UNMC has held dissertation boot camps since 2016. The workshops, which have since been established as biannual events conducted by UNMC Graduate Studies, provide dedicated writing time, tips and strategies, and camaraderie, all of which assist participants with taking big steps toward completing their dissertations.
This past January, for the first time, the boot camps invited master’s students working toward their theses to join in.
Making the workshop a Dissertation and Thesis Boot Camp was an obvious next step, said Karen Gould, PhD, assistant dean for graduate student success.
“Master’s students have all the same challenges in writing their theses that PhD students have in writing dissertations,” Dr. Gould said. “It’s sometimes a shorter document, but it’s still a very substantial document, likely the longest document a student has ever written.
“It can be a very overwhelming task.”
And the same resources and strategies could be just as beneficial, Dr. Gould said.
Sarah Truong a master’s student who participated in the inaugural Dissertation and Thesis Boot Camp, agreed:
“In addition to gaining more information about what is required in the thesis paper, like format, structure, tone, etc., the thesis boot camp allowed me to connect with other master’s students within the UNMC campus and learn that I was not alone in struggling to keep up to date with the requirements of my program — other students were also feeling the same way,” she said.
Truong continued: “One thing from the boot camp that I found surprising and unexpected was how supportive and collaborative everyone was. We were able to honestly talk through our strengths and struggles.
“Again, this was because we learned that we were not alone in the process. Everyone was empathic and understood what everyone was going through.”
Boot camps had been conducted remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic but have since returned to gathering in-person to take full advantage of facilities and infrastructure provided by the Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library.