[Air-L] PhD dissertation format

Tue Jul 5 16:31:56 PDT 2011

Well, I understand what you are saying and agree that all articles have external input, but what I was getting at is how do you compare (not just in terms of job prospects, but also as a measure of intellectual accomplishment) someone who has gone that route to someone else who produced 100,000 words with a few sympathetic comments from a supervisor? Its just a completely different experience in terms of what you go through, in terms of conceptual effort, in my view.
cheers
Mathieu

On 07/06/11, Dave Karpf  <davekarpf at gmail.com> wrote:
> This type of dissertation is very common in some social science programs,
> less-so in others.  I have colleagues in econ and in the more econ-driven
> subfields of political science for whom this is the norm.  It seems the main
> distinction is whether you are entering more of a book-driven or
> article-driven subfield.
> 
> I'd dismiss your first concern, that these are peer-reviewed articles, btw.
>  Yes, solo peer-reviewed articles can be said to represent an individual's
> best solo effort.  This is the case because *all* of our work in academia is
> eventually peer-reviewed.  The process of managing those multiple inputs,
> engaging with their critiques, and crafting responses to them is fundamental
> to a "solo" effort.  Or put more plainly, there is no such thing as a truly
> lone scholar.  We are all participating in a discourse, and one's
> contribution is shaped passively through the books they read, semi-passively
> through the questions and methods they select, and actively through the peer
> reviews and conference discussants we encounter along the way.
> 
> (As for traditional dissertations going from A to Z and building a point
> over time... well, having just recently converted my traditional
> dissertation into a book manuscript, I'd humbly suggest that it's always a
> work-in-progress.  What I thought was comprehensive in 2009 felt woefullly
> inadequate in 2010/11.)
> 
> Bottom-line: the article compilation route is a good choice for fields that
> emphasize articles over books.  The traditional dissertation route is a good
> choice for fields that emphasize books over articles (or treat them
> equally).  And in all cases, follow the prevailing norms of whatever
> departments you hope will one day hire you.
> 
> Regards,
> Dave
> 
> On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 6:10 PM, Darren Purcell <dpurcell at ou.edu> wrote:
> 
> > I know of several programs in Geography that were using this model in the
> > 1990s, because my doctoral program interviewed at last two candidates who
> > completed their dissertations this way.
> >
> >
> >
> > Darren
> > --------------------------------------------------------
> > Darren Purcell
> >
> > Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Adviser
> > Dept. of Geography and Environmental Sustainability
> > University of Oklahoma
> >
> > SWAAG Secretary : http://www2.geog.okstate.edu/swaag/
> >
> > Email: dpurcell at ou.edu
> > Skype: profpurcell
> > (405) 325-9193
> > http://ags.ou.edu/~dpurcell/
> > http://ou.academia.edu/DarrenPurcell
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Knut Lundby <knut.lundby at media.uio.no
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > At the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo, we have through several
> > > years been encouraged to apply this dissertation format alternative to a
> > > monograph.
> > > Our PhD-programme is described here:
> > > www.hf.uio.no/english/research/doctoral-degree-and-career/
> > >
> > > Knut Lundby
> > > Dept. of Media and Communication
> > > University of Oslo, Norway
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Den 5. juli 2011 kl. 19.20 skrev Mathieu ONeil:
> > >
> > > > Hi everyone
> > > >
> > > > I am currently writing a report on a PhD dissertation from a European
> > > university. The dissertation
> > > >       -->consists of a general introduction (50 pages), four articles
> > > which have
> > > > already been published in peer-reviewed journals, and an appendix
> > > > consisting of an additional article.
> > > > I have to admit that I am little surprised by what is for me a new kind
> > > of Dissertation. Whilst the benefits are clear in terms of publications –
> > > when candidates obtain their doctorate they already have at least four
> > > publications in peer-reviewed journals – it raised some questions in my
> > mind
> > > regarding the nature of the work.
> > > >
> > > > First, since it is the final, published version of the peer-reviewed
> > > articles which is presented these articles have (presumably) been peer
> > > reviewed. That is to say, candidates are not presenting strictly speaking
> > > their own work, with input from a supervisor, but rather work which may
> > have
> > > been substantially benefited from a multi-person process of revision,
> > > negotiation, revision, etc. Can these articles  be said to represent a
> > > candidate's best solo effort? I know people could ask friends and
> > contacts
> > > for comments but here articles have been for want of a better word
> > > 'professionally' edited and proofread...
> > > >
> > > > Second, despite the introduction which attempts to pull everything
> > > together the papers remain heterogenous articles and may suffer both from
> > > repetition (the same point can appear in one or several articles as well
> > as
> > > in the introduction) and from the lack of a clear overall structure. When
> > > you write a traditional Dissertation (say 100,000 words) you really need
> > to
> > > go from A to Z, learn to build a point over time and length... Maybe it
> > is a
> > > useless skill.
> > > >
> > > > This is not an isolated phenomenon, I received a published version of a
> > > really interesting PhD from someone a few months ago who did the same -
> > from
> > > a different European country.
> > > >
> > > > Anyway, I am curious as to how prevalent this practice is, and what
> > > people think about it – is a PhD like this the same as a traditional one?
> > > Does it matter?
> > > >
> > > > cheers
> > > > Mathieu
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Dave Karpf, PhD
> 
> Assistant Professor
> Journalism and Media Studies Department
> School of Communication and Information
> Rutgers University, New Brunswick
> 
> www.davidkarpf.com
> davekarpf at gmail.com
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--
****
Dr Mathieu O'Neil
Adjunct Research Fellow
Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute
College of Arts and Social Science
The Australian National University
email: mathieu.oneil[at]anu.edu.au
web: http://adsri.anu.edu.au/people/visitors/mathieu.php