I've decided that it would be waaaayyyy better if someone else had to write the "Summary and Significance" chapter of my dissertation.
I thought that the original one in the draft I gave to committee members was pretty good. Summarized the novel findings, gave a brief explanation about why each is important, then moved on to "future directions".
Two of my committee members have expressed the opinion that this chapter is a much bigger deal than I am making it out to be. Apparently, this chapter should address the "legacy" that I am leaving my field, and describe the ZOMGAlmighty Awesomeness of my work to Infinity! so that future grad students can quake in fear of never being as awesome as I.
Don't get me wrong - I have made some novel findings and they are important in the context of X, Y, and Z. I've said all that...but I'm struggling with trying to fluff up this whole thing into OMG! Dr. AA (I'm likin' the sound of that!) is the Shit! She has demonstrated cold fusion!! Dr. AA saves the world!!!
It's kind of like when you ask someone to write you a Letter of Recommendation, then they ask you to write it yourself and they'll put their signature on it...except its like 20 pages of that kind of horn-tooting. Blech. I suck at bragging about myself.
Friday, December 11, 2009
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Two of my committee members have expressed the opinion that this chapter is a much bigger deal than I am making it out to be. Apparently, this chapter should address the "legacy" that I am leaving my field, and describe the ZOMGAlmighty Awesomeness of my work to Infinity! so that future grad students can quake in fear of never being as awesome as I.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. No one is ever gonna read the fucking thing except, maybe, for your committee.
Yeah, that was kind of my take as well. OTOH, if I leave very clear instructions as to future experiments in the "future aims" bit, maybe my UG rockstar can finish up some experiments to get the second story published on its own....
I have read some dissertations of former lab members...but only to find details on reagents or protocols. I only read one Summary chapter, but just to get an idea of what should go in mine.
That's crap. I totally agree with PP: very few people are going to read your thesis. My last chapter was 5 pages long, and I just summarized the findings, put them in the context of the field, and gave a few ideas for future related projects. I wouldn't waste too much time on it.
Nope, just banging out a few extra paragraphs today - shouldn't take me much longer. I don't think anyone's actually going to read this chapter either, but some added length should satisfy them that I've actually done *something* to it.
I don't like writing about my awesomeness either. Maybe a good bottle of wine is in order before you sit down to it?
Ha! Too bad I was in the lab working on it. It's done now, but I will be having a festive cocktail known as "The Hot Benefactor" to celebrate its completion.
The only time I scour dissertations is to find their unpublished data or protocols, never to look at that self-fucking-aggrandizing section. Does that section date back to the advent that everyone is special and unique? What bullshit.
In direct contrast to CPP I reckon the final chapter can be important. But much, much later because almost nobody will read it in a thesis.
If you have some good ideas you can use them either as methods/directions papers/grants or sometimes as editorials later.
Nobody's going to read your thesis after it's accepted so just do whatever your committee wants and get rid of it.
So, what happened after it? It would be good to listen to some advice from the panel as they know a thing or two about it. But, sometimes, it is also great to listen to yourself on what to do with your dissertation. Well, you’re the one that put all the hard work and effort into it, so you really know all the ups and down of the paper, right?
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