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As you pursue your doctoral degree, you might feel a bit like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. There will be wicked witches, fireballs, and flying monkeys. But, there will also be munchkins and good witches. 

Here’s how to navigate the Yellow Brick Road:

• Trust the process (and ENJOY IT!)
• Realize doing a dissertation is both art & science
• Don’t over-complicate this
  • You can’t boil the ocean (find the balance between too broad and too narrow) 
  • Your dissertation/doc project isn’t going to win the Noble Peace Prize (so just let that go and get it done!
  •  You probably do not need to do mixed-methods
  • Your dissertation/do project is simply a demonstration project (it must demonstrate to the academy you are worthy of the degree)
• Scholarly writing and APA are a huge part of the process
• Ensure a solid topic:
  • aligned with your degree and specialization (you might need to “turn the lens”)
  • it’s something you want to be known as an expert in (and will hold your interest for years)
  • substantiated by recent (3-5 years) scholarly (peer-reviewed) research (you must be able to answer: Why are we doing this research?)
  • consider the population – if “protected” per IRB you might need to “turn the lens” (instead of minors/prisoners, etc. maybe the people who work with them?)
  • consider data collection (how will you access the population?) 
• Seek alignment before you write your proposal (is the problem, purpose, RQs, design, analytical strategy aligned?  See below for Dr. Lonny's download and also this episode that speaks specifically to the issue of alignment:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1547113/7455607

Lonny (Lawerence) Ness holds a PhD in Business Management and has been in the field of online higher ed for nearly 20 years. To date he has worked as a chair with close to 100 graduates. Not only is he the founder of Dissertation101 Mentoring Services, Inc. and mydissertation.coach, He is also the founder of donut explorers created as a community to seek, share, and promote the world's best donuts. 

Connect with Dr. Ness:

@mydissertationcoach1 (Facebook)
@mydissertation6 (Twitter)
https://bit.ly/3rWQYF6 (Youtube)
mydissertation.coach (website)
https://mydissertationcoach.quora.com/ (Quora)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dissertation101/ (LinkedIn)

Annotated Prospectus Template & Literature Review Matrix Template: https://mydissertation.coach/downloads

Get the article: The Doctoral Journey - 12 Things You Should Know (that they probably won't tell you!): https://www.expandyourha

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