{"306151":{"#nid":"306151","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dissertation Writing Boot Camp Helps Grad Students Make Significant Progress","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn early June, Georgia Tech\u2019s Communication Center and the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering (ISyE) collaborated on a pilot Dissertation Writing Boot Camp (DWB), a week-long series of intense writing sessions designed to provide students with time, space, and resources to make significant progress on their dissertations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs someone who had great difficulty developing a disciplined writing schedule with my own dissertation,\u201d said Clint Stivers, a Brittain Fellow and Communication Center professional tutor, \u201cI wish I\u0027d been able to attend a DWB. Our pilot with the ISyE students demonstrated how establishing such a schedule is fundamental to successful writing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s first Dissertation Boot Camp in 2005, universities across the country have been experimenting with the model, trying to find ways to provide assistance to graduate students, many of whom find the task of finishing their dissertations formidable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cReal life gets in the way,\u201d says Brandy Ball Blake, ISyE communication specialist.\u0026nbsp; \u201cGraduate students have to teach, grade, research, support their families, spend time with their families\u2014somehow manage to be \u2018whole\u2019 human beings and finish their dissertations in a prescribed amount of time.\u0026nbsp; The Boot Camp provides these students with a supportive environment and a set time and place to focus on their work and not be pulled in a thousand directions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents from the ISyE and from Literature, Media, and Communication worked on their dissertations in the Communication Center from 9 am to 5 pm every day, taking occasional scheduled breaks to eat, get the blood flowing, and re-energize.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to maintaining a strict schedule, the participants were asked to identify daily goals and to track how successful they were at keeping those goals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur intent was to keep everything positive,\u201d explained Blake.\u0026nbsp; \u201cThe students set their own pace, but accountability was the key.\u0026nbsp; They were accountable to the goals they set and, because of the close-knit environment, to everyone else who was diligently working in the room.\u0026nbsp; This really kept them focused.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;Student feedback indicated the overwhelming success of the pilot--helping the participants make significant progress towards their long-term writing goals, analyze and assess their writing goals, stay focused on their projects, and identify barriers to writing productively.\u0026nbsp; Just as significantly, the week helped them realize the importance of rewarding themselves for their efforts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAn important goal for Boot Camp programs is to help students develop long-term positive writing strategies through behavior changes,\u201d says Karen Head, assistant professor and director of the Communication Center.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe stressed the importance of rewards because feeling even a small sense of accomplishment makes it more likely that writers will continue practicing their new strategies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHow did they hold up during the Boot Camp?\u0026nbsp; \u201cThey were energized,\u201d says Blake.\u0026nbsp; \u201cSeeing tangible progress towards their goals seemed to inspire them.\u0026nbsp; We thought they would want to go home early on Friday, but many of them said they would stay even later if we let them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhere does the Boot Camp go from here?\u0026nbsp; \u201cBased on the success of this pilot study,\u201d says Stivers, \u201cI anticipate the Dissertation Writing Boot Camp will become an opportunity for graduate students in all departments who are trying to write their dissertations.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn early June, Georgia Tech\u2019s Communication Center and the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026amp; Systems Engineering collaborated on a pilot Dissertation Writing Boot Camp, a week-long series of intense writing sessions designed to provide students with time, space, and resources to make significant progress on their dissertations.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In early June, Georgia Tech\u2019s Communication Center and the Stewart School of Industrial \u0026 Systems Engineering collaborated on a pilot Dissertation Writing Boot Camp, a week-long series of intense writing sessions."}],"uid":"27868","created_gmt":"2014-06-30 15:03:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:41","author":"Lizzie Millman","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-06-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"306691":{"id":"306691","type":"image","title":"Dissertation Writing Boot Camp Helps Students to Make Progress on Dissertation","body":null,"created":"1449244668","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:57:48","changed":"1475895015","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:15","alt":"Dissertation Writing Boot Camp Helps Students to Make Progress on Dissertation","file":{"fid":"199756","name":"dissertation.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dissertation_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dissertation_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":947986,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dissertation_0.png?itok=hC_AcaXh"}}},"media_ids":["306691"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brandy.blake@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrandy Blake\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brandy.blake@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}