Getting it Down on Paper

Some believe that the dissertation is a deliberative, iterative process of producing and reacting to drafts of documents. If this is your first attempt to put your ideas to paper, you may want to consider the following methods to reduce your thoughts to paper. Choose the method that helps you to “get the big picture.” 

The Outline

0. Possible Title 

1. Statement of the purpose 

2. Rationale 

3. Theoretical framework of the proposed study 

4. Educational importance of the proposed study to Educational Leadership Studies 

5. Major hypotheses to be tested or Research questions to be addressed 

6. Methods for carrying out the proposed study 

7. Major Concepts to be defined 

The Concept Map

A concept map is a visual representation of the concepts that your study may or will address. A concept map allows you to process abstract concepts and to see the big picture. It does something different that an outline cannot do. It helps you to better explicate your understanding of concepts, their hierarchies and interrelationships. A concept map is also useful when trying to synthesize large amounts of studies, when you do not yet know how concepts fit together, and when you are unable yet to string the concepts together in a linear way. 

A concept map is a two-dimensional schematic device for representing a set of meanings embedded in a framework of propositions. Composed of concepts and linking words or symbols arranged in hierarchical order, a concept map is a representation of an individual’s or a group’s interpretation of ideas or perceived reality in diagrammatic form. Concept mapping has many synonyms. It is also called concept trees, web teaching, knowledge mapping, cognitive mapping, and semantic networking. Whatever the terminology used, all concept maps as visuo-spatial arrangements of information and they are one of the tools of metalearning (p. 35). 

Check out the following web sites for examples or do a search on Google.com if these are no longer available: 

http://users.edte.utwente.nl/lanzing/cm_home.htm http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm 

Based on J. Beitz’ ”Concept Mapping: Navigating the Learning Process,” Nurse Educator 23(3) 35-41. 

The Section

I write to learn. Depending upon what I have been reading, I can best write a section of something that I have just learned. I may not know what yet comes before and after, but I do know that this is a section that must be included some place. I do not let this uncertainty prevent me from writing. I believe that if I don’t use it, I will lose it. The writing helps me process what I have just read. If I wait and assume that I must read EVERYTHING, then I could most likely forget what I have read, or worse, get lost in the literature and overwhelmed. SO unapologetically I will write the section. Invariably I will discover where it belongs and why. 

I also don’t let missing concepts get in the way. If I think something is the bridge but have not yet discovered it, it might use a bracket and write: 

[concept TBD] 

[history TB written] 

[definition to be found] 

[more recent stats needed] 

Down is better than perfect; but I also don’t let this go out yet for feedback until I have fewer if these.