Peg Boyle Single is an academic writing coach who works with doctoral students and faculty members, and a consultant who offers workshops on writing and mentoring programs. She and has been conducting writing seminars and providing writing coaching for over 15 years. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she was Director of the Faculty Mentoring Program and a Research Associate Professor at the University of Vermont. Richard M. Reis is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing (AIM) at Stanford and Co-Exeuctive Director of the Stanford Research Communication Program. A Lecturer in the Stanford Mechanical Engineering department, he teaches an introductory seminar for all incoming Electrical Engineering graduate students. He is also editor of the Tomorrow's Professor eNewsletter.

1 The Single System for Academic Writing 1.1. Developing Habits of Fluent Writing 1.2. Using Demystifying Dissertation Writing as a Guide for Writing Groups and Seminars 1.3. Data on Ph.D. Completion Rates 1.4. The Single System and Prewriting 1.5. Keeping Perspective on Your Dissertation Project 2 Choosing a Topic and an Adviser 2.1. A Set of Constraints 2.2. Choosing a Dissertation Topic and an Adviser 2.3. Additional Constraints to Consider 2.4. Entering the Conversation: Subject Matter 2.5. Examples of Dissertation Topics 2.6. Entering the Conversation: Theories and Methods 2.7. Managing Your Adviser and Your Dissertation Committee Members 2.8. Group Exercises for Choosing a Topic and an Adviser 3 Interactive Reading and Note Taking 3.1. Scholarly Reading Is the Foundation of Your Dissertation 3.2. Reading Is a Privilege 3.3. Collect Notes, Not Articles or Books 3.4. Interactive Reading in Practice3.5. Using a Bibliographic Program to Record Interactive Notes 3.6. Rules for Recording Quotations 3.7. Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement 3.8. Group Exercises for Interactive Reading and Note Taking 4 Citeable Notes 4.1. Recording Citeable Notes and Building Your Literature Review 4.2. Group Exercises for Creating Citeable Notes and Identifying Categories 5 Focusing on Focus Statements 5.1. Useful Focus Statements Are Clear, Concise, and Compelling 5.2. Elements of a Useful Focus Statement 5.3. Providing Useful Feedback 5.4. Group Exercises That Focus on Focus Statements 6 Transforming a Focus Statement Into a One-Page Outline 6.1. The Role and Elements of the One-Page Outline 6.2. Formats for the Dissertation 6.3. Group Exercises That Transform Focus Statements Into One-Page Outlines 6.4. Using the Table of Contents Feature as an Efficiency Tool 7 Long Outline With References 7.1. Multiple Purposes of the Long Outline 7.2. Transforming a One-Page Outline Into a Long Outline 7.3. Inserting Citeable Notes Into Your Long Outline 7.4. Planning and Organizing Your Scholarship and Research 7.5. Getting a Format Check by Your Graduate College 7.6. A Group Exercise for Sharing and Reviewing Long Outlines With References 8 Developing a Regular Writing Routine 8.1. A Regular Writing Routine 8.2. The Importance of a Designated Writing Space 8.3. Developing a Writing Network 8.4. What a Regular Writing Routine Looks Like in Practice 8.5. Group Exercises for Establishing a Regular Writing Routine 9 Overcoming Writer's Block 9.1. Perfectionism 9.2. Procrastination 9.3. Impatience 9.4. Depression and Dysphoria 9.5. Group Exercises for Overcoming Writer's Block 10 The Role of Revision 10.1. Revision at the Organizational Level 10.2. Revision at the Content Level 10.3. Group Exercises for Revision Epilogue and Enjoying the Journey