Criteria for inclusion
Is the dissertation considered unconventional?
At writingotherwise.ca, we use “unconventional” as an acceptably imperfect umbrella term to describe dissertations that depart from conventions in a manner perceived as successful by members of the intended audience (after Tardy, 2016). Research suggests that unconventionality is greatly influenced by a dissertation’s intended audience, and we couldn’t agree more. This means that what might be considered unconventional in one discipline may not be considered unconventional in another. In fact, we know that even within the same or similar contexts, what is considered unconventional can shift, taking on different appearances depending on the audience and the preferences, needs, and knowledges they have (or are imagined to have).
Has the dissertation passed examination?
To be considered for inclusion in the repository, dissertations typically are required to have successfully passed examination.
Do you have the necessary information to submit along with your suggestion?
Do you have a copy of the dissertation you can share, or links for all or most of the dissertation’s components? Do you know what discipline the dissertation was completed in? What institution? Year? These are some of the questions you will be asked when you fill out a submission form.
Are you willing to be contacted?
We don’t require you to say yes in order to make a suggestion for inclusion in the repository. However, there have been instances where we’ve run into obstacles accessing a resource, or we have further questions that we’d like to ask to ensure we have the correct information on hand before publishing an entry, so we always appreciate having the name of someone to reach out to regarding a submission when necessary.
Is there any other important information we