Dissertation Group
After several years of struggling to write my dissertation and even considering quitting the degree, everything changed when my department began a dissertation group. I study music theory and our dissertation group includes all the academic disciplines that are part of our music department: music theory, musicology and ethnomusicology. Dissertators of all stages are part of the group (between 6-10 folks per quarter), those who have just passed their qualifying exams, to those that are polishing full chapter drafts. There are already former members of the group who have finished and are now working as music faculty in prominent universities.
The workshop is led by one of our musicology professors, Professor Stephanie Tcharos, who saw a real need for the group and worked hard fighting for this course. As a group, we discuss all aspects of writing sometimes as an individual topic (for example, "introductions") but mostly as they come up in the writing itself. The general format of the class involves one or two folks circulating their work in progress, usually a chapter draft, but sometimes a draft of a conference paper. One person from the group completes a close reading and leads the discussion (1.5 - 2.5 hours meeting time).
I was hesitatant to join the group a couple years ago because I was not being productive and thought that I had nothing to contribute. The truth is, I learned more and was inspired to write just by reading my colleagues' work. The interdisciplinary nature of each writing approach is helping me to produce something that will undoubtedly be richer and stronger than what I would have otherwise produced.
We began the year by circulating abstracts of our dissertations which (1) gave everybody who is new, a chance to get familiar with everybody else's work, (2) allowed others to polish and tighten up their abstracts while noting how their projects have evolved. As the year has progressed, we have met weekly and read several near-completed chapter drafts. It has been really exciting to be a part of someone's scholarly development and there are many rewards from being a part of this group that I had not anticipated.
The real challenge in writing is clarity. After reading and discussing others' drafts, I learned how to approach the project and organize my work. Two years ago, my work was one, long, amorphous sketch. Over the last three quarters I've majorly re-organized my work several times. This is part of the process and is supposed to happen as you flesh things out.
I hope to continually update the rewards of being in this group as well as the tribulations of working on this project.
