to advertising/pr to rhetoric to argument to interpersonal and
other comm theories, etc.  It's all under the NCA umbrella, so it all
works.  You just have to make a decision -- and that's the hard part --
about what you want to focus on for the next many years.  That's how to
figure it out.  For each topic, write a double-sided list, Pro & Con.
Figure out what the pros are of spending the next several years researching
this topic, and the cons.  Then, think about where a project dealing with
that topic will take you (future research).  Compare the different areas in
which you're interested, and narrow the list.  Then do some preliminary
research and reading, thinking, contemplating, meditating . . .  Then
choose one.  And then go for it.

>Another problem that I have is that I'm nearly done with classes but I
>want to keep taking them because there is so much out there that I still
>don't know.  It's not that I'm afraid of going on to the next step, I'm
>really not.  Is this normal?

Entirely normal.  I'm in the same boat.  I've been done with coursework for
a year now, and am pissed that classes are being offered that weren't
offered while I was taking classes.  There are so many more I would like to
take.  But somewhere you have to draw the line.  You can always purchase
the books, get copies of the syllabi, and read the material on your own.
That's how the professors we admire so much do it.  My advisor reads an
average of 6 hours per day.  Not that I'll ever spend 6 hours per day
reading (I do have a child, after all), but my goal is to read for 2-4
hours per day.  Some day I'll be as well read at the Steve Brownes and Tom
Bensons and Bruce Gronbecks of our discipline.  Hopefully.

>Please, somebody tell me this is the sign of
>a good scholar or something.  Because I envision myself taking classes
>until I'm done with my diss.  Do people do that?  I haven't seen much of
>it around my school.

It's a good sign that your still curious about topics.  But DO NOT take
classes while you're writing your diss.  It'll distract you, and you won't
be able to focus.  You're going to have to stop.  And chances are your
institution won't let you take classes.  At Penn State, we're allowed to
take ONE class after completing comprehensive exams, and we're only allowed
to audit it.  Check out your institution's policy.  For you to take
classes, your department will have to pay for your tuition, and coursework
is more expensive than diss. credit.  At Penn State, tuition for Ph.D.
Research-full time is $780, but tuition for one 3-credit course is about
$1,500 (I'm out of state).  Big difference -- twice the tuition.  And the
department will likely frown on it.

Trust that you know what you need to know for a solid foundation, that you
can read additional information, and that you can always pursue scholarly
interests in the future through reading, networking, attendance at
conferences, etc.  But take the time you need to write the diss., free from
the distraction of required course reading.  Trust me.  I've been there and
done that -- I audited one course during the spring.  It about killed me.

Lisa :-)

=======================================
"Discipline of mind and body is one of the most difficult things one has to
acquire, but in the long run it is a valuable ingredient of education and a
tremendous bulwark in time of trouble."
                                              --Eleanor Roosevelt
=======================================
Lisa R. Barry
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD)
Graduate Instructor
The Pennsylvania State University
234 Sparks Building
University Park, PA  16802
lrb7@psu.edu
http://www.personal.psu.edu/lrb7
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