Dissertation committee

In universities, a Dissertation committee may comprise students or teachers or a mixture of both. Universities have their own rules for forming dissertation committees, there are levels of commitment that must be considered. These committees are also set target dates to complete their research.

To work with a Dissertation committee you need to have a disciplined approach to your research work. Often, being recommended for a research project will depend on how dedicated you are as a researcher. There are other qualities that are also looked into when you are recommended for becoming a Dissertation committee member. Your personality counts too because extensive research is painstaking. Therefore, a person who pays attention to minute detail is often preferred. Attributes such as patience and teamwork are also of significant importance.

A Dissertation committee functions on the basis of collaborated efforts by all members of a committee. Each Dissertation committee member is assigned a specific task, which s/he has to complete by a given date. Failure to meet a deadline will delay completion of a project. Submitting researched data on time will not complete a project immediately. There are more steps that need to be conducted when members submit their findings. This is why sticking to targets is crucial.

In a Dissertation committee of around 5 members, one or two members will be assigned the task of surveying in order to obtain primary data, while another two will be required to search pertinent secondary data. The fifth member might be in charge of accumulating what the other members find in addition to carrying out other functions. Once the primary and secondary data are collected and submitted to the member in charge, all members may work collectively on the dissertation. However, again here, the Dissertation committee will need to assign tasks of writing to members individually if the project length is extensive. While one member can make a contribution, the others will go over what is written. This helps to double check the way different parts of a dissertation are written. This approach can be easily applied to writing the smaller parts of a dissertation, such as the aims and objectives, methodology, etc.

A Dissertation committee will have to assign writing portions of the literature review and analysis to different members of the Dissertation committee. This is because these parts of the dissertation are fairly extensive. As each member puts in his or her effort in researching and writing the dissertation, it is important to put down all the sources used in a separate section with complete bibliographic entries. It is also important to place the relevant and corresponding in-text citations in the text as they go along.

In addition accumulating all the relevant sources, a Dissertation committee should make sure it places relevant charts, tables, graphs, etc. in the appendix. Without these, a Dissertation committee will not be able to produce a complete and thorough research project.