Seven reasons you might want to get a Ph.D.—or not

Are you considering enrolling in graduate school? Do you have a secret yearning to get a Ph.D.? Are you wondering if you should enroll? Enrolling in graduate school is not a casual decision. Graduate programs can be lengthy, expensive, and disruptive. On the other hand, they can launch careers, increase earning, and boost self-esteem. Here are seven considerations to help you decide if you want to get a Ph.D.

1. My employer requires me to have a Ph.D.

Some employers require employees to get a Ph.D. For example, to teach at the university level, depending on your field, you will likely need a doctoral or professional degree of some kind (e.g., a Ph.D., D.B.A., or Ed.D.). Some research positions require doctoral degrees—biologists, anthropologists, earth scientists, and medical scientists, for instance. If you seek leadership positions in education, government, economics, or management, you may need a doctoral degree.

Educational institutions may differentiate between doctoral degrees and professional degrees. Doctoral candidates typically must conduct original research; candidates for professional degrees typically focus on practice rather than on research.

However, if you just want to teach somewhere, you may not actually need a doctoral degree. For example, many community colleges and vocational institutions require you to hold only a Master’s degree to teach. If teaching appeals to you, you may be able to satisfy your desire to teach without the investment of time and money needed to get the doctoral or professional degree.

Ten questions I wish I’d asked before I started my Ph.D. program

2. Having a Ph.D. will make me more employable

In some fields, having a doctoral degree may give you an advantage over those with only Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees. As the chart below shows, in 2015, the unemployment rate for people with doctoral degrees was 1.7%, compared to the average for all workers (4.3%).

Source: Vilorio, D. (2016, March). Education matters. Career Outlook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2016/data-on-display/education-matters.htm

Note that the Bureau of Labor Statistics differentiated between doctoral degrees and professional degrees. The amount of time to earn a doctorate or professional degree is similar. Completion of a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) or a professional degree usually requires at least three years of full-time academic work beyond a bachelor’s degree (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017, Education and Data Definitions, para. 1). Like doctorates, professional degrees can lead to careers in healthcare, government, and education.

However, people with professional degrees had the lowest unemployment rate of all (1.5%). If you are interested in a particular field, you may have more luck finding employment with a specialized professional degree or certification.

3. A Ph.D. will increase my income

In some cases, having a Ph.D. means you can command larger salaries, compared to salaries earned by those with only Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees. As shown in the chart above, in 2015, the median earning for people with doctoral degrees was $1,623 per week, compared to the average for all workers ($860). Income will vary by field—for example, engineering and math Ph.D.s are likely to earn more than philosophy and biology Ph.D.s earn.

However, earnings for those with professional degrees exceeded earnings for those with doctoral degrees ($1,730 to $1,623, respectively). If maximizing your income is your goal, a professional degree might be your best option. In addition, consider the earning time you lose and the student loans you rack up to earn your Ph.D. Would you be better off financially to enter the workforce with a Master’s degree?

4. Having a Ph.D. will make me smart

Ph.D.s become an expert in one aspect of one small part of one field. Does that mean you are smart? You will certainly read a lot in the process of earning a Ph.D. You will learn about the research process. You will learn to organize your thoughts and present them verbally and in writing. However, people have claimed Ph.Ds. possess only average intelligence. Read You Must Be Very Intelligent—The Ph.D. Delusion by Karin Bodewits.

Moreover, if you were motivated, you could learn to do all those skills without enrolling in a Ph.D. program. Many people become scholars of note without earning doctorates. For one example, read Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar by James Marcus Bach.

5. I need a Ph.D. to make a difference in the world

Having a Ph.D. can open doors in some fields. Prospective funders, donors, employers, and clients may find you more credible with those three letters after your name.

However, people sometimes ascribe mythical powers to the Ph.D. degree. You don’t need a Ph.D. to make a difference in the world. You can find many ways to share your wisdom with those who want and need it. Just Google “Making a difference in the world” and get going.

