This book focuses on using faculty mentoring to empower doctoral students to successfully complete their doctoral studies. The book is a collection of mentoring chapters showcasing professors and dissertation advisors from the most prestigious universities in the United States. They provide an extraordinary range of mentoring advice that speaks directly to the doctoral student. Each chapter addresses a professional or personal component of the doctoral process that represents how these exceptional faculty best mentor their doctoral students. Faculty contributions exemplify diverse perspectives of mentoring: (a) Some faculty are direct and forthright, pointing the mentee toward his/her destination; (b) some faculty share personal experiences-offering mentoring advice from the perspective of someone who traveled a similar path; and (c) some faculty structure a dialogue between the faculty as mentor and you as the doctoral student. In all cases, they open possibilities for achieving success in doctoral studies. Students discover clues to follow during their doctoral journey. Whether the student is just beginning to think about entering a doctoral program, presently taking course studies, under stress, and doesn't know what the future offers, this is an ideal book because it maps the entire doctoral process.

Part 1 IntroductionPart 2 Dissertation - Understanding the ProcessChapter 3 Doctoral Students and the Dissertation ProcessChapter 4 The Dissertation ProcessChapter 5 Challenges, Professorial Advice, and Doctoral Student DilemmasChapter 6 Moving from Concept to CompletionChapter 7 Strategies for Dissertation Writing SuccessPart 8 The Dissertation TopicChapter 9 It's Your Dissertation - It's Your TopicChapter 10 Identifying and Focusing a Dissertation Topic: Baseball as a Cognitive HeuristicChapter 11 The Dissertation Journey: Strategizing for SuccessChapter 12 Paying Forward: Returning Kindness and Passing on AdviceChapter 13 Know Your Passion: Selecting a Dissertation TopicChapter 14 The Wrong Shoes or the Wrong Feet? Being Changed by the Research ProcessChapter 15 Identifying a Dissertation Research TopicChapter 16 Connecting the Dots: Choosing a Dissertation TopicPart 17 Selecting a Chair and CommitteeChapter 18 Selecting a Dissertation ChairChapter 19 Choosing a Dissertation Supervisory Committee and Dissertation TopicChapter 20 Seeking an Advisor as a MentorChapter 21 When Choosing a Major Professor, Go Slow to Go FastChapter 22 Choosing a Major ProfessorChapter 23 Dancing With Elephants: Forming Your Dissertation CommitteePart 24 Preparing the Dissertation ProposalChapter 25 Preparing a Dissertation Proposal: So, Now You're Ready to Write!Chapter 26 Preparing a Dissertation ProposalChapter 27 Writing Your Dissertation Proposal: It's Easier Than You ThinkChapter 28 Preparing Your Dissertation ProposalPart 29 Writing the DissertationChapter 30 How to Write Your Dissertation: A Top Ten List!Chapter 31 Writing the Dissertation: Begin with the End in MindChapter 32 Writing Your DissertationChapter 33 One Sentence, One Paragraph, and One Page at a TimePart 34 Defending the DissertationChapter 35 What the Graduate Student Handbook Doesn't Tell You about Defending Your DissertationChapter 36 Defending Your DissertationPart 37 It's Up to You