photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video
Introduction
Some of the more popular posts here on my PhD Tips and Advice blog have to do with the craft of writing, either how to advance your writing output (Making Progress When You Write) or staying focused during the writing task (How to Focus When You Write).
In this post, I wanted to give you three simple yet powerful writing tips to boost the output on your dissertation writing.
Introduction
One of the research tasks that’s given me a tremendous amount of benefit during my PhD is the writing of a mini-review. I use the term “mini-review” only because this task is something akin to completing a book review (only a little smaller)…and because frankly, I don’t know what else to call what I’m doing.
Note: This mini-review was created as a sample for a blog post entitled: Writing a Mini-Review: A Critical Task in PhD Research
“Paul’s Farewell Address at Miletus (Acts 20, 17-38)
Summary
In his study, Lambrecht analyzes the relationship between the use of Pauline tradition and Lucan redaction and the function of the discourse in Acts and Lucan theology.
Lambrecht concludes that Luke uses Pauline tradition and “universal Christian proclamations” to construct his speech. In addition, Luke’s purpose for the speech is to exhort and encourage leaders of his own day as well as to demonstrate continuity between his own time and that of Paul’s.
Introduction
It is an excellent and practical read on preparing for and navigating through a PhD in Biblical Studies.
I hope to write a review on this work sometime in the future. For now, however, I wanted to share a section of Gupta’s book on generating ideas for a dissertation topic.
Introduction
I have often remarked that writing a PhD dissertation in the U.K. is a bit like becoming a Jedi Knight!
The process is shrouded in mystery, you must master a strange set of skills and the only way to measure success is to complete the whole training (there’s no such thing as an almost Jedi Knight).
While this analogy may be humorous, it does capture some of the difficulty that is often associated with making it through a PhD program. Enter Pugh’s book How to Get a PhD
In this post I wanted to review Pugh’s book providing a summary of its contents and giving you my reaction along the way.
photo credit: JaseCurtis
Introduction
If you are applying to a dissertation only PhD program (as in the U.K or Europe), your main point of entry will occur through your dissertation proposal.
This document, which is relatively small in size given its importance to your future research, provides a basic outline for the academic inquiry you are planning to carry out during your PhD program.
In this post, I wanted to give you two general tips for creating the dissertation proposal and a special download.
Introduction
As I mentioned in my last post, An Overview of the Dissertation Process – Part 1, I recently ran across a preliminary road map for writing theological research in Lucretia Yaghjian’s book, Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers
I found her comments on the subject very enlightening and, for the purposes of this post, she seemed to provide an excellent high level overview of the entire dissertation writing project, though she calls it “theological research.”
My last post dealt with steps 1 – 5, this one will cover steps 6-10. I will use her nomenclature below.
A High Level Overview of the Dissertation Process
6. Writing theological research proceeds by hypothesis, assertion and argument
A doctoral dissertation is the systematic and tightly argued answer to a hypothesis or assertion you are making. (Indeed, whether you make the Phd grade may depend heavily on the strength of your argument.)
For example: The farewell speech in the New Testament indicates 1) the passing away of the apostles, 2) the introduction of heresy into the church and 3) the necessity of introducing ordained ministers to protect apostolic doctrine (so says Munck).
This assertion (though not a real doctoral dissertation topic) would nevertheless examine all NT farewell speeches (which would involve defining a farewell speech and looking at OT antecedents) and then draw out the above conclusions in conversation with other scholars who have covered this or similar topics.
7. Writing theological research requires reading and reviewing the literature
This is the nuts and bolts of the theoretical statement we made in step 3 in my first post about the need to dialogue with past and present scholars in your dissertation.
This is not the time or place to discuss a literature review (you can check the PhD Resources for a few books that cover that topic.) However, within your dissertation, you must be able to demonstrate that you have a firm grasp of your discipline or area of research (including any important ancillary topics).
This implies that you are fully aware of the scholars who have made the most significant contributions in your research area. In addition, it implies that as a result of your doctoral project you are now becoming an ongoing participant in the conversation with a contribution to make within the niche.
Only a comprehensive literature review will reveal this for you and your unique positioning within that research niche will demonstrate your ability to review and assimilate others’ ideas and contend with countering / similar arguments to your own.
8. Writing theological research requires writing, rewriting and revision
This is perhaps one of the most important concepts I learned early on in my dissertation project.
You simply must be patient with yourself in the craft of writing a doctoral thesis. The best writing is rewriting, which is sometimes why some sloppy writing is better than waiting around for that perfect word or inspiration.
