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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Topic vs. Contribution

By Karen Kelsky | August 30, 2013

When writing job letters clients often struggle to understand the distinction between their dissertation TOPIC and their dissertation CONTRIBUTION.  In the first dissertation paragraph you talk about the content of your dissertation–main argument, methodology, findings.  In the second paragraph you talk about the contribution your particular argument/findings/approach makes to the larger field you are working in–what does it illuminate, what debates does it intervene in. You have to step back a scale, move away from the topic specifically, and instead use a wider optic to address its advancement of debates in the discipline as a whole.

Do NOT simply repeat your dissertation argument in the contribution paragraph.

What follows should help you understand. It comes to us from a brilliant colleague who requests anonymity.

Dissertation Topic:

In my dissertation, I analyzed the commonly invoked narrative of the chicken crossing the road.  Using mixed methods, including participant-observation, semi-structured interviews with chickens and life history interviews with old hens who once were chickens, and participant GIS mapping, I argue that the presence of the road is incidental to understanding the chicken’s actions, and that a better way of understanding the predicament of the chicken emerges through a consideration of where the chicken was going.

Dissertation Contribution:

My research intervenes in the long-standing paradigm which considers individual agency the key to engaging with the chicken and road dilemma.  Adopting a landscape-centered, rather than a chicken-centered perspective shows that the historical focus on the chicken figure has left the relevant landscape and horizon factors understudied.  This approach brings the landscape back into the analysis, opening a new direction for an empirical study of the chicken’s locomotion in context.

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Filed Under: How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Major Job Market Mistakes, Postdoc Issues, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ecw says

    August 30, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    This. is. amazing.

    Reply
  2. SM says

    August 31, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    Love it! So creatively helpful.

    Reply
  3. Alessandra says

    September 3, 2013 at 12:30 am

    Now I want to write a phd on the chicken crossing the road dilemma; I’ll focus on the crossing metaphor, bordering between the known and the unknown, the safety of the chicken coop against the realm of possibilities….

    Reply
  4. Michele says

    September 3, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Professor Karen, I really, really wish I could hug you right now. I am drafting my research statement, and this piece is timely, hilarious, and wonderfully helpful.

    Reply
  5. Robert says

    December 23, 2013 at 6:55 am

    Karen, thank you. Following your succint advice and the wonderful example, I have now written a summary of my doctoral dissertation that I hope candidly describes my research and contribution without being grandiose or prolix.

    Reply
  6. Leandra says

    July 6, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Extremely helpful. I wish I came across this advice as an undergrad.

    Reply
  7. Kristina says

    October 20, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    Hello Karen,

    This is by far the most unique dissertation I ever read 🙂 Maybe someday someone will make a dissertation about which came first Chicken or the egg?

    Cheers,
    Kristina

    Reply
  8. Phil says

    September 29, 2017 at 1:45 am

    best = “the chicken’s locomotion in context” ahahahaha!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Updates: Gurveer Bains Joins Gradifying, the ESU Wants You to Teach a Course, and a little Grant App Humour | GradifyingGradifying says:
    October 13, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    […] compiling resources for an upcoming grant workshop that I’m co-facilitating, I came across this gem of a blog post about how to distinguish your research topic from the contribution your research intends to make. […]

    Reply

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