Revising Your Dissertation: Advice from Leading Editors

by Beth Luey, Sanford G. Thatcher (Foreword)

The aftermath of graduate school can be particularly trying for those under pressure to publish their dissertations. Written with good cheer and jammed with information, this lively guide offers hard-to-find practical advice on successfully turning a dissertation into a book or journal articles that will appeal to publishers and readers. It will help prospective authors master writing and revision skills, better understand the publishing process, and increase their chances of getting their work into print. This edition features new tips and planning tables to facilitate project scheduling, and a new foreword by Sandford G. Thatcher, Director of Penn State University Press.

Genres: Writing, Academia, Reference, Research, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2004

Reviews

[Syntaxx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t find this as helpful as others I’ve read in the same genre. That said, it does offer some solid advice on revising and rethinking your dissertation for a broader audience. The main takeaway: dissertation writing isn’t appropriate for a general book audience. If you don’t accept this and make the necessary revisions, your work is unlikely to be published as a book—and will likely languish in ProQuest forever.

[Scot Kinnaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well put together reference that should be read by any academic who wants to use his/her dissertation or graduate thesis as the basis for a book. There are services out there that will publish your dissertation/thesis as is. But the reality is that often only other academics will read another's thesis. The truth is that a dissertation/thesis is often little more than a summary of research and an extensive listing of resources. This book gives easily understood and accomplished objectives and goals to turn your dissertation/thesis into a book or into journal articles that will appeal to publishers and readers.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic collection of useful, pragmatic advice for anyone working to turn their dissertation into a monograph. Various chapters not only provide useful questions and frameworks you might apply to your work, but also explain through clear examples the differences between a dissertation and a monograph, as well as differences between genres of academic books. I’d highly recommend this to absolutely everyone (who fits this fairly narrow demographic, of course). Indeed, though I find Germano’s more commonly recommended book on the same topic helpful, I’d most certainly recommend this one over it if forced to choose.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the publishing industry and what to cut out of your dissertation (no matter how much hard work it took to put it in!).

[Isao Matsumoto · Rating 4 out of 5]

University Microfilms killed the book of dissertation. Librarians decided not to buy the books because students got books data easily.