Doctoral Students, Ask for the Feedback You Need
Learning how to manage the research writing process is an important aspect of being a doctoral student. By the time I graduated from my doctoral program, I had spent fourteen years in college. During that time, I wrote hundreds of papers including a master’s thesis, eight peer-reviewed publications, and a doctoral dissertation. I’d also mentored students and served on graduate student committees. It is safe to say that I’ve been privy to just about every form of writing feedback in existence — the illegible scrawl haphazardly meandering down margins of my work, strikethroughs of entire sections with no explanation, and the two-word “Great job” email reply. Conversely, I’ve received little feedback nuggets —tidy little bullet-pointed lists of what I should do to improve my writing with no absolutely no explanation about how to do so.
● Narrow your topic
● Improve alignment
● Synthesize, synthesize, synthesize!
● Strengthen this argument and connect to theory
● Revise verb tense throughout
In my work as a dissertation coach, I have met countless students, who upon receiving vague feedback like this, meltdown; some spend months in confusion; some get started, get overwhelmed, and stop; some eventually spiral into a black hole of self-doubt. By the time they make their way to me, they are questioning whether or not they have what it takes to write a dissertation or if they even belong in a doctoral program.
This simply shouldn’t be.
The purpose of this blog post is to provide you with hope in the form of action steps to improve the odds of receiving viable, actionable feedback. While there are no guarantees, you can help stem the tide of less-than-helpful feedback by implementing a few strategies.
Ask for in-process feedback.
Rather than submitting a “completed” document (be it a chapter, prospectus, or proposal), I recommend that you ask for in-process feedback. In-process feedback means that you submit sections of your work — your problem statement, a section of your literature review, your data analysis section. Send those sections to your chair, and once you hear back, incorporate the feedback and then send in your revised work in a timely manner. Getting feedback on shorter sections of your writing benefits you because you can make changes along the way. Each time you revise, you learn, and the upshot of the process is that you will begin producing better drafts. Reviewing shorter sections also benefits your chair, who can likely set aside a smaller amount of time and get to your work quicker than if you send an entire chapter or proposal.
Ask for feedback that aligns with your learning preferences.
Not all students learn in the same way. Similarly, one form of writing feedback might work well for one student but not another. Start by reflecting on your prior learning experiences and identifying what types of feedback worked well for you in the past. For instance, do you respond positively when you receive holistic feedback with a summary of what you did well, what needs to improve, and how to prioritize revisions?
If thinking about what feedback works well for you is difficult, it might be easier to think of a situation when feedback didn’t work. For example, do you get anxiety and shut down when your document is returned with countless track changes and comments? If so, express this to your chair and see what other feedback options are available.
Ask for exemplars.
It’s difficult to know if you are hitting the mark when you don’t know what you are aiming for. While there are hallmarks of good academic writing, each discipline has established discourse norms. Learning the academic and research discourse norms of your discipline will take time, and reviewing exemplars can help. Ask to see an exemplar of what you are currently writing (e.g., problem statement, significance statement, theoretical orientation) and ask your chair to highlight specific writing features or components that you should incorporate into your writing. Learning your chair’s expectations can minimize perceptions of wasted time, and feelings of frustration and defeat. Another way to add to your discourse knowledge is to consult with a discipline expert; that is, a professor who is an expert in the field you are researching.
Ask for guidance on what to prioritize or where to start.
Too often, chairs and committee members receive writing and are asked to simply “tell me what you think.” To receive pointed feedback, ask for it. To help your reviewer, share what you are struggling with. For example, you could say, “In this draft, I addressed all of your comments, but I struggled with verb tense, the use of pronouns, and paraphrasing quotations. Can you please tell me if I still need to improve in these areas? If I do, please show me a couple of areas where I fall short and give me suggestions on how to improve?” To really laser-focus your feedback request, try using a table to organize the feedback and your revisions (see below).
Sample table:
Feedback | Response |
Add an organizing statement to the end of the introduction | Completed. |
The purpose statement does not align with the research questions | I believe you were referring to the word “relationship” in the purpose statement that did not match the research questions. I changed this to “experience.” |
Correct all areas of passive voice | I have a hard time identifying passive voice in my writing. I addressed multiple areas but I’m not sure if I caught them all. The areas that I am unsure about are highlighted in yellow. |
Consider adding a second framework to address self-efficacy | I reviewed several theoretical frameworks on self-efficacy but I’m not sure they align with my study. Can we schedule a time to discuss the theoretical frameworks that I am considering? |
As a coach, I’ve witnessed many students who were previously stalled out as writers who, after implementing the above steps, gained clarity about their writing, improved their writing confidence (and their relationship with their chair), moved their writing forward, and, eventually, graduated — which is what everyone involved wanted all along.