Book Description
Becoming a Scholar provides a window into the lives of nine non-traditional doctoral students. As mature, part-time, international students enrolled in a professional doctorate programme, they reflect on the transformation process of becoming scholars, and their narratives provide breadth and depth to themes that represent a diverse cross-section of cultures, identities and communities.
Recognising that the process of becoming a scholar is as much internal as it is external, the book provides an opportunity to engage with authentic personal stories that remain firmly rooted in academic literature. By bringing the 'human face' behind the doctoral journey to the forefront, the narratives draw much-needed attention to the personal journey that inevitably parallels and intersects with the academic journey. Although the narratives are drawn from a professional Doctor in Education (EdD) programme based in the UK, the struggles are sure to resonate with a much wider range of doctoral students and academics, sparking lively discussion, debate and reflection. A must-read for students preparing to embark on the doctoral journey, and essential reading for doctoral programmes that wish to equip students with important knowledge about the challenges ahead.
This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY). You can download Becoming a Scholar ebook for free in PDF format (12.2 MB).
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Belonging and becoming in academia: a conceptual framework
Chapter 2
A tale of two languages: first-language attrition and second-language immersion
Chapter 3
I found my tribe online: belonging in the context of precarity
Chapter 4
A view of the Western university through the eyes of a non-Western student
Chapter 5
Navigating the pass: distance, dislocation and the viva
Chapter 6
Understanding the personal significance of our academic choices
Chapter 7
Academic identity interrupted: reconciling issues of culture, discipline and profession
Chapter 8
Into the fray: becoming an academic in my own right
Chapter 9
The cultural encounters of women on the periphery
Chapter 10
The 'peripheral' student in academia: an analysis