6. Having a Ph.D. will make me seem cool

Advanced degrees impress some people. Does being addressed as “Doctor” seem like the pinnacle of success to you?

However, coolness is earned, not made. “The Ph.D. . . . only looks like a big deal when you don’t have one” (Lemire, 2014). In addition, the amount of prestige and status you gain will likely depend on the school you attended and the degree you earned. In traditional academe, your institutional affiliation will direct your career path. What happens after you get the Ph.D. is as important as getting the degree.

7. Having a Ph.D. will help me feel better about myself

Earning a Ph.D. can be a self-esteem booster. If getting a Ph.D. is your lifelong dream, you should go for it. You might not succeed, but you won’t know unless you try. Even if you fail, you can still be a scholar without a Ph.D., if that is your dream.

However, if your sense of self-worth depends on earning a Ph.D., you’ve signed up for some serious self-imposed pressure. What will you do if you don’t finish the Ph.D.? Many people who enroll in doctoral programs don’t finish.

If research doesn’t float your boat, quit trying to paddle the leaky canoe against the current. Find the thing that suits you and give your gifts to the world. Don’t waste your valuable life energy doing something that doesn’t bring you joy. The world needs more people to delve deeply into the questions that need answering.

Moreover, lots of people never feel drawn to earn a Ph.D. and feel just fine about themselves.

What it is like to be a nontraditional learner at an online for-profit university

Complete these phrases with whatever comes to mind:

Without a Ph.D., I am . . .

People who don’t have doctorates are . . .

When I think of not earning a Ph.D., I feel . . .

The main reason I want a Ph.D. is to avoid being . . .

Did you use words like useless, worthless, stupid, or boring? I hope not. After trudging through years of the doctoral journey, some people have observed, if they had jumped off the Ph.D. hamster wheel sooner, they would have been happier, healthier, and less obsessed. They would have had better relationships and a renewed interest in life.

Earning a doctorate is not for everyone. It’s not easy, it takes a long time, it costs a lot of money, and it may not help you achieve your career objectives. However, if it’s too late, and you are already committed, go for it! Do your best. Let me know if you need some help.

Sources

Bach, J. M. (2011). Secrets of a buccaneer-scholar. New York, NY: Scribner.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (2017, October 24). Occupational data definitions. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/emp/documentation/nem-definitions.htm

Lemire, D. (2014, March 17). Should you get a PhD? Retrieved from https://lemire.me/blog/2014/03/17/should-you-get-a-phd/

Vilorio, D. (2016, March). Education matters. Career Outlook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2016/data-on-display/education-matters.htm

Applying Theory

Dissertators often struggle to choose and apply a theoretical framework to their research projects. In this helpful guide, I offer suggestions from my own experience. In addition, I reveal how other dissertators have applied theory successfully and earned their doctorates.

Written in a friendly, nonscholarly manner, I demystify the challenges of applying academic theory to a research project. You will learn that theory is nothing to fear—in fact, we all use theory all the time! With the help of this powerful little book, you will learn to master theory and achieve your dream of earning your Ph.D.

Click here for more information.

Print version

Resubmit! 28 ½ Reasons Why You Can’t Get Your Dissertation Proposal Approved

This comprehensive book is the missing link for dissertators who have struggled to get their proposals approved. This indispensable book bulges with insights, suggestions, examples, diagrams, and practical tips, written especially for the online dissertator who may receive little support during the proposal process.

I present solutions to address twenty-eight potential reasons why you might be struggling to get your proposal approved. For example, you will learn how to write a clear problem statement, devise research questions and hypotheses, and align the elements of the proposal to facilitate speedy approval. I unlock the mysteries of Word and Excel to show you specifically how to use these tools for your proposals. Over 200 tables and figures show you exactly what to do. As a bonus, you will learn how to design a web-based survey and make a plan for fielding and analyzing the data. In this book, I cover it all to help you overcome obstacles and finish your dissertation.

Free templates and worksheets are available here.

