Doctoral Support Center & Doctoral Programming Blog

DEADLINES: 2010 Fall Submission

While the 2010 Fall Deadline for dissertation submission to the Graduate School isn't until November 1st, if you want to avoid registering and paying for the Fall Semester, you must upload your dissertation to the Graduate School by Friday, September 10th.

In order to submit by that deadline, you must have had your dissertation defense and had any revisions approved by your committee.  Once you've done this and reviewed the formatting guidelines, you can begin the Graduate School's submission process.   For more information on Graduate School submission, you can download a DSC presentation from DSC on BlackBoard.

So how can the DSC help?  Annemarie worked as a thesis editor for USC's Graduate School for several years.  Once your manuscript has been formatted, she can review your PDF (please do not send in .doc form) for any errors prior to your uploading to the Graduate School.  Contact her by emailing <rsoedsc@usc.edu>.

Remember, the last of the 2010 deadlines is November 1 (Winter).  Congratulations on reaching this stage in your doctoral journey.

-----

Photo credited to: Alan Cleaver

Scholarships for Fall Writing Retreat!

Give your writing that extra jump start with the DSC Residential Writing Retreat (ODA)!  $400 scholarships are available to the first eight students to register.

What's ODA?

ODA stands for "Operation Dissertation Acceleration"  It is an all-inclusive residential writing retreat. ODA is designed for doctoral students who need / want to set aside a serious block of time to make a significant push toward the next step of their dissertation.

The retreat is targeted toward students who:

• Have research question(s) but have not been able to complete chapters 1, 2 and 3 (the proposal); OR
• Have defended their proposal and collected data, but have not yet completed chapters 4 and/or 5.

Retreat participants will be selected and assigned to work directly with a DSC writing instructor. The ratio of advisor to students will be 1-to-4, meaning students will have a great deal of support and interaction on their project. In addition, participants will exchange papers and support each other through peer-to-peer feedback.

• Workshop Dates: Thursday November 4 - Sunday November 7, 2010
• Application Deadline: September 13, 2010
  
• Acceptance Notification: September 24, 2010
• Fee: $1500*
  First Deposit: Friday, 10/1/2010 - $500
  2nd Payment: Friday, 10/15/10 - $500
  Final Payment: Friday: 10/29/2010 - $500
  (*The first 8 students to register will receive a $400 scholarship and pay only $500 on each due date)

Apply early -- the first eight (8) applicants will receive a $400.00 scholarship that lowers the costs of the dissertation writing retreat to $1100.00. The first 8 students to register will receive a $400 scholarship and pay a reduced amount of $1,100. For scholarship winners, the deposit amount will be $366 and the 2nd and final payments will be $367 each. (This amount pays for the residential component of the retreat which is lodging, meals, and retreat logistical fees.)

If you are interested in  testimonials of past dissertation writing retreat participants please access the following online-presentation here. You will need to enter the username and password:

Username: rsoedoctoral

Password: doctoral1234

Operation Dissertation Acceleration (ODA) 2007 Testimonials Link.

Applications may be downloaded here: Download ODA_FA10_.

For more information email Dr. Ilda Jimenez y West.

---

Photo attribution: / CC BY 2.0

Ed.D. Employment Opportunity!

The Rossier School of Education’s MAT program is looking for a few Ed.D. students to work as admissions application reviewers for the MAT program. This is an hourly position - $15/hour - and not a Teaching Assistant position (no tuition remission attached and no teaching responsibilities).

The work should be interesting and it may be done from home. The hours are flexible. Training on the criteria and on using the data system to enter recommendations will be provided.

Candidates need to be able to commit to a consistent work flow to keep up with a certain number  of applications each week. If you are interested please contact Lisa Galvan (lgalvan@usc.edu) with a note of interest and your resume. Having a credential in K-12 education is preferred but not required.

Announcing: DSC Fall Presentation Line-up

Brush up on your research skills as you learn and refresh your research writing.  Here's the DSC Fall presentation line-up:

Critical Reading Analysis (Dr. Gokce Gokalp)
Wednesday, August 25 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Saturday, August 28 (10:00 - 11:00 AM)

Library Resources (Dr. Jade Winn)
Saturday, August 28 (11:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Wednesday, September 1 (3:00-4:00 PM)

Academic Writing (Dr. Gokce Gokalp)
Wednesday, September 22 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Saturday, September 25 (10:00 - 11:00 AM)

APA (Dr. Jade Winn)
Saturday, September 25 (11:00AM - 12:00 PM)
Wednesday, September 29 (3:00PM - 4:00 PM)

Pre-Proposal Methodology (Kevin Collins)
Wednesday, October 6 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Saturday, October 9 (10:00 - 11:00 AM)

Post-Proposal Methodology (Dr. Ilda Jimenez y West)
Wednesday, October 20 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Saturday, October 23 (10:00 - 11:00 AM)

Introduction to SPSS (Dr. Jade Winn)
Wednesday, November 10 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)

RSVP: rsoedsc@usc.edu
Live Webcast: The Wednesday session of each presentation will be available livecast and via Blackboard.

Locations will be announced when finalized.  The most current information is available here.

---

Photo Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36011007@N04/4018891440/

Got IRB?

Coming Soon! A Weekly IRB Workshop offered by Kevin Collins, the DSC IRB advisor.

• Time: Tuesdays 3:00  - 4:20 pm
• Room: WPH 202
• Dates: Tuesday, July 13th through Tuesday, August 10th

The weekly IRB workshop is designed for those students who

• have questions about the IRB process
• have questions about what the IRB does
• need help obtaining an i-star account
• need help completing their CITI training (human subjects)
• need help determining the level of review for their study
• are confused about a particular question(s) or other issues that may be more general in nature.

While each person's study is unique this is excellent opportunity to learn about the process in general which in the end would provide enough insight to complete most of the application.

For more information, contact Kevin Collins.

Summer Writing Groups and Presentations

Renew your commitment to your research and writing!   Summer writing groups have begun but it's not too late to join!  The next weekend writing group meetings are scheduled for July 17 and 18.

In addition to providing a focused opportunity to write, on July 17 and 18th there will be dissertation-focusing presentations. 

• July 17, 1PM  "Connections Chapters 1-3"
• July 18, 1PM "Literature Review"

So mark your calendars!

Need more information?

The writing groups are a forum available to students each semester as they continue to work on their proposal and dissertation. Students are encouraged to develop individual writing goals and schedules for the completion of their dissertation. We have had great success with the writing groups over the last year. This forum is an opportunity for students to stay engaged with the dissertation process and commit to meeting their goals for the semester. Please contact Dr. Fischer at lfischer@usc.edu if you are interested in participating in a writing group this semester.

If you were unable to attend these presentations but are still interested in joining, please contact Dr. Fischer lfischer@usc.edu.

Groups are ongoing through out the semester.