Writing your doctoral dissertation - part 27 pps

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that your study can provide. By diluting your presentation with numerous
relatively trivial details, your major findings will be lost. While there may be
a time when these relatively minor issues can be productively addressed, at
this time it is important to address the major findings. Determining the
“major” issues may be viewed as a judgment call. Certainly, as the person
most familiar with your data and with your findings, you are considered to
be in an ideal position to help us, your readers, to recognize and accept this
focus. Thus, it becomes incumbent on you to help us see the light. Connect
your findings with the major theories and research guiding your study.
A Cautious Interpretation
Some researchers make major pronouncements from their research, implying
that they have solved all the questions in the world with their research. Others
are timid about making any statements beyond the data which they collected.
While these extremes are not unusual in first drafts of dissertations, doctoral
students learn to make appropriately cautious interpretations.
A wise researcher takes care not to over-generalize from limited data. Being
cautious, while making a case for what you did find, you will find an appropriate
balance. Seeking critical readers’ reactions to your analysis, you will have access
to others’ views on the match between your data and your proposed findings
Concluding Sections
Typically, doctoral studies conclude with at least one additional section in
addition to an abstract of the study. These sections may be called “Summary,”
“Conclusions,” “Implications,” and/or “Recommendations.” The need for
details required in each section varies across institutions, so become familiar
with the customs at your university and your chair’s preferences.
Summary This usually includes a total recapitulation of all the elements of
the study, including a statement of the problem, the research design, the
findings, and the conclusions.
Conclusion This section makes assertions based on the findings. It usually

addresses issues that support, or fail to support, a theory which is being tested. For
example, if a hypothesis has been supported by the data, then the researcher may
conclude that the data support the validity of the theory which was being tested in
the study. Some researchers use the trends which were evident in their findings as
a basis for potential theory building. This section states the researcher’s sense of
how the study’s findings contribute to the knowledge in a discipline.
Implications In this section, the researcher is free to make a range of
suggestions for the usefulness of the findings. The research settings may range
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from elementary grade classrooms, to university-based research projects; this is
the researcher’s opportunity to explain how the findings of the just-completed
study may contribute to theories and/or practice in these settings. Another way
of viewing this section is for the researcher to state the potential significance of
the implications of the study on professional practice, or on life in general.
If you wrote a “Potential Significance” section for your dissertation
proposal, you may return to that hypothetical section to reflect on the
predictions you made. With the knowledge acquired from your findings, you
may now revise these statements of potential significance to more accurately
reflect your understanding of the possible impact of your study’s findings.
Recommendations You make recommendations based on your experiences
in conducting the research as well as in any other professional capacity. You
may recommend that other researchers (including future doctoral students)
conduct additional studies in this area, which follow from the findings and
procedures implemented in your study. While the liberty to speculate and tell
others what to do is tantalizing, most doctoral students, and researchers
generally, restrict their suggestions to a few targets. In actuality, many
doctoral students follow up on their own studies, or advocate that students in
their program continue with the same line of inquiry.
Abstract Most institutions require you to write an abstract of your study.

Often the abstract is the first part of your study which is read by your readers.
It is frequently the only part read by others outside your institution. Create
an abstract which clearly represents your study, focusing on the most
significant elements. The information included in your abstract will influence
whether researchers proceed to look at your total study. You will want people
who are studying issues related to yours to find your study among all the
others. You will also want your abstract to be an accurate representation of
all the hard work you have devoted to this project. Most students find it useful
initially to write an extended abstract, and then to pare down their words, so
that the key issues are expressed concisely within the imposed limits.
An abstract of your study is usually published in Dissertations Abstract
International (DAI). Although there is a 350-word restriction, the format is
open to individual choice. The content typically includes the following:

• title;
• problem or issue which was researched;
• the frame of reference or theoretical bases which guided the study;
• the data sources which informed your study;
• the procedures for analyzing your data; and
• the outcomes or findings.

