Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

Stop Guessing What Your Chair Wants

14 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this concise monologue, Steve Tippins Ph.D. advises graduate students to accelerate their dissertation completion by examining recently approved dissertations from their dissertation chair. By reviewing these examples, students can discern the chair’s expectations regarding tone, formatting, and argumentative structure, effectively using the approved work as a blueprint rather than guessing. The speaker emphasizes that this strategy saves time and reduces uncertainty. He concludes with a call‑to‑action, inviting viewers to comment “help” to receive a link to a free dissertation help community.

Chapters

One of my best tips for finishing your dissertation faster: go to your library and find a dissertation that your chair has approved. Or two. This is about understanding the blueprint. When you look at recently approved work, you see exactly what your chair thinks is possible. You see their preferred tone, their formatting quirks, and how they like an argument to be built. Why spend months guessing when the example is sitting right in front of you? So you don't have to reinvent the wheel, just use the map that your chair has left behind. Comment "help" and we will send you the link to my free dissertation help community. You've got this.