A Library Dissertation Boot Camp That Works: Takeaways from Dissertation Service Industry

Dissertation service industry is on the rise in higher education. Some of their common offerings include “free reference page,” “free table of content,” “collaborative writing,” “progressive delivery,” 24/7 support,” and even “free plagiarism check” for which they typically charge around $30 per page. Not only the assistance in the technical side of the dissertation research and document production, but also life coaching tips such as time management, stress management, and self-disciplining are on their menu. The service appears to have good selling points to the doctoral students on this stage, especially to those local students who are not aware of the campus resources (including library services) available to them or those who do not have ready access to the services, such as the students at a distance. However, it is not well known to the both groups alike that what it appears to be a convenient use of such “consulting” service or co-writing with a “shadow scholar” is a violation of academic integrity. It is called “contract cheating,” the action of having someone complete an academic work for another (Clark & Lancaster, 2007). To understand the phenomenon of the contract cheating and to come up with ways to help the dissertation writers finish their dissertation within the landscape of academic integrity and research originality, it is important to identify their pain points on the dissertation journey first. With the better understanding of the dissertation practice, and the needs and wants of the dissertation writers, libraries can serve as helpful touch points for the dissertation writers. Given that a number of doctoral degrees awarded per year is an important measure of the university rankings and evaluation, providing such the much needed support to the doctoral students is libraries’ significant contribution toward the advancement of the educational mission of their institution. In the presentation we will fist analyze some of the common offerings by the dissertation service industry, and then compare their fee-based repertoire against the free (or low-cost) services and resources that Florida State University Libraries and their campus partners provide. Florida State University Libraries has hosted dissertation boot camps since 2017, which has been well received and attended by the doctoral students. We will also present how to brand the library workshops into a dissertation boot camp, how to work with our campus partners for the boot camp, and other helpful tips to assess the boot camp