The role of social relations in the making of a doctoral thesis

COLOMBO, LAURA

International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation (IJERI)

Universidad Pablo de Olavide

Lugar: Sevilla; Año: 2018 vol. 10 p. 366 - 378

2386-4303

Writing a doctoral thesis is a challenging process for most doctoral students. From a situated learning perspective, it involves more than just internalizing some objective knowledge about language, but entails developing an identity through participation and transformation of disciplinary communities of practice. Several research works have analyzed the function that social relationships from the academic realm play in the dissertation process, paying special attention to the supervisor/candidate dyad. However, research on domestic or personal ties is rather scarce. This qualitative study explores if social ties from the personal sphere influence the dissertation writing process. Analysis of in-depth interviews, with students and recent graduates from different Argentine PhD programs in the field of Linguistics and Education, indicate that these social relations do facilitate different types of support. These results can lead to create institutional initiatives aimed at scaffolding the dissertation research and writing process, which would improve the support offered to doctoral students from the academic realm.