Congratulations! You are now ready to move to the next stage in your pursuit of a doctoral degree: the comprehensive exams and the dissertation. Understandably, both may seem overwhelming initially because of the amount of writing involved and the significant amount of original research required by the dissertation. You may feel like your coursework has left you thoroughly prepared for writing your comprehensives, or that your comprehensives were a good training ground for writing your dissertation. On the other hand, you may feel apprehensive about whether you are fully prepared to move to the next stage in your academic writing, whatever that stage might be. This is a good time to assess what you know about where you have been, and how it has helped you prepare for where you are going.

The good news is that you do not have to face what may seem like a daunting task alone: you will have a cadre of people and other resources available to you during the writing process. Used wisely, these resources can lessen your anxiety, allowing successful completion of both your comprehensives and your dissertation. Before exploring these resources, however, understanding how the comprehensive exam and the dissertation differ from the papers you wrote during your courses is essential. You'll also want to brush up on the elements of good academic writing, and then delve into the components that are specific to the comprehensive exam and dissertation.