My Experience of Writing the Comprehensive Exam

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My Experience of Writing the Comprehensive Exam

• Che-Wei Lee
• PhD Student
• Social and Comparative Analysis in Education
  Program
• CHL138_at_pitt.edu

Research Apprenticeship Course Meeting for Dr.
Jacobs Doctoral Students Wednesday, 8 October
2014, 230 330 p.m. (EDT) Room 4321 Wesley W.
Posvar Hall University of Pittsburgh
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Preamble

• My personal experience might differ from yours
• Qualitative study on faculty, using ethnographic
  methods
• Find something that works for you

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Comprehensive Exams

• A necessary, meaningful, and helpful process to
  demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge of your
  research topic
• Proof that you are ready for scholarly dialogue
  in your specific area
• Committee members validate your professional
  knowledge and competence.
• Goals
• Train you to become an expert in your topic
• Find a knowledge gap around which to orient your
  dissertation research

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Lessons Learned

1. Know yourself
2. Make relevant to your dissertation topic
3. Adhere to the rules
4. Choose manageable questions that fill a gap in
   the research
5. Content-expert learning
6. Build ideas from the literature, your previous
   research, and your experience
7. Read the journals in your field regularly
8. Read efficiently (Screen or paper? Notes or
   annotated bibliography?)
9. Find partners or mentors for meaningful dialogue
10. Create a clear framework and avoid plagiarism
11. Learn and use EndNote (or similar)
12. Use tables and figures, as appropriate
13. Become an expert
14. Know when to stop reading and start writing!

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In Hindsight

• Efficiently and accurately identify the seminal
  works in your field
• But how?
• Engage in scholarly conversations with senior
  colleagues and mentors
• Review reference books
• Snowball literature search

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Helpful Questions for Doing a Literature Review

• When facing a large amount of information
• Who were cited most in your field?
• What were the relatively popular topics in recent
  years?
• Which articles were highly cited in relevant
  journals?
• Trends in research topics?
• What are the prospects and needs in the current
  literature?
• ? Bibliometrics

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Definition of Content Expert

• Credentialed in a specific area
• Decides what knowledge will be taught (Morre
  and Shattuck 1996, 8)
• Helps shape the field
• Other terms Subject-matter expert (SME), domain
  expert
• Source Morre, Michael G., and Kay Shattuck.
  1996. Distance Education A Systems View.
  Belmont, CA Wadsworth.

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Content-Expert Learning Model
Special Interest Group (SIG)

• Direct and Indirect Effects
• Standardizing
• Institutionalizing
• Socializing to academic disciplines

The I, with my inquires
Figure 1. Content-Expert Learning Model Source
Created by the Author
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The Structure of a 15-Page Paper

• Introduction
• Method
• Results
• Discussion
• Recommendations for Dissertation Research
• The length for each section depends on your
  research topic, methodology, scope, and focus.

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Search Strategy and Process

• Refer to previous reviews, if any, in your field.
• Electronic Search
• Databases, e.g., ERIC, EBSCOhost, Academic Search
  Premier, PsycINFO, etc.
• Limit search to a specific period
• Identify keywords
• Manual Search
• Search journals excluded from databases but
  widely cited by scholars
• Snowball Literature Search
• Snowball from other articles references

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Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

• Include
• Peer-reviewed empirical articles in academic
  journals
• Exclude
• Non-empirical papers
• Conceptual/theoretical papers
• Book reviews
• Conference papers
• Editorials
• Non-peer-reviewed papers

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Coding the Sources

• I input the following information on the first
  page of my source. The sources are arranged in
  e.g., the publication date order.
• Paper Question No. 2
• Type Empirical
• Relevance High
• Theme Persistence
• Section Result
• Note Refer to the relevant section good for
  shaping my dissertation research questions

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Helpful References

• Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M.
  Williams. 2008. The Craft of Research. 3rd ed.
  Chicago University of Chicago Press.
• Galvan, Jose L. 2013. Writing Literature Reviews
  A Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral
  Sciences. 5th ed. Glendale, CA Pyrczak
  Publishing.
• Harris, Robert A. 2011. Using Sources
  Effectively. 3rd ed. Glendale, CA Pyrczak
  Publishing.
• Hart, Chris. 1998. Doing a Literature Review
  Releasing the Social Science Research
  Imagination. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Hart, Chris. 1998. Doing a Literature Search A
  Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Machi, Lawrence A., and Brenda T. McEvoy. 2012.
  The Literature Review Six Steps to Success. 2nd
  ed. Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin.
• Ridley, Diana. 2012. The Literature Review A
  Step-by-Step Guide for Students. 2nd ed. Thousand
  Oaks, CA Sage.

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Useful Writing Samples

• Jacob, W. James, Jennifer Crandall, Jason Hilton,
  and Laura Northrop. 2011. Emerging Theories in
  Comparative, International, and Development
  Education. In Beyond the Comparative Advancing
  Theory and Its Application to Practice, edited by
  John C. Weidman and W. James Jacob, 6991.
  Rotterdam, The Netherlands Sense.
• Lee, Moosung, and Tom Friedrich. 2011. Citation
  Network Analysis of Comparative Education Texts
  A Methodological Consideration for Micro Social
  Cartography. In Beyond the Comparative
  Advancing Theory and Its Application to Practice,
  edited by John C. Weidman and W. James Jacob,
  11344. Rotterdam, The Netherlands Sense.
• Rust, Val D., Aminata Soumaré, Octavio Pescador,
  and Megumi Shibuya. 1999. Research Strategies in
  Comparative Education. Comparative Education
  Review 43 (1) 86109.

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Other Helpful Resources

• Journal Review of Educational Research
• Course ADMPS 3001 Disciplined Inquiry