Yesterday, I had the chance to lead a session for Southern Wesleyan’s first cohort of EdD students. My assigned topic was Writing With Purpose, and you can find my worksheet after the jump.
My five big pieces of advice were…
- Begin with gratitude–for people, events, and God. Even the monumental task of writing a dissertation can be an occasion for thanks, and you can put the hard and often stressful work necessary into perspective when you begin by giving thanks.
- Find joy in your work–I had the students read out loud the answer to the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s question about the “chief end of man.” Yes, we are to glorify God, but we are also called to enjoy him. Joy can be a real part of the work we do.
- Define your purpose–Students wrote out their answer to a pretty simple research prompt: “I am studying X…because I want to find out Y…in order to help my readers better understand Z.” Yes, this kind of statement works for providing a 40,000 foot view of their project, but, when adapted, it could also easily apply to a single work session that would give each student a chance to measure their progress.
- Share–one of the cohort’s greatest resources are their other cohort members. I had them conduct a short conversation with a partner about their answers to the research prompt to help them see how helpful it is just to take five minutes and try to say out loud what they’re doing to another human being. Each of these students have people in their lives who care about them succeeding. Not all of those people have the ability to respond to the intellectual demands of their project, however. Finding someone you can talk to about your project is invaluable.
- Know what it takes for you to do your best work–this can change depending on the purpose. You might read best at home and write best in the office. But you need to know yourself well enough to know the details that are non-negotiable (e.g. you have to write before noon or it won’t get done) and ones you can experiment with (e.g. location).