Print version
Kindle version

January 12, 2017January 27, 2018

All about plagiarism for dissertators whose backs are against the wall

Do you know what plagiarism is? Are you thinking to yourself, plagiar-what? Is that some sort of disease? (Uh-oh, said the editor.) If you aren’t familiar with the term plagiarism, read this post—it may save your career.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the unattributed use of someone else’s words, thoughts, ideas, and concepts (Plagiarism.org, 2014). You can call it borrowing, but essentially, plagiarism is stealing. Specifically, to plagiarize means

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
to use (another’s production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. (Merriam Webster online, n.d.)

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else’s work and lying about it afterward. Whatever you borrowed, if you don’t say clearly who you borrowed it from and provide a usable link or reference back to the original source, you run the risk of being accused of plagiarism, which can get you expelled from your doctoral program. Yep. Expelled. Kind of a big deal.

Examples of plagiarism

Turning in someone else’s work as your own
Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks or “cherrypicking” parts of a quotation, taking the words out of context
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

How plagiarism happens

Plagiarism happens. Usually it is unintentional. Think about this scenario and tell me it hasn’t happened to you: In rabid researcher mode, you comb through multiple databases, download hundreds of articles, follow umpteen threads on Google Scholar, dig into Ebrary and Google Books … you suck up information like a kid with a milkshake, gloating with glee when you find some particularly juicy or seminal article that some kind soul uploaded to the Web so you didn’t have to fork out a fortune to buy the book. Yum.

You copy, paste, and paraphrase text and ideas into your paper, immersed in your quest, relishing your progress. After a few hours of happy hunting, it suddenly dawns on you that you haven’t been citing your sources. In fact, you haven’t even kept track of where you found some of those obscure articles. Were they in a database? Did you get there through EBSCOHost or ProQuest? Or was it an article on a publisher’s website? Argh! Curses!

Now you are at a crossroads. You have two choices. One is long, tedious, boring, and frustrating; the other is short and relatively painless, but could lead to some serious consequences later, if anyone found out what you did. I am sure you know I’m talking about plagiarism.

Why dissertators feel tempted to cheat

The right thing to do

The right thing to do is to go back through your process, find all those sources you accessed, and record the citation information carefully, completely, and accurately, making sure to include robust URLs and dois (digital object identifers) and avoiding university proxies that no one but you or your fellow classmates can access. And then, next time you go searching for sources, you vow to keep track as you go along, like the responsible scholar you are. Right? Then you cite your sources in your paper like a citation maniac! (I tend to follow the maxim of when in doubt, cite. I figure it is better to CYA (cover your ass) than get in trouble for plagiarism later.)

The wrong thing to do

The wrong thing to do is failing to include citations in your paper, or perhaps worse, making up citations that might or might not relate to the words you paraphrased, hoping that no one will check.

As an editor, I don’t consider it my job to make sure your citations are accurate in terms of content. I check format, but as far as content goes, I have to trust your scholarly integrity. However, when I edit paragraph after paragraph of content with nary a citation, or maybe with one citation at the end of the paragraph, my plagiarism antenna pokes out of my head, and I start sniffing around for more signs of trouble. I go through the references and check that (a) they exist, (b) they are accurate, and (c) they are reasonably accessible to a typical reader.

Most of you know that when you include direct quotations, you must include the page number of the content. This is so readers can find the quote and read more about the subject. Reviewers can check to see if you took someone’s words out of context. It happens occasionally that dissertators either misinterpret or outright butcher someone else’s thoughts in their efforts to paraphrase. I don’t check your sources to make sure you paraphrased them accurately. However, if I spot a quotation that is not cited, I will try to find the page number. If I happen to notice that your interpretation of the authors’ words was taken out of context and spun to suit your argument, I will leave you a polite comment in the margin of your paper, warning you about the dangers of plagiarism.

Excuses for plagiarism

Sometimes plagiarism is intentional, but I believe dissertators rarely do it with malicious intent. When you are tired and the deadline is near, the effort to find citation information can be overwhelmed by the desire to get the paper done and submitted. Good enough is good enough for now; perfection can come later. Am I right? Ah, the slippery slope.

