ETD Guide:Introduction - Helping students network professionally
From DL Curriculum Project
Table of Contents: ETD Guide
Having an ETD helps build your career. Your work is published in a timely manner, visible, and easily
accessible. Timely publication makes your up-to-the-minute research instantly available. Upon
publication, ETDs immediately become part of the NDLTD and are available for use by anyone having
access to the Internet. Visibility allows people inside and outside of the academic arena to see and use
your research. Just having an ETD can multiply the number of times your work is read. This exposure
increases the possibilities that your work will be cited in others' publications, which adds to your prestige
and can help your future advancement. Accessibility makes reading and using your work easy. Instead of
having to request and await the arrival of a printed copy, your work immediately displays on a computer
screen and can be printed on demand. By using today's communication tools wisely, you can save time
and produce a more influential work. You can manage your information so you know where you’ve kept
your notes; use powerful search tools to gather information and manage evaluations and revisions; and
use interpretation tools for quantitative and qualitative documents.
Additional Resources:
Networking on the Network by Phil Agee
This is a 52000 word essay that Phil Agee wrote with the intention of “get[ting] it into the hands of every PhD student in the world.”
Next Section: Improving graduate education, and quality/expressiveness of ETDs
