Embarking on a Walden University Ph.D. program requires resolution, grit and determination, but students don’t walk the path alone. Walden not only helps doctoral students navigate their journey through milestones, academic residencies and mentoring, we encourage alumnae to share their experiences.

At the summer 2008 academic residency in Minneapolis, Dr. Mark W. Monaghan, who earned a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences in Engineering Management from the School of Management and Technology, offered an engineer’s insight on how to make the most of these resources and shared his own best practices along the way. A video of the graduate panel on which he presented is now available.

Scope It Out
When first thinking about your dissertation, Monaghan recommended starting with several preliminary problem statements as one-page summaries to be shared with your proposal committee. The objective at first, he said, is not to finalize your scope. “It just gets you in the ballpark.”

Assemble the Dissertation Committee
Monaghan said there are “must have” qualities in any committee chair. “The committee chair is someone you must trust, respect and value their input. … You’ll call them frequently, at night and sometimes just for moral support.”

Monaghan emphasized that committee members should provide technical review—“that detail orientation that you need. And they should be arduous and task-oriented, and really challenge you.”

He added, “Don’t be afraid to have a committee member [who] is going to give you a hard time.”

Craft a Project Plan
“Yes, I’m an engineer, as you can tell,” Monaghan said as he shared a project plan he created with a work-breakdown structure. “I worked on every little element until I built it up into my entire proposal,” he said. “And it did work well on time, to make sure I had [enough] time and that I was focused.”

Create a Task Network
Monaghan suggested creating a task network to help you identify the critical review points for the committee chair. For example: When are you going to submit? Are you going to submit by chapter? Are you going to submit a couple of titles or subtitles? He also recommended tapping an independent editor’s support next, before the material is forwarded to the committee chair.

Once the proposal moves on to committee review, the research scope must now be defined and the problem statement finalized. The requirements for the final abstract—which is different than the proposal abstract—are also met at this point.

Prepare for Oral Presentation
Monaghan signaled that while the oral presentation can be difficult, “it’s meant to challenge your topic and your subject area,” he said. At the end of the dissertation oral, Monaghan suggested creating a post-oral comment sheet to review key element suggestions from the committee.

Persevere
“At the dissertation completion, don’t be disheartened or anxious about the comments,” said Monaghan. “I’ve learned that someone who really dug through your dissertation and came back with many, many comments, really provided you valuable input to make that a very good product at the end.”

Don’t forget to thank everyone for their input, Monaghan said. Finally, persevere. “If you keep pushing at it, you’ll succeed.”

Watch a video of Dr. Monaghan sharing his insights on successfully completing your Ph.D.

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