If you build good writing and research habits early in your academic career, it will be easier for you when the deadlines are clamoring and the pressure to cut corners is intense.

I don’t usually interact with the dissertators whose papers I edit. However, I was a teacher at a career college for 10 years. I’ve heard many excuses for why students feel compelled to plagiarize. Here are a few:

I tried (unskillfully) to put it into my own words.

Hey, no shame. We aren’t born with writing skills. We have to acquire them through practice. Learning how to write well is not like shopping for a toaster at Wal-Mart (darn). Academic writing is challenging even for good writers. Read lots of articles and dissertations to learn how other writers paraphrase and cite.

I forgot to copy the source.

It takes some practice to develop a system for managing your source information so you can create your citations. Read some tips in REASON 22 in my book. Make this system your habit. It is a lot easier to manage your sources as you go along, rather than wait until the end to figure out which source applies to which bit of text in your paper.

I didn’t know it was wrong.

It seems like everything on the Internet is free. We download movies and music. We copy pictures and text. We forward stories and webpages to our friends, we post them on Facebook. What we may not know is that many things on the Internet are considered “intellectual property.” That means it belongs to someone else, not to us. We are stealing!

Consequences of plagiarism

Plagiarism has consequences. If you’ve done it before, you might feel like you dodged a bullet. You might say, never again! Or you might say, I got away with it once, I probably can again. Ask yourself:

Will I likely get caught?
What are the potential consequences if I get caught?
Who do I harm?
Can I live with myself?

Only you can decide. However, plagiarizing your dissertation can come back to haunt you years after you did the crime. Here are two examples to nudge you in the right direction:

In Germany, defense minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was forced to resign when it was discovered he had plagiarized large parts of his thesis; his university stripped him of his doctorate (Pidd, 2011).
In 2013, German education minister Annette Schavan lost her doctorate when it was discovered she had failed to properly cite other researchers’ work in her dissertation (Brumfield, 2013).

I’m pretty sure plagiarism isn’t unique to German scholars. Imagine working so hard for so many years to earn your doctorate, only to have it stripped from you. All that time and money down the drain. Think about that before you decide to cut corners on citing your sources.

If you want to earn the title of scholar, you need to do your best to follow the academic rules of the road. Writing a dissertation may be one of the hardest things you will ever do. The value of your work is diminished in direct proportion to the level of disregard you have for properly citing your sources. That was a convoluted sentence, wasn’t it? Let me put it this way: Cheaters may gain in the short run, but the honorable dissertator wins out in the end.

Check out plagiarism.org [http://www.plagiarism.org/] for lots of information about plagiarism, presented by WriteCheck, a service designed to help scholarly writers avoid plagiarism.

Sources

Brumfield, B. (2013, February 6). German education minister loses Ph.D. over plagiarized thesis. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/06/world/europe/german-minister-plagiarism/

Merriam Webster. (n.d.). Plagiarism. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize

Pidd, H. (2011). German defence minister resigns in PhD plagiarism row: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had been stripped of doctorate by University of Bayreuth. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/01/german-defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism

Plagiarism.org. (2014). What is plagiarism? Retrieved from http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism

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If you need some help figuring out why you can’t get your dissertation proposal approved, check out my book.

December 11, 2016December 11, 2016

Could unrealistic assumptions about getting a PhD be preventing you from getting your dissertation proposal approved?

When we enroll in a Ph.D. program, we’re making some assumptions about what a doctoral degree means and what it can do for us.

I made many assumptions about what it means to be in a doctoral program, some of which actually turned out to be true. For example, I assumed I was capable of doing the work, and luckily, I was, although at times I had doubts. I assumed I could complete the degree in the allotted amount of time. Fortunately, I did, barely, if you count the one-year extension I was granted. I also had an assumption about the value of a doctoral degree to my employer, which sadly turned out to be false.

