Expert: Kay Larson - 11/5/2010

Question
QUESTION: I am working on my PhD in holistic nutrition and am just beginning my dissertation.  I am curious as to how much impact the available support through the school had on your ability to complete your dissertation.  CCNH has taken down their website, which had some valuable links.  Also, they are very leanly staffed right now.  I do have an adviser for my dissertation, but my guess is that she will not have much time to work with students individually.  Also, due to time constraints, I will be limited to a “theoretical-evaluative” approach wherein I review past studies to draw conclusions, rather than conduct any studies of my own.  Did you use this approach when you did your dissertation?  Any insights you have to offer on completing my dissertation more or less on my own will be appreciated.

ANSWER: Hi Nancy-I did not rely too heavily on the support system from CCNH even when they were operational. I did not choose the theoretical approach when I did my dissertation, but rather I chose quantitative research. I relied heavily on the APA style book and sought advise from others who had completed dissertations (from USDE accredited universities). My advise is to go to the CCNH Discussion Group on Facebook. CCNH had some very helpful study guides as to how to do the dissertation. The ones dating back to 2007 were especially useful. I suggest you post and see if anyone has one. You could also see if anyone downloaded some sample dissertations Clayton used to have on their website.
Were you accepted in the teach-out program? I am wondering how you are going to complete it in the allotted time, which I thought was November or January if you're just starting.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Kay:  March 15 is the deadline for the final dissertation.  I am in a panic about completing it in time -- I agree with you that it will be difficult.  I am in the teach-out and since I enrolled under the old format before they had terms, I have until Jan 31 to complete coursework and March 15 for the dissertation.
Do you have any particular on-line websites for research that you would recommend?  I am familiar with pubmedcentral.gov but was wondering if you know of any others.  Thanks for your help!

Answer
Don't panic. You've just have to get started. Once you do, it will not be as hard as you thought it was going to be. But you've got get going. Just continue googling to find helpful websites. Here's one I thought looked interesting:
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/phd_paper_writing.
Good luck. Write back if you have to. I'll keep you motivated...you can do this!