From A Dissertation To A Book slidedeck

Editor's Notes

• #2: Thank you for having me here to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart. Transforming a dissertation into a book. What an exciting possibility! I believe we each have a story and as we write our dissertation we become the tapestry of a greater story. We each have a book or two within us –and truthfully, we each have a story that led us here. Our stories is what makes us work hard and diligently to overcome the odds. It is what gives us purpose, true grit, endurance, helps us to write those chapters, to find a way to make amends when we are far away from family at residencies. It is what helps us to bond as a PhD cohort and fraternity/sorority because people do not understand the tremendous undertaking to get this work done. So having said that, there are people who don’t understand the grueling work. I thought I would interject a bit of humor about what not to ask a PhD! You may or may not complete a book – however, I think it is important to have the option. So therefore, now is the time to think about the precision that is required to be able to fill in the blanks and build out a book.
• #3: The things you don’t want to ask a PhD on a bad day? When will you graduate? Are you still writing that thesis, chapter, paragraph, or prospectus? How is that research thingy going? Did you paper finally get published yet? What year are you in and when are you going to be finished--?
• #4: Okay, so as you consider your own story through this dissertation, I ask that you consider your own story and what draws you to do this work? Mine is local. Just outside the Gaylord hotel, is the Potomac River which has a bridge that crosses over into the Virginia area. Back in 1990’s Washington DC was experiencing two significant challenges: 1) crack epidemic; 2) budget deficit; The result was high incarceration rates, bulging prisons, and Legislation called the Revitalization Act of 1997. The problem is, as a result DC lost control over its prisoners or code offenders as well as their budget. Consequently, the prison closed, the inmates were transferred to federal prisons, most beyond 100 mile radius and certainly the vast majority beyond 500 miles. My dissertation focus was what happened to the female head of household left behind. How was she going to contend with this separation and loss and raise the family, take care of herself, and maintain a semblance of the relationship? My literature review revealed that 1 in 4 AA men were at risk of becoming incarcerated, if they were unemployed and did not finish high school. My research, resulted in the creation of Symbolic Imprisonment, Grief, and Coping Theory: African American Women with Incarcerated Mates (Hart-Johnson, 2014). Grounded theory and I are a good fit. I am a systems thinker so I love patterns, processes, relationships and studying connectedness. I love symbolism and how things represent meaning.
• #5: So the goal of today is to share how you might transform your story into something that is widely disseminated –whether it is a dissertation or a publication in a journal, monograph, or a book. As I speak, consider your own backdrop as a story. What is your why? We will discuss the basic structure of stories or the shape of a story We will compare and contrast a dissertation and discuss what the experts say about transforming this work into a book. Finally, we will talk about options for publications and I will take your questions as well.
• #6: When I think about my own work, I think about the importance of significance. When I was writing my own dissertation, I recalled Having to really work hard on this section. The first round it was fluff. What is the significance of your work: Oh, I think my dissertation will lend itself to “world peace.” Well not that simplistic or grandiose, but you get my point. It lacked the “oomph” or hutzpah. Finally, I dug in and did the work. This is when I sat down and designed the road map for my life, for my future as a human services practitioner. I took it serious. As a result, I now recognize that I am living my truth. If I were to sum up my focus and work in one phrase, it is to give voice to the silenced. Here you can see an excerpt where I discuss my alignment to what this work entails.
• #7: I consider this dissertation the gift that keeps on giving because it can open doors for people, it can open doors for you; launch a career for you and set the path of your life in a whole new direction. As a result from my dissertation, here is how I am living my significance statement: (see bullet list)
• #8: There are some surprises associated with publishing your first work in ScholarWorks powered by ProQuest. As you can see, my work has had 638 downloads as of this week. There is my dissertation, and what I can tell, one paper that creates this aggregate.
• #9: There are a few notable differences between the dissertation and a book. Read passage from dissertation. Read passage from book and showcase the differences as they are meant for different audiences.
• #18: Why People Need to Know: 1) Grief is universal 2) Loss happens in different contexts; 3) My story is bigger than the issue.