Are you inadvertently holding yourself back because of your unrealistic assumptions? Here are some assumptions you might not realize you are making.

Assumption 1: You need a Ph.D. to succeed.

If you want to teach at the university level, I agree, you need a doctorate or other terminal degree. However, a doctorate is no guarantee of success, whatever success means to you. And lots of people have been successful (and maybe even happy?) without earning a doctorate. Just saying.

Assumption 2: A Ph.D. will make you happy.

Along those lines, if you are sure that finishing your dissertation and earning your doctoral degree is truly what will make you happy, then go for it. But don’t assume that you will finally be happy once you finish. If you make your happiness contingent upon achieving some external condition, whether it’s getting a new car or a doctoral degree, I fear you will be disappointed. Once the celebratory buzz wears off, you will discover that you are still the same person. And the people around you will still be the same people. A Ph.D. is not a personality transplant, for you or for your loved ones. If you can’t be happy without a Ph.D., odds are you won’t allow yourself to be happy when you have one.

Assumption 3: A Ph.D. will make you wealthy.

I bring this up just to get it out on the table. If becoming wealthy is your idea of success, if becoming wealthy is truly what will make you happy, start a tech firm or be a stockbroker. Don’t spend the next 3+ years of your life and $50,000+ in pursuit of a doctoral degree, especially if you plan on incurring student loan debt. You might get rich (whatever rich means to you) if you have a Ph.D., but you might also get rich without one. For sure, it will be a lot harder to get rich with $50,000+ in student loans hanging over your head.

Assumption 4: You deserve to have a Ph.D. just because you want one.

This assumption goes to the heart of who you believe you are. Some people believe the world owes them just for being alive. That sense of entitlement has a comical tendency to skew their perceptions of reality. Luckily, academe usually weeds out these folks. If you are one of these people, whoops, sorry if I offended you. Consider this a reality check. However, if you really feel you are entitled to a doctorate, nothing I say will change your belief, so carry on.

Assumption 5: Your Ph.D. will effortlessly come to you.

This sounds like an affirmation I used to say to myself back in the 80s. Everything I need comes to me easily and effortlessly. I manifest piles of money. I am successful, wealthy, and loved. Affirmations are nice, but there’s a reason why we resort to them. It’s because life isn’t how we would like it to be, and resorting to magical thinking seems like less work than actually taking action to change things.

Do you have a sense of entitlement?

See Assumptions 4 and 5. In every generation, some of us tend to believe we are special and deserve to have whatever we want without necessarily earning it. I don’t think it has much to do with when we were born. A sense of entitlement is something we are born with that gets nurtured or stifled, depending on environment. Sadly, dissertators who feel they are exempt from the rules don’t learn from their mistakes. Essential feedback goes unheeded because of arrogance.

Can we attribute the sense of entitlement that some of us have to generational differences? For example, I read that Millennials tend to have an inborn sense of entitlement, instilled in them by their well-meaning Baby Boomer parents. Baby Boomers, on the other hand, expect to work for what they get (and we expect to get everything we work for!). I think this might be nonsense.

Who knows? I’m not an expert on generational cohorts and personality traits; I’m just someone who recognizes from firsthand experience the hallmarks of a sense of entitlement.

How can you know if you have an inborn sense of entitlement?

Here’s a thought: When you are struggling to understand some dense article written by someone long dead, if you feel an overwhelming sense of something like, Why do I have to read this stupid stuff!? I should be exempt! … take note. There’s your clue.

The point is, that pesky feeling that we are special, somehow exempt from the rules other people have to follow can blind us to reality. Some people call it terminal uniqueness. You are special (just like everybody else). But that doesn’t mean you deserve to have whatever you want, whenever you want it, without working for it.

If doctorates were so easy to earn, everyone would have one or two. You can earn yours, but only if you are willing to do the hard work required to achieve success.

If you are running into obstacles as you work on getting your dissertation proposal approved, maybe I can help. Check out my book.