T. Vilkinas (Ed.) 2005The Thesis Journey: Tales of Personal Triumph. Pearson Education Australia ISBN. 0-7339-7278-0

Abstract

VILKINAS, T. (Ed.) 2005 The Thesis Journey: Tales of Personal Triumph. Pearson Education Australia ISBN: 0-7339-7278-0 The Thesis Journey is a book about students' and supervisors' experiences around their Higher Research Degrees (HRDs). It is essentially a collection of short essays on the HRD experience. Eleven of the chapters are written by HRD students and four are written by two supervisors. All are My experience of... chapters except for the first (an aim and outline of the book) and the final. The final chapter is particularly relevant for theoretical and practical purposes, as it summarises and interprets the previous chapters in the book. The chapters written by students focus on several themes :- * Motivation for undertaking a HRD * Impediments and obstacles in the process (both personal and professional) * Strategies for overcoming these * Rewarding parts of the journey As would be expected, there are differing, and some competing, perspectives within the book as to what makes a successful HRD and what personal characteristics one must have to achieve this. The chapters are all written from a process (rather than content) perspective, which is more appropriate given the aim. However, it does present the ideas as rather ethereal and without context. The opposite end of the spectrum is much less appealing and would involve a precis of the student's dissertation without the rigour of a content editorial process. The book focusing on students' lived experiences is certainly its scope, however, there is an institutional bias throughout the pieces, as they refer to similar experiences, such the parable used to explain epistemology and ontology and the style of supervision displayed by one of the authors. There is also a limited range of perspectives in terms of student diversity; most appear to be students who have come from a long-term Public Sector career and have recently left or are still employed whilst trying to juggle the demands of a HRD. This certainly shapes their contributions. Motivation The motivation for undertaking a HRD varies from self-actualising personal challenges to being instrumental in career progression. These are all personal accounts of how the contributor came into the process. Chapter 2 explores the difficulty in having a research area that is not popular with academics and the difficulty therein in starting a PhD. Chapter 6 has a particularly personal perspective on why the HRD process was undertaken. Chapter 10 uses self-deprecating humour refreshingly to explore the issues in HRD study later in life. Impediments The impediments are covered in depth, as would be expected (most of the contributors are in the later stages of PhDs). The difficulties associated with HRD are often personal issues that seem to invariably arise during crucial stages, and many of the contributors acknowledge emotional difficulties throughout the process, in particular, Chapters 5 and 6 describe the sense of being overwhelmed and inept (a process that certainly all HRD students encounter). Content-related issues are also covered, such as the issues associated with using an unconventional methodology (Chapter 5). Chapter 7 reflects on the overall usefulness of the process and the sense of doubt that plagues HRD students. Strategies for Overcoming Some of the strategies suggested for overcoming the obstacles are quite tangible and pragmatic in nature (such as Chapter 3's tips to organise information and stop procrastinating). There is general useful advice (Chapters 8 and 9), which a reader might be inclined to consider as having reiterative value only; the usefulness is in the experience of such techniques and approaches. …