Dissertation coaching is a four-session coaching package for graduate students who want to develop skills, strategies, and/or routines that will help them to make significant progress towards their dissertation project(s).
*If you are a matriculated degree-seeking Stanford student and are unable to access the booking platform, please contact academicskills@stanford.edu
Dissertation Coaching
What is Dissertation Coaching?
A dissertation requires many skills and strategies that are often not explicitly taught in graduate school, such as time management, project management, and stakeholder relationship management. Dissertation Coaching is a form of Academic Coaching, and it is intended for graduate students who want to develop skills, strategies, and/or routines that will help them to make significant progress towards their dissertation project(s). Your academic coach will serve as a thought partner to help you strategize, plan, and build accountability into your dissertation process.
How does Dissertation Coaching work?
Dissertation Coaching consists of a four session package:
- Before the initial session, you’ll be asked to complete a brief questionnaire to reflect on your current academic strengths and challenges. At the first coaching session, you will work with your coach to determine your goals for coaching, and your coach will ask you reflective questions to help you assess what’s working about your current approaches and what you might want to change.
- In subsequent sessions, you’ll work with your coach to make progress towards your goals and determine what strategies/plans you may want to implement.
- In the final session, you’ll reflect on your progress so far, and you can schedule additional sessions as needed to continue honing your approach and/or maintain the new strategies, skills, or routines you’ve developed. You’ll also be asked to complete a post-coaching questionnaire to reflect on how you’ve progressed throughout the coaching process.
To schedule your first dissertation coaching session, visit the Grad Coaching booking page and choose "Dissertation Coaching" as the reason.
Who is Dissertation Coaching for?
You might consider using Dissertation Coaching if you are:
- Starting your dissertation and want to establish a strong foundation. Coaching goals may include creating a timeline, establishing work routines, aligning expectations with your advisor and/or committee, and navigating decisions related to the project.
- In the midst of your dissertation and want to hone your current approach. Coaching goals may include balancing dissertation work with other projects and commitments (for instance, searching for jobs), navigating roadblocks, managing feedback, and re-aligning expectations with your advisor and/or committee.
- Close to completing your dissertation and looking for additional strategies and support to cross the finish line. Coaching goals may include maintaining motivation, managing perfectionism, addressing imposter syndrome, and breaking down final tasks.
Dissertation Coaching FAQs:
Academic coaches can work with you to develop strategies, plans, and approaches that will support your dissertation work. Sessions are tailored to your goals, and these are some potential outcomes you might work towards in your academic coaching sessions:
- Identifying dissertation milestones and creating a timeline
- Developing a writing routine
- Preparing for a meeting with your advisor and/or committee members
- Identifying strategies to track progress and stay motivated
- Creating a plan to address feedback while also making forward progress
- Determining how to split your time between dissertation work and other commitments
Academic coaches cannot assist with the following areas:
- Providing feedback on your writing
- Editing or formatting your dissertation
- Answering questions about copyrighted material and publication (see the Office of Scholarly Communications for more information)
- Ensuring that your dissertation meets university formatting requirements (see guidelines from Student Services)
- Consulting on data analysis methods or research design
- Working alongside you for accountability (check out Hume’s dissertation boot camps and CTL study halls instead!)
Note that Stanford offers a wide variety of dissertation resources, so if the areas you are hoping to work on fall outside the scope of academic coaching, there may be additional options for you to consider.
If you’re working on a shorter term goal or you’re not sure whether you are interested in sustained coaching at this time, you can schedule a Grad Coaching session and choose "General Academic Coaching" to get started with an initial academic coaching session.