Being the Mentor She Should Have Had with Dr. Janice Weaver
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:41:41]
And if you’re passionate about your topic, you’re in trouble. Yeah. Because you’re not going to be appropriately or professionally distant when they start telling you all the different ways they want you to make changes. You’re going to write, you’re going to be unstoppable, and you just want to give them what they’re asking for. Yeah. So, yeah, this notion where so many universities will tell a student, go pick a topic you’re passionate about. Yeah. No, don’t do that. Yeah. That plan from the beginning, it helps with so much. You cut down the number of articles you’re reading by. That’s right. All right. Soon as you start to skim an article and you don’t you shouldn’t read hardly any of these articles anyway. You’re not getting them, you’re skimming them. And as soon as you start to do that, you can quickly decide, does this meet up with what I’m doing with my project? Right. That’s right. In the plan. And if it does, how does it fit in the plan? Put it in the bucket and and come back to it later and go through. And you can pick up so much literature that way, so quickly. Make the. Oh, yeah. Does this apply to what I’m doing or not.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:42:46]
Yeah. I tell my students read the abstract first. The abstract is very important because it summarizes tells you the article because the old oilor. Yeah. I mean if you read the whole article first and then you come up with nothing and you’ve wasted little time.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:43:05]
Yeah. You mentioned is this notion of synthesizing and I tell you to get rid of this concept that people seem to want to fall back on so much, they use this word paraphrase. Oh yeah, outcalls. Didn’t you ever paraphrase anything? You tell your story, then you use the articles for support. If you are telling me what that article said, then you’re doing a book report. That’s not a literature review. Literature review is. Here’s the landscape of what’s out there in the book, the purpose of that literature. You, by the way, is just to support the fact that you should be doing your project right. No one has quite done your project before, but it’s very close because science is very conservative. We don’t want to hear that you’re doing something brand new to improve what you’re doing. Something a little different. Yeah, that’s that’s what science is doing things a little different. If you want to get some brand new, your name better than will be Einstein or something. Let’s say Darwin, because whether you know it or not, Darwin was building heavily upon what came before him. But occasionally there are people who do something that’s really, really new and different and elsewhere. And you don’t want to be your property unless you’re really ready for that. And if you just want to get your dissertation done, don’t look for brand new gel, something a little different.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:44:26]
Yeah, well, I have a student who’s passionate about a topic and will we’ll find articles that have to do with what he’s interested in. And it’s that, like you say, it’s it’s they he wants to use it, not to build his research. It’s almost like he needs to write a book. And if he wants to tell a story and that and like in the media, he says it’s in the media. You know, I said, well, the media does account for a dissertation right now.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:44:59]
Well, the one thing you can use the media for in your dissertation is to prove that something is out there. You can’t use it to say that this is a fact. But you say that these these opinions are out there. These ideas are out there. Right. Right. But it can’t be your whole dissertation letter to review the media’s more data than it is source material. Yeah, it’s valid for saying this is in the public zeitgeist right now. You can see article, right. Your article written about it in the media. So, yes, you’ve established that it’s there. It’s in the conversation. That’s all the media is good for. Right.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:45:35]
To make primary sources, peer reviewed sources. Yes. Yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:45:40]
So what’s what what would you say is another big mistake that you see students making when they go into the dissertation process as a chair?
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:45:58]
Well, let’s say that the passionate part is the first one, yeah, the second one is they don’t know how to narrow down their topic, which they should have done, which which I should do from the very beginning. And if in place is broad, I mean, it’s so broad that, you know, you have a plan in place.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:46:22]
That’s what takes care of that, because that’s where the hell am I going to answer my research question, right. That I’ve got to work for like 30 years, like, OK, but the thriftier that work. Yeah. So let me make that my research question.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:46:37]
Yeah. So I have to help them with that plan because they don’t have a plan. So I have to help them with that because you know, you can’t just say, well, I want to study the court system and how jurors are. How does a judge know jurors are biased or unbiased? I mean I mean, that blows me away. Go on. I made it so, you know, I have to help them narrow it, because if they don’t and let’s say if they can’t, because they have other professors before me and so let’s say they they pass them and let them get through it, don’t correct them. Then they come to me and it’s still too broad. The people before me didn’t want to tell them, you know, it’s tough to be honest. Yeah. With students because I don’t want to upset them. But, you know, you have to have to say things to get them to be on track. And that part is tough because I get upset, you know, and but I try to tell them this and this is part of the process. And once you get this done, you’ll see you’ll feel better about yourself and about your work. Just take it a step at a time. Right. And don’t look at the edge and and lying. And I’ve always been told they came up with it’s a marathon.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:48:12]
You know, I’m going to disagree with you on that. I think it’s very important to keep your keep your eye on the finish line, to keep to to remember at all times why you’re doing it and where and where you’re going, because you are so good at keeping their nose to the grindstone. Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that they’re moving in the right direction all the time. We see student that’s just weaving and generally hitting sort of kind of towards the finish line. That’s a good way to turn a marathon into one hundred miles or two hundred miles. I know, I know. Wandering all over the course.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:48:46]
You want to take the course, as I heard, though. It’s the marsathon. I heard that so much.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:48:53]
Well, it is it’s a it’s a long process. Our goal for our students is that they finish their dissertation in a year and we have students that are meeting and exceeding those time frames, like beating those time frames eight, nine to one year regularly. But you cannot do that unless you make the decision to do that very early on in the process. That’s right. And it’s not going to work for everyone in all committees and all departments. Some some universities are inherently slower than others. But but you have to keep focus on what your goal is for the folks that we work with. The goal is not to be a researcher and go into academia. If it is, your dissertation is important. It becomes the foundation for your research program. Right. If instead we go on and use that degree to further your career in industry, anything outside of academics, certainly then no one’s ever going to read your dissertation after you graduate. So now have been a lot of time, any more time than necessary on it.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:49:58]
That’s true, because if you get so obsessed and about it has to be perfect in your way and you keep disagreeing with the committee, you’re wasting so much time on something that’s going to be put in question based.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:50:14]
Never heard from again and never be seen again. One of my one of my students, I ask them, well, how many people do you think is going to read your dissertation after you graduate? Thought about it for a minute, said, well, I know one. Talking about your mom? Yes. Like your mom’s. I’ll read your dissertation. You’re going to be nice. She’s going to say she read it and you’re not going to call her out on it. Yeah.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:50:38]
And have a career trying to build a career on that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:50:41]
You’re going to you’re going to you’re going to build your career on the fact your first name is Doctor, not based on what you actually write in your dissertation. That’s right. That’s right. So keep in mind in that perfectionism thing that you mentioned a minute ago, get rid of that. Yeah. Perfectionism leads to to just stalling and frustration. Oh, frustration. Good enough is prolific. Perfection is not. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us here today, Dr. Weaver. Tell folks if they if they wanted to kind of continue this discussion with you, what’s the best way to to reach you in the future?
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:51:19]
Well, they can reach me on LinkedIn, OK?
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:51:22]
And we have Dr. Janice Weaver on LinkedIn.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:51:25]
Yes. Yes.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:51:28]
And and so that’s a good place, obviously, to to reach out again. I want to thank you for joining us with joining us and being with us here today, sharing all this useful information about how someone can go from being a doctoral student to a doctoral chair and and the insights that you’ve gained from doing that. I’m sure that’s going to be so valuable to our audience here today and to everyone out there. I want you to remind you again, this episode has been brought to you by Dissertation Done if you need that help to get you over the finish line, whether you are just getting started or or you think you’re almost there, reach out to us at DissertationDone.com/done. And we’ll see about getting you in our Fast-Track Your Dissertation coaching program or whatever other help you might need, whether it’s editing or data analysis or whatever it might be. Just having that expert in your corner that knows what needs to be done, I can help you keep on track and on on topic is so valuable, so very valuable, so DissertationDone.com/done. And if you’re done and you’re already living your unconventional life, then the next step is for you to put out your book and expand your authority that way our Expand Your Authority program gets you from a blank page to being a published author with a real live book that you can hold in your hand from Amazon, as well as a Kindle book and that book you can take anywhere on any other platform you might like. It’s a great business card. And what better way to to to demonstrate your authority than not only being a doctor, but you can truthfully say I literally wrote the book on this thing that we’re talking about right here. So DissertationDone.com/book is the way to find out more about that. Once again, Dr. Weaver, thank you so much. It’s been so great having you here today.
Dr. Janice Weaver [00:53:10]
Oh, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you.
Dr. Russell Strickland [00:53:13]
Well, you’re quite welcome. And for everyone else, go out there and live your unconventional life.
Outro [00:53:25]
This has been an unconventional life. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, subscribe now to keep getting inspirational stories of unconventional lives as soon as they’re released. Until then, go out and live your best unconventional life.
