The Dissertation & the Discipline: Reinventing Composition Studies

Writing a dissertation can be joyful and reaffirming, but it can also feel like wandering into a labyrinth where dimly lit pathways twist and turn toward disaster. What is a dissertation supposed to look like? What is a dissertation supposed to do? Who is supposed to-or allowed to-decide?

The Dissertation & the Discipline brings together both dissertation writers and advisors to grapple with these questions and formulate answers. Each chapter highlights the intersection of power and politics in this high-stakes rhetorical scene while exploring and describing a range of productive strategies. Critiquing standard narratives and traditional assumptions, The Dissertation & the Discipline offers a radical critique of dissertation writing and advising-and challenges us to consider how these practices can be deployed to expand our understanding of the very nature of Composition Studies.