On-Campus Assistance
Thesis and Dissertation Services
204 Nagle Hall
thesis@tamu.edu
979.845.3631
The thesis office will review your thesis or dissertation for compliance with manuscript requirements. Make sure to follow the directions in the Thesis Manual, available for download from their website along with several helpful handouts.
Graduate and Professional School
204 Nagle Hall (reception on the 2nd floor)
grad@tamu.edu
979.845.3631
Find important due dates and the steps necessary to complete your thesis or dissertation. See a calendar of upcoming workshops, which cover academic integrity, thesis office information, and more. Check with your department for additional forms and deadlines.
Career Center
209 Koldus
979.845.5139
Graduate students can get help with job-related documents and interviewing skills. The site gives advice for those seeking academic/non-academic positions, offers resources specifically for international students, and links to web pages such as the Chronicle of Higher Education and CareerBuilder.
Counseling & Psychological Services
caps@caps.tamu.edu
979.845.4427
The goal of this office is to help students achieve success through short-term individual counseling and crisis intervention services. Support groups for graduate course work or writing a thesis/dissertation meet weekly. (Screening is required to participate in these groups.)
Library Resources
Graduate students wishing to find library resources and services appropriate for their advanced research needs should visit this web page. The list includes links to library catalogs, databases, purchase request forms, and resource and format guidelines (“Starting Points for Graduate Research” PDF is also available for download). Also check out Research Data Management and the Systematic Reviews Service.
Data Bases and Search Engines
Get it for me
Offered by the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Library system, this link allows those affiliated with the university to request books from other libraries, request books from TAMU libraries’ bookshelves, and request electronic delivery of materials.
EndNote
This free software is available for download to students, faculty, and staff of Texas A&M. Compatible with Microsoft Word, EndNote is a bibliography software program that creates citations in a variety of documentation styles and catalogs notes and PDF files for hundreds of references.
RefWorks
Designed for extensive research, RefWorks is a web-based program (available via our TAMU Library System) that stores and formats references. Use it to create references with templates, access a built-in search engine for compatible databases, and format in-text citations and references for a manuscript. Other similar online tools for research include Zotero (zotero.org) and CiteULike (citeulike.org).
Google Scholar
Like the Google search engine, Google Scholar searches for key terms and phrases in a variety of scholarly sources like peer-reviewed journals, theses/dissertations, and books. Each entry is ranked according to relevance, and the user is allowed to see the number of times a particular entry has been cited as well as access related sources.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
ProQuest is a database with full text abstracts, dissertations, and theses from a variety of disciplines. Users looking for work in their field can enter key terms, look up authors or subjects, and specify manuscript type. ProQuest can be accessed from a campus computer by entering its title into the database search engine on the TAMU Library main page.
Find My Librarian
Get specialized help in your discipline from a TAMU Librarian. Your librarian can give you expert help to strategize searching, find relevant databases, and deal with information problems.
Suggested Books for Productivity
Writing is an integral part of earning a graduate degree. The following references can help you master the kind of writing expected of you as a graduate student, particularly the thesis or dissertation. Many of the books listed are recommended by graduate student advisors, and most can be accessed through the Texas A&M University Library System.
Academic Discourse
Bailey, Stephen. Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students.
By covering the writing process and key writing skills, Bailey provides help for both teachers and students who struggle with written English. He includes examples, writing models, and practice exercises.
Casanave, Christine and Xiaoming Li. Learning the Literacy Practices of Graduate School: Insiders’ Reflections on Academic Enculturation.
This book looks at many disciplines in order to examine the written and unwritten “rules” of graduate study in the areas of academic participation, relationships, and student/faculty identity.
Swales, John and Christine Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills.
This writing guide covers a variety of topics in a range of disciplines: discourse analysis, audience, academic genres, summaries, critiques, and methodology, to name a few.
Swales and Feak. English in Today’s Research World: A Writing Guide.
Intended for second language writers, each chapter focuses on practical writing projects and assignments students may have to undertake, such as writing for publication or job-related correspondence.
Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
Bolker, Joan. Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day.
While the author admits the title is more playful than literal, Bolker intends this book as practical help for overcoming writer’s block, dealing with distractions, and developing an addiction to writing.
Bryant, Miles. The Portable Dissertation Adviser.
Bryant’s chapters lead students through specific steps in the dissertation process, with the final chapter offering advice for successfully completing the journey.
Clark, Irene. Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation.
Clark uses her experience as a graduate student advisor as the basis for the book, and she balances her advice with genre and writing theory in order to help students become scholars in their chosen field.
Evans, David. How to Write a Better Thesis.
Evans believes writing is an integral part of the thesis, rather than something that simply happens at the end of the process. His concise guide demystifies the thesis and helps students establish a timeline.
Foss, Sonja and William Waters. Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation.
Using travel as a metaphor, the authors borrow from their successful Scholars’ Retreat to help graduate students take the “path” to being professional scholars and academics. Includes many examples.
Holtom, Daniel and Elizabeth Fisher. Enjoy Writing Your Science Thesis or Dissertation: A Step by Step Guide to Planning and Writing Dissertations and Theses for Undergraduate and Graduate Science Students.
Holtom and Fisher provide a user friendly book, which can be read straight through or used as a reference tool. The book covers practical information on planning, organizing, writing, and presenting a science thesis or dissertation. Formatting and citations are also covered thoroughly.
Ogden, Evelyn Hunt. Complete Your Dissertation or Thesis in Two Semesters or Less.
Encouraging students to complete the graduation process in a timely manner, the author focuses on how to “effectively and efficiently” complete a dissertation or thesis.
Writing Problems and Solutions
Hjortshoj, Keith. Understanding Writing Blocks.
Hjortshoj speaks specifically to graduate student writers as he argues against the stigma often associated with writing blocks. He not only examines the causes of such blocks, but also discusses strategies for overcoming them.
Kaye, Sanford. Writing Under Pressure: The Quick Writing Process.
The Quick Writing Process is designed to help writers systematically produce work regardless of time and space constraints.
Pearlman, Daniel and Paula Pearlman. Guide to Rapid Revision.
Whether students have questions about grammar or problems with revision, the answer can be found in this book. The 8th edition is unique, as the content is alphabetized according to common correction symbols.
Peterson, Karen E. The Tomorrow Trap: Unlocking the Secrets of the Procrastination-Protection Syndrome.
As a former writing instructor, Peterson has developed a specific set of exercises that are designed to identify and work through an individual’s underlying reasons for procrastination.
Silvia, Paul. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing.
Silvia argues that productive writing is not merely a talent, but also the result of specific strategies and actions. His advice covers a variety of topics such as how to write, how to improve the quality of writing, and how to revise and publish.