The Secret to Accelerating Your Doctoral Journey

This article is about how to optimize your doctoral journey so that you can produce your best work and complete your program of study in the shortest possible time.

 

To accelerate your doctoral journey, focus on minimizing revision time.

 

To minimize revision time, do your work right the first time.

 

To do your work right the first time:

 

Begin your dissertation on day 1.
Stand on the shoulders of giants.
Think, read, research, and write like a scholar.
Practice the 4 Ps every day.

 

If you follow this advice, which I explain in detail in Student to Scholar, you will learn a great deal during your journey, become increasingly adept at demonstrating what you learn in the form of high quality work products and publications, and move faster and with greater ease and peace of mind toward your ultimate goal.

 

Important Clarification

 

Let me make it very clear that the name of the game in doctoral work is revision. Revision is inevitable since, as a practical matter, no one gets it exactly right the first time.

 

So, try your best to get it right the first time, but be prepared to revise your work based on the feedback you receive from those assigned to read it critically (like instructors, assessors, and dissertation committee members); and apply the guidelines described in this book to help you minimize your revision time and, in turn, your degree completion time.

 

To learn more about the secrets to doctoral study success, read Student to Scholar and Dissertation Research.