Finding your way to a Ph.D.: Advice from the dissertation mentor

This is the 2nd edition of Dr. Lee Stadtlander's popular guide to the dissertation process. The path to a Ph.D. is not an easy one. On the way to writing the dissertation are both well-recognized obstacles (such as defenses) and ones hiding which will trip students who do not have guidance. Any journey goes easier with a guidebook that explains the history of the locale, things you must see and things to avoid. This book is a guidebook to help the dissertation student through the process of completing the dissertation. It provides tips on handling committee members, writing various chapters, gives a refresher on statistics and qualitative analysis, and provides motivational messages along the way. Finding Your Way to a Ph.D. differs from other books in the topic area, in that it gives specific advice lacking in other books. For example, readers are taken through the process of finding topics for their research study and how to search for relevant research. Many examples are provided along with suggestions of additional resources. New in the 2nd edition is a chapter on post Ph.D. issues, including finding jobs and publishing your dissertation as an article.


About the Author
Dr. Lee Stadtlander received her doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Ohio State University in 1993. Her research interests at that time were psycholinguistics, learning, memory, and aging. She then was a professor at Montana State University in Bozeman for 11 years (and still lives there). She then re-specialized in Clinical Health Psychology through Fielding University (this is a second doctorate). As part of her re-specialization, she completed a one-year internship at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton Alberta, Canada. She retains an interest in counseling cancer patients and all things medically related. She began working for an online institution, Walden University, in 2005 and is now the Coordinator of the Doctoral Health Psychology program. She has been the Editor of Walden University's Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, since 2016. She received Walden University's highest faculty honor, the Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence, in 2017.