Chapter 3: Selecting Your Topic and Purpose

In Chapter 2 we discussed one of the first decisions you must make about your dissertation. That decision involves the timing and sequencing of your dissertation work. In a typical program, doctoral students complete most of their coursework, take and pass their comprehensive exam, and then are officially “admitted to candidacy” which means they have permission to officially begin working on their dissertation. This is the “serial” approach to completing a doctoral program—basic or foundational coursework, followed by specialty coursework, followed by an internship or similar experience if the program prepares professionals, and finally concluding with dissertation work. Two other options we discussed in Chapter 2, concurrent and integrative, let you mix coursework, fieldwork, and research with work on your dissertation.