By starting your doctoral program at Walden, you are joining a group of career professionals in pursuit of the Walden University mission to “transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can effect positive social change.” This is a pursuit that comes with joys, challenges, and rewards. While many begin a doctoral program, not all successfully complete their program. One way to increase your chance of success is by understanding and reflecting on the challenges many doctoral students face and identifying and employing the strategies that will work best for you.
The excerpted reading provided below is from the article “Dissertation completion: No longer higher education’s invisible problem,” published in the Journal of Educational Research and Practice by Marshall et al. (2017). In this article, the authors conduct a literature review and qualitative interview study in order to better understand the challenges and supports that impact doctoral student success. The reading below includes the literature review portion of the article which focuses on “Challenges to Completion” and “Supports to Completion” as well as the “Implications” section which offers reflections on the findings of the authors’ qualitative study.
As you read and engage with this excerpt from Marshall et al. (2017), determine what content from the reading is relevant to your doctoral journey; then, compose an essay in response to the questions listed below:
What challenges to completion do you anticipate you will encounter in your doctoral program?
What strategies for successful completion do you anticipate will be the most useful for you, and how will you work toward implementing these strategies to meet your goals?
