Life History of Your Phd Thesis Main Feature 1 Life History of Your Phd Thesis Joe Cain Thinks Far Too Little Is Done in the UK to Disseminate Phd BSHS News 3 Theses
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NO. 89: JUNE 2009 ISSN: 1751-8261 Contents Life history of your PhD thesis Main Feature 1 Life History of Your PhD Thesis Joe Cain thinks far too little is done in the UK to disseminate PhD BSHS News 3 theses. Most simply are inaccessible to scholars. Not all graduates Cambridge Journals Online Committee Positions Available convert their work into scholarly products. Surprisingly few take BSHS Grant Reports 4 even the simplest steps to distribute their finished thesis. In this BSHS Outreach and 6 article, Joe offers suggestions for what might be done to improve Education Committee these problems. His key message to students is ‘take charge’. Reports of Meetings 7 BSHS Postgraduate Conference Manchester Histories Festival Once the dissertation viva is over and revisions are complete, many doctoral theses have the Cavendish Songs same life history. There’s a day – a memorable day – when two copies are delivered proudly to Reader Contribution 10 an office somewhere in the bowels of an administration building. Forms are signed. A rubber An Economic History of Atomism stamp hits the page. The thesis is well and truly done. Reviews 11 When asked, most students don’t know what happens to their thesis – that bound physical object. Moreover, surprisingly few have no real plan for disseminating their research beyond Anniversaries for 2011 12 a vague thought to ‘publish something somewhere’. It’s all too easy for dissertations, and the The Questionnaire 14 research contained therein, to disappear into a forgotten corner of off-site storage. In Memoriam, Listings 15 BJHS, Viewpoint, BSHS info. 16 Editorial Joe Cain kicks off this issue with a topic close to his heart on disseminating PhD theses. He presented these ideas at a workshop for PhD students at the BSHS Postgraduate Conference in Manchester early this year. Look out for the report of the 2009 event. Due to popular demand the 2011 Anni- versaries are in this issue. Anniversaries are now being published in June, two years ahead, to enable events to be planned well in advance. Darwin events continue. In this issue Kelley Swain reports on her dissemination of her poetry on Darwin, for which she has received assistance from an Outreach and Education grant. Also included are BSHS news items and grant reports, more reports of meetings, reviews, a reader’s contribution and the Questionnaire. Contributions to the next © SCIENCE MUSEUM/JENNIE HILLS issue should be sent to newsletter@bshs. org.uk by 17 August 2009, with advanced notice of contributions greatly appreci- Fig. 1 This is a prototype display of topics associated with the theme of scientific ated. lectures in early 19th-century London, which was created by Louise Thorn from her PhD research. A selection of relevant objects from the collections of the Science Museum Rosemary Wall, Editor were included as potential display items. Further details of the objects and images on display here can be viewed at htpp://www.ingenious.org.uk . 2 Viewpoint No. 89 Few people plan to do nothing with their Its conscientious editors regularly complain ports, in hospitals, office lobbies, government completed thesis, but busy lives and pressing about difficulties extracting information from agencies, large hotels, and shopping centres. demands elsewhere simply divert energy and postgraduates and departmental tutors. Of Local libraries have display potential, as do attention. Before long, hot ideas have grown course, there’s nothing to stop individuals staff areas at relevant museums, archives, and cold, and dust has settled over the project. from contributing their own information industries. These venues also might want help The effort involved returning to the project directly. The same goes for the Isis Current revising content on websites and promotional becomes more than people can muster. Bibliography and History On-line via history. literature. No aspiring academic should under- On the opposite end, some dissertations are ac.uk when the thesis is completed. estimate the value of such projects. Neither transformed rapidly into professional publica- More involved projects develop other types should anyone interested in museum work, tions. Most commonly, chapters become peer- of engagement and knowledge transfer. Pub- the publishing industry, or corporate life. reviewed papers. Talks appear at conferences lications for general audiences offer important Small projects also can lay the foundations for and seminars. Whole theses sometimes are venues for reaching amateurs and enthusiasts, larger funding opportunities, such as those on transformed into book manuscripts. Conver- for example, Viewpoint , Endeavour , BBC His- offer by the Wellcome Trust’s arts and public sion along these lines is not easy, but that tory , Wellcome History , and Chemical Herit- engagement schemes, the British Council, and process can be simplified with a little tactical age . Many universities and research libraries most professional societies. planning. For instance, chapters can be writ- produce