The number of words which you allot to each part will be unique to your
abstract. Give great detail in reporting the more unusual parts of your study.
Sometimes, in a desire to entice a reader to pursue the entire text, researchers
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provide sketchy information. Be cautious in writing your abstract, seek advice
from your support group.
After numerous revisions, all these pieces of your dissertation are likely to
be approved by your committee, led by your chair. They will decide that it is

time to schedule orals. In most cases, this agreement reflects individual and
collective concurrence that you have accomplished all that is required for
approving the dissertation.
In rare instances, faculty agree to schedule orals despite the fact that they
are not pleased with the dissertation. This may be precipitated by a student’s
resistance to committee members’ suggestions. In such a situation, faculty
may vote to fail the student at the oral examination. While most institutions
offer the opportunity for a “second” oral defense, students want to avoid this
situation, if at all possible. For most doctoral candidates, the scheduling of
orals reflects a major accomplishment, and is prelude to a celebration of their
work: “When my mentor finally said, ‘You can defend,’ I felt the Glory come
upon me!”

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14 Defending Your Dissertation
Preparing for Orals

I’m excited to talk about my study, now that it’s done!
I sat at orals with people who had been my teachers and finally saw myself as a
quasi-peer.

When you’ve decided, “I’ve done the best I can do,” there is one more step
in the completion of your dissertation. You have probably heard it referred to
in some of these ways:

• orals;
• your orals;
• the defense;
• your defense;
• a hearing;

• your hearing;
• an oral examination.
Your institutions terms may reveal important insights. If we look more closely
at the names, we will note subtle potential differences in the focus of this
culminating experience. For example, when candidates prepare for a
“defense” they are typically placed in a position which is different from
“orals.” As a candidate at a “defense” you are likely to be asked to defend
the theories, stances, and decisions which you made in the process of writing
your dissertation. You are more likely to experience a confrontation, a time
when there is a need to “defend” what was done and why it was done. At a
session labeled “orals” the candidate may consider and speculate about
multiple perspectives on theories and other issues, without necessarily
defending one stance. The use of the term “your” makes your orals more
personal. Certainly each person’s experience is unique, never to be duplicated
precisely by any other candidate. Regardless of the name it is given at your
institution, there are two interdependent processes which occur:

• you publicly discuss what you researched, why you studied it, what you
discovered in the process, and how your study contributes to the
scholarship in your area of specialization, while
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• your committee makes an academic evaluation about the adequacy of your
dissertation and your oral presentation.

Since I think most institutions use this event as a time to hear from the
candidate in an academic setting, I will use the term “oral” and the plural
term “orals” in this discussion. (As in all aspects of the dissertation process,
I strongly urge you to inquire about what happens at this event from your
committee and from your collegial support group. These people have the most

intimate details to offer which should be useful in your preparation for this
important day, a most-memorable day in your academic career.)
In the main, orals are a positive experience, a time when the candidate gets
to talk extensively about all she or he has learned and the enduring questions
which may guide future research: “Dr. L told me that the orals were to be a
happy occasion and not one to grill and intimidate the person.” Smith notes:

Much will depend on the quality of research done, the kind of rapport
one has with the committee, and the amount of ego strength that one has
at the end of this whole process. For some students it is agony. The
committee may be rough and the student may be very anxious. These
students go in thinking that the committee will try to trick them. In
essence, they have set the tone for their own defense.
Other students may experience complete ecstasy because they feel that
writing the dissertation is one of the most creative things they have ever done.
These students usually feel good about what they have done, and they go in
with the attitude that they know more about their dissertation than anyone
else does. They enter with a willingness to share this knowledge.
Reactions to the defense are as varied as the defense itself. Some
students end up with ambivalent feelings; others are so relieved to have
finished that they do not know exactly how to feel. Many students are
simply happy because the defense has gone very well for them. Although
the feelings may be different, no one will deny that a real sense of
accomplishment is there. No one can destroy that.
(Smith, 1982, p. 43)
The Purpose
Academic institutions constantly evaluate. For you to gain admission into
your doctoral program, your academic record was scrutinized. During all your
courses, your work was evaluated. Prior to writing your dissertation, your
proposal was subjected to careful review. And now that the individual

members of your committee have each decided that your dissertation is ready
for orals, they will evaluate your work publicly. There are basically four
purposes accomplished by your orals: