This moderated discussion list provides information of value to graduate students completing their master's and doctoral theses, as well as to their advising faculty. Doc-Talk is published and sponsored by ASGS, the Association for Support of Graduate Students, P.O. Box 4698, Incline Village, NV 89450. Phone: (775) 831-1399. Email: [email protected].
If you are a new subscriber to Doc-Talk, please save this message for future reference. It reviews procedures for subscribing and unsubscribing to the list, for sending in questions or contacting the list moderator, and it answers other frequently-asked questions.
Doc-Talk provides extracts and reprints of other articles of interest, as well as reviews of resources, and answers to students' questions pertaining to their theses.
Doc-Talk presents a forum in which dissertation problems can be shared and resolved. ASGS conducts surveys on the experiences and perceptions of students undertaking their theses, and will present survey results via the list from time to time.
Doc-Talk is a moderated email discussion list, which means all materials appearing on it have been reviewed and/or edited by the list moderator, Ronda Dave', PhD. In an effort to avoid unwanted electronic traffic, Doc-Talk will often combine multiple items of interest into one submission, with a descriptive header. Doc-Talk will limit mailings to a few times per week, but each mailing may consist of several articles or compilations of member submissions.
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Here's how we at Doc-talk define "moderation:"
a. Moderation is not censorship.
As Doc-talk moderators, we will not arbitrarily alter, delete, or delay contributions from subscribers for the reason that we don't agree with what's said or don't like the contributor. We view the list as a platform for discussion and ideas, and are as interested in controversy as in agreement. We expect that better than 95% of all contributions to Doc-talk will be distributed to the list.
b. Moderation is judgment.
However, when there are messages which, in our judgment, do not further a discussion, are completely off-subject, or are blatantly self-serving and not of interest to the list, we reserve the right to hold such messages until a better time appears to post them to the list, or to delete them altogether. Such messages include cross-postings from other lists specifically NOT of value to graduate students, off-subject spamming, or pointless comments such as, "I agree" or "you're stupid."
Contributions from readers often contain some text that is irrelevant to the point being made. The moderators will occasionally leave such extraneous material out of a message when it's being posted back to the list. Such omissions, though, will never be made in such a way as to change the meaning of the writer.
c. Moderation is a responsibility.
Because we, as moderators of Doc-talk, ask members to have faith in our judgement concerning what's appropriate for the list, we feel it's our responsibility to ensure that everything that appears in postings is timely, intelligent, understandable, and valuable to our readers. We feel we cannot respond to the preferences of a vocal minority in ways that, in our opinion, appear detrimental to the majority of Doc-talk readers.
d. Moderation is a service.
The act of moderation includes monitoring contributions from readers, editing them where necessary for spelling or punctuation (but never to change meaning), and grouping them into coherent strings. These strings are posted to the list in files that, in our judgment, are neither too large to be received by anyone's email reader, or so frequent that they become an annoyance.
Another service of the moderator is to post articles, reviews, and notices culled from academic journals, email or Usenet lists, newsletters, newspapers, etc. The judgment of whether such postings are made depends on whether they seem of service and/or interest to the readers of Doc-talk.
Moderation, then, is a service to readers that increases the value of Doc-talk's postings, and submits them in a manner most convenient to the majority of readers.
e. The value of moderation springs from experience.
The moderation of Doc-talk is presently the responsibility of Ronda Dave'. Dr. Dave' is president of the Association for Support of Graduate Students and the author of most articles and reviews appearing in ASGS's support bulletins for graduate students. She is a research psychologist by training, an expert in statistics and research design, and an authority on editorial styles. She has over twenty years' experience working with more than 1,000 graduate students as an academic advisor and as a consultant.
The judgment the moderator brings to Doc-talk is based on both her professional experience in helping graduate students and her own research in psychology and the communication arts.
f. Moderation is the key to our readership.
We understand that how the list is moderated is the primary consideration readers have in whether they remain subscribed to Doc-talk. If our judgment seems poor, our readers will let us know, and if we don't respond appropriately, our readership will drop.
The bulletins, which focus on subjects not typically covered in thesis seminars and graduate classes, deal primarily with the process of the thesis and provide practical advice for students from pre-candidacy on. Bulletins include how-to articles on basic thesis skills; advisor and committee relations; motivation and support; organization of materials; reading and synthesizing literature; format editing; oral presentations; networking; and other topics. Bulletins are liberally laced with academic humor, and written to give students psychological support to motivate their thesis work.
Additionally, ASGS offers:
[We are currently working on a membership program for the electronic publication of thesis News.]
Return to ASGS home page.