Social and task functions of the dissertation partner: One way of avoiding terminal ABD status

Abstract

Because of the task and social pressures involved in doing a dissertation, a significant percentage of graduate students never complete it. This essay describes a procedure that communication departments, advisors, and graduate students can utilize to help students cope with the task and social pressures that accompany working on a dissertation, and is written from the phenomenological perspective of two recent PhDs who went through the process of completing their dissertations together. Being and having a dissertation partner supplements the advisor's role by providing task support in the form of weekly meetings and social support in the form of empathy and companionship. Suggestions are made concerning how this procedure might be incorporated into PhD programs so as to lessen the number of individuals who never complete their dissertations.