Sept. 25, 2025 - 9:00am
In the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon, 400 or more students are working on a dissertation in any given term. Writing a dissertation is a considerable undertaking and often takes years to complete. According to research from the Council of Graduate Schools, about half of students who start a dissertation do not finish it. This is why Lara Bovilsky, associate professor of English and associate dean for graduate studies in CAS, looks for innovative ways to keep students motivated and engaged with their work. The most recent effort, UO’s first Dissertation Bootcamp, launched this summer.
"Our ambition was to offer students pragmatic advice on multiple fronts that will make their dissertation process easier, more efficient and more pleasant,” said Bovilsky. “Most of all, we wanted to give students tools to make them feel as though they understand the process better — challenges and all — and to see their path clearly and have an easier time advancing.”
A dissertation is a lengthy — often book-long — document that shares the student's original research, analysis and conclusions about a specific topic in their field of interest. The point of a dissertation is to contribute to a greater body of knowledge about the selected topic. It’s a bridge a lot of students cross to enter academia, while others use their doctorates — and the advanced research skills developed in researching and writing a dissertation — in a wide range of other careers.
"The three-day boot camp gave me the push I needed to finally start drafting my empirical dissertation chapters — something I’d been dreading for a while,” said W. Jamie Yang, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology.
In addition to the daily mini lectures, Yang specifically pointed to the helpfulness of the conversations with other writers. “Being able to share challenges and crowdsource ideas made the whole process feel less overwhelming, and I left feeling more motivated and less alone.”
Bovilsky worked with Mike Murashige, writing consultant for the UO Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC), to develop the three-day workshop. They included multiple writing sessions along with presentations on best practices, planning, time management and keeping life in balance while working on a dissertation. The free workshop was maxed at 35, which included 29 CAS students and six from other colleges at the UO.
"The scale of the dissertation can be overwhelming to students,” said Bovilsky. “The bootcamp is designed to break such a massive project into achievable steps, while also teaching students best practices for being a contented and more productive writer."
Kimmy Olivar, a sixth-year doctoral candidate in English, said the bootcamp as an encouraging space that acknowledged the most challenging aspects of writing a dissertation.
“I found the scheduled writing time particularly useful because it allowed us an opportunity to put writing tips and other content of the talks into practice,” she said. “This gave us the chance to try out new approaches, return to the group to share our reflections, and discuss openly with one another what we found personally useful. I think all graduate students would find the bootcamp beneficial.”
This summer’s bootcamp was so well received by the students who attended that Bovilsky said another one is in the works for summer 2026. Students should watch for details from the Division of Graduate Studies and their program’s director of graduate studies.
—By Jenny Brooks, College of Arts and Sciences