As researchers, we waste so much time on the periphery of writing (tracking down obscure sources, words, fonts) or get easily distracted (with e-mails, surfing the net, or crafting the perfect footnote) that we never get down to simply writing out one idea after another for later review. (See my post How to Focus When You Write for help with these symptoms)
Writing involves thinking, reflection, synthesis, analysis, argumentation all the necessary skills that must be developed in order to hit PhD gold, but all requiring several iterations to get just right. So just write! and then revise your writing.
9. Writing theological research demands documentation
Space does not permit me to discuss note taking software, the best approaches to taking or organizing your notes, etc. (You can check out some of my other posts Note Taking Software for Writing a PhD and Be Consistent When You Write which cover part of this material).
For now, it is imperative that you think about how you will structure your notes so that you 1) summarize others’ opinions in a way that fairly represents their views and 2) provides you with the foundation for your footnote structure.
Plagiarism is a major problem in academics today (and as much as I hate to say it, it is an even bigger issue in the majority world where I teach. Many university students are not even aware of what constitutes plagiarism.)
In any case, proper documentation of your sources (and not just being able to put together a footnote, we’re talking giving proper credit) is a must for any good research.
10. Writing theological research presumes some kind of publication
Yaghjian does not elaborate much on this subject.
What I can tell you is that the publishing of your dissertation or the subsequent splitting off of dissertation chapters into articles suggests that you are now joining the academic discussion in a more substantive way.
Publishing requires a review of your work and perhaps an upgrade in some aspects to bring it up to publishing standards. This is a good thing and will serve you in the long run as you develop your own voice and expertise.
Perhaps one day, another doctoral student will include you in their footnotes or bibliography or consider you a major scholar in their field of inquiry.
Happy investigating!
P.S. Check out a complete review of Yaghjian‘s Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers
Introduction
Recently, when reading Lucretia Yaghjian’s book, Writing Theology Well: A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers
I found her comments on the subject very instructive and, most importantly, she provides an excellent high level overview of the entire dissertation writing project (she calls it “writing theological research,” but it describes the PhD process quite accurately, if I say so myself!)
I will use her nomenclature below.
Introduction
This is the third article in the ideas for dissertation topics series.
Essentially, in my study of Luke-Acts and 1 Peter, I run across potential topic threads to follow which either fall out of the scope of my study or I don’t have time to pursue.
Thus, without further delay, here is a potential dissertation topic idea in New Testament leadership. (Again, I make no claim as to the actual viability of this topic idea!)
Introduction
Throughout my dissertation work I sometimes run across ideas for potential dissertation topics. I wanted to share one such dissertation topic example in this post. (Again, I make no claims about the actual viability of this idea as a dissertation topic.)
In addition, while my focus is Biblical Studies and particularly the Book of Acts, those in other disciplines may find the approach or methodology of these ideas a useful springboard for topics in your field of study.
Elders in the New Testament
In studying the Miletus Speech (Acts 20:17-38), I have had to look up all of the New Testament passages that deal with Christian “elders,” since they are the recipients of Paul’s instructions.
The term “elders” (presbuteros), which is used to denominate a Christian leader, appears in the following New Testament books.
Remember! The Question is King
Finding a viable dissertation topic involves asking a good question from the available sources and then providing an answer that makes a contribution to the field. (See my post The (dreaded) dissertation topic: 2 of 3.)
So the question that comes to mind as I look over the list of books above is, Why does the term “elder” appear only in these particular books? (There are many theories as to why the term does not make an appearance in the undisputed Pauline literature. Your study could interact with those theories, for example.)
Is there a geographical connection perhaps related to the city of Ephesus? (Many of the books above have a link to Ephesus and in the case of Acts (20:17-38) have Ephesus as a focus.)
Indeed if Ephesus plays some role in the use of this leadership term, is there some aspect of Ephesus’ material culture which could account for this “concentration” among the biblical literature? Was the role of the civic elder more prominent here than other places?
Is there a date connection? Some of these books were written later in the church’s first century (2 and 3 John and Revelation). Acts, 1 Tim and Titus are also considered later writings by many scholars.
Contribution to scholarship
The potential contributions to scholarship would be in the areas of New Testament ecclesiology, development of the canon, New Testament literary tradition, Pauline studies (as they relate to ecclesiology) and to the study of specific books affected by your findings.
Well that’s about all for now.
Til next time, happy researching!
NOTE:
Greetings from Medellín, Colombia!
I’m sorry I haven’t written a post in the last few months but I’m finally getting settled after my family and I relocated to South America.
I am now working at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia as a professor of New Testament. I will continue writing my dissertation from here in addition to making additions to my PhD Tips and Advice blog.