magazines for alumni and ‘friends’. ten with life as stand-alone articles in mind. So do enthusiast groups ranging from military What does your university do with Notes can be kept regarding additions and to local history, as do groups such as the transformations towards a book. Historical Association (primary and secondary your thesis after completion? Between the poles of ‘nothing’ and ‘every- educators), English Heritage, etc. Editors nor- thing’ lies something. A great many opportu- mally are anxious for content, and production If most graduates underplay their thesis, nities exist for disseminating thesis work with- values tend to be high. Along similar lines, worse normally happens with thesis-as-a- out investing much additional time or effort. some theses will include substantial revision physical-object. Many universities do rather I’m surprised how few graduates consider to biographical, bibliographical, and etymo- little after acceptance. One copy will be made sending their thesis (or e-mailing an abstract logical information. The Oxford Dictionary of available for loan. Frequently, this means avail- with an offer to send the whole) to established National Biography, Oxford English Dictionary, ability only for reference, only to those visiting specialists in their area. Surely, every graduate and commercial encyclopaedia also offer out- the library in person, and only for those will know who will be most interested in their lets for new interpretations. However, gradu- planning ahead enough to have it retrieved work. Likewise, archivists and curators tell me ates rarely discuss revising these as a viable from storage. Because copyright law applies they rarely receive theses drawing on research writing project. The online nature of these to theses as it applies to everything else, pho- done with their collections. That’s a shame. publications now allows for easy revision. The tocopying will be restricted to the usual single Not only do archives and museums have their other obvious venue for general audience chapter or five percent, whichever is more, own pressures to demonstrate relevance to writing is Wikipedia and its kin; take credit unless the copyright owner’s permission is ob- research (and we can help them here!), but for improving these sometimes terrible – but tained. Other copies of a thesis might simply they certainly will receive future researchers occasionally excellent – resources. be sent to archival storage, for safe keeping in and reference requests focusing on the same Opportunities are increasing for collabora- perpetuity. Such behaviour doesn’t help much material. Archivists and curators are experts tion with arts and educational groups. A well- with dissemination. in their own right, too, and will benefit from stocked portfolio can add roundedness to the To their credit, some universities go further. reading new interpretations. specialist technical writing of most academic Some use corporate archival services to Distribute the thesis-as-a-text as much as possible. Also, consider other ways to expand resumes. Collabo- on the underlying research programme. rations also open Beyond articles and a book, consider other up alternative outputs – normally possible with only slight career and fund- polishing and permissions. Document tran- ing paths. Large scriptions might stand on their own via schol- projects need arly editing. Translations can be put into wider resources beyond circulation. Interviews might become collec- most ex-post-grad- tions of oral histories and formally deposited. uates. However, Studies of space and place can develop into posters and single- walking tours; image collections, and exhibit cabinet displays catalogues. Notes covering whole archival col- do not (see Fig. 1). lections might be the foundation for a finding If designed to be aid or calendar of correspondence. portable and avail- Internet-based outlets offer quick and able for loan, their inexpensive routes for dissemination. In some value increases. cases, they seem too easy, and opportunities Display space nor- are overlooked. It takes no effort to post a mally can be found dissertation title and abstract on a personal in every university or departmental website. This would give hits department. But MELANIE KEENE from web searches, at the very least. BSHS go beyond the now manages on-line its long-standing “List of usual suspects, Fig. 2 In 2007 as part of ‘Outreach Day’ at the Manchester 2007 Theses,” covering dissertations in progress or too. Cultural and conference, Melanie Keene introduced the ‘Object Stories’ session completed in the UK and Republic of Ireland. historical displays with PhD research she had conducted into historical ‘it-narratives’, Oddly, this list is perpetually out-of-date. are common at air- or autobiographies of things. Viewpoint No. 89 3 register theses, microfilm or digitise them, then sell copies on request. These services also offer long-term off-site storage. Both BSHS News commercial (for example., UMI/Proquest) and national (for example, ETHOS, formerly the British Library Theses Service) services are available. Individuals cannot submit material Cambridge Journals Online: on their own. Graduate schools are the gate- keepers.