Blogging your way to a Dissertation Defense

Blogging your dissertation project is a wonderful opportunity to keep writing but informally and without the strictures of structure and academic conventions. Dissertation writing is the most isolating stage of the PhD journey and blogging allows you to connect with a large online academic community, far enough removed from your own department, that undoubtedly shares the same experiences and struggles and can provide advice, encouragement, and critical feedback. A blog not only serves as a new, more creative format, to present your research to a wide audience, but also as a mental health resource to work out personal and professional frustrations in a productive way. Be certain not to share too much of your research, however, to avoid the risk of having your ideas stolen, or diminishing your chances of a peer reviewed publication of your own. 

An important part of the academic job market in the current digital age means maintaining a professional online presence and blogging your dissertation project ensures you begin building that presence as a graduate student before entering the job market. No matter what stage of the dissertation process you’re at, brainstorming your topic or preparing for your defense, blogging can help you organize your thoughts, take notes, and document each important step. A blog can make it much easier to generate and refine ideas. Working through ideas in a blog means you don’t have to be certain about your conclusions yet. You can present ideas to colleagues without the same pressure you’ll receive from your chair. 

Another amazing benefit is the opportunity for reflection blogging allows. Accessing your writing and research processes and daily progress is important to managing your project and blogs are a fantastic way to accomplish these objectives. It’s part of the dissertation project you’ll look forward to at the end of each writing/research day to destress. Thinking out loud this way can help keep you motivated and productive and you will have access to a built-in archive to track the evolution of your ideas and your entire dissertation project. Presenting your research to the online academic community at large also ensures you’re connecting your project to the most recent, relevant scholarship. Thinking of research blogs as seminars and conferences we don’t always have the funds and time to attend. For your research ideas to conform to the format of a blog, you’ll be forced to write concisely and efficiently which is useful when constructing an abstract argument which is both complex and multi-faceted. Any level of interest can be very encouraging. Share the link on other formats, especially Twitter so that others can participate in your journey and contribute.