Recent content by RobertoV

This is such an important distinction that a lot of people don't know about. PhD = research doctorate, designed to create researchers. Professional doctorate = practice doctorate, designed to advance practitioners. Neither is better. They're just different. I did a DBA instead of a PhD for the...

I'm going to give you the reality check you need. 10,000 words in two weeks is 714 words a day. That's not the hard part. The hard part is that you also need to: Make a coherent argument Engage with historiography Analyze primary sources Write in proper academic style Format citations correctly...

Gabriella, this is such an important post. The "dissertation or bust" mindset keeps so many qualified professionals from pursuing doctorates when there are perfectly valid alternatives. One thing I'd add: check if your employer has tuition reimbursement or partnership programs with specific...

Marcus, let's cut through the noise for a second. You asked where to find good dissertation examples, but I think what you're really asking is "how do I know if my idea is good enough to build a dissertation around?" And that's a much scarier question, isn't it? Here's the secret nobody tells...

Okay Emma, I need to know: what page is footnote 397 on?? I have the PDF somewhere and now I need to check if I missed it 😂 But seriously, this is the most relatable thing I've read all week. I'm a senior philosophy major and I've lost COUNT of how many times a random footnote sent me down a...

My dissertation was on a very specific aspect of marine sediment transport. Tiny little question, answered with tiny little data, published in a tiny little journal. The week after I defended, I woke up and thought "that's it? That's my contribution to science?" It felt embarrassingly small...

Lately, my conversations with students and early-career researchers keep circling back to one colossal challenge: the thesis or dissertation. It’s more than a project; for many, it feels like an immense mental and emotional barrier. The obstacles vary—crippling writer's block, fleeting...

First, thank you for reading. It helps just to share this, since no one in my life fully understands what I’m going through. I’m in my final PhD year, and my project is falling apart. Part of the problem is the flawed foundation: my assigned topic was based on a shaky premise, so I wasted...