Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors PDF
Preview Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors
REVISING YOUR DISSERTATION REVISING YOUR DISSERTATION ADVICE FROM LEADING EDITORS EDITED BY BETH LUEY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2004 by the Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Revising your dissertation : advice from leading editors / edited by Beth Luey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN--23921-0 1. Dissertations, Academic. 2. Academic writing. 3. Scholarly publishing. I. Luey, Beth. LB2369.R49 2004 808' .02—dc22 2004001717 Manufactured in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum re- quirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Perma- nence of Paper). CONTENTS Introduction: Is the Publishable Dissertation an Oxymoron? BETH LUEY 1 PART I. RETHINKING AND REVISING 1. You’re the Author Now WILLIAM P. SISLER 17 2. What Is Your Book About? BETH LUEY 24 3. Turning Your Dissertation Rightside Out SCOTT NORTON 40 4. Bringing Your Own Voice to the Table SCOTT NORTON 70 vi / Contents 5. Time to Trim: Notes, Bibliographies, Tables, and Graphs JENYA WEINREB 104 PART II. DISCIPLINARY VARIATIONS 6. Caught in the Middle: The Humanities JENNIFER CREWE 131 7. Putting Passion into Social Science PETER J. DOUGHERTY AND CHARLES T. MYERS 148 8. From Particles to Articles: The Inside Scoop on Scientific Publishing TREVOR LIPSCOMBE 166 9. Illustrated Ideas: Publishing in the Arts JUDY METRO 182 10. A Sense of Place: Regional Books ANN REGAN 201 11. Making a Difference: Professional Publishing JOHANNA E. VONDELING 212 Contents / vii Conclusion: The Ticking Clock BETH LUEY 231 Frequently Asked Questions 241 Useful Reading 245 About the Contributors 249 Index 251 INTRODUCTION IS THE PUBLISHABLE DISSERTATION AN OXYMORON? Beth Luey Undergraduates consume knowledge. Scholars produce knowl- edge. Graduate school is the place where students make the tran- sition from consumer to producer. There are exceptions, of course: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.’s first book began life as his un- dergraduate honors thesis. But most of college is spent in lec- tures, labs, and libraries learning what other people already know. In graduate school, passing qualifying exams or completing pre- scribed courses demonstrates that you have absorbed enough es- tablished knowledge to move on. Research seminars allow you to begin learning and communicating what others do notknow. The dissertation is the culmination of this process: a significant orig- inal contribution to knowledge. Its publication as a book or in journals allows new knowledge to be disseminated to an audience beyond the doctoral committee. This book was written for people at various stages in the dis- 1
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