The process of the dissertation is daunting. You first write a proposal and try to believe that is exactly the way your dissertation will turn out. Then once you start, you realize the dissertation is taking on a life of it’s own, especially your life. The process brings out the sweat and tears–probably more tears than sweat. It’s a process where you feel like screaming most days and feel accomplished on the other days. The dissertation is not an easy task and many people may call your work B.S.(yes, I was told by someone that all dissertations are BS because that is what the Ph.D meant. I was told it was worthless and so was my degree.), but that is the ignorance and jealousy of people who don’t understand fully what you’re trying to accomplish, which makes it that much harder to accomplish your goal.
Writing a disseratation made me stronger in knowing that what I’m doing will make a difference and will be a contribution to the political, media, and rhetorical world. I do not have to please everyone. I only have to write this dissertation for myself and to achieve my goals. The dissertation could be a metaphor for life. You create it, you see it grow, you then let it go–and yet are proud of it no matter what.
You also learn who your true friends are while writing the dissertation. The ones that bolt once you start talking about the dissertation are not your friends. The friends who call you and tell you can do it and love you when you’re grumpy because the paper is not going the way it should–keep those. Family members are the most troublesome–those are the people who should keep saying you can do it! But, unfortunately, they are not.
The one aspect to writing a dissertation is using the paper to make a significant contribution to your area of interest. My doctorate degree will be in rhetoric, but my passion is in media. Now people can contribute to the media and create their own words of wisdom on a subject of their choice. Just imagine 20 years ago, we did not have a say in the political world. Yes, we voted, but we can now directly connect to candidates, the media, and gain access to people like never before–all because of emerging media. My dissertation shows how language can create a closer bond between candidate and voter. I can’t wait to turn the final version in and see what I created grow into more research projects for myself and others–and that is something to be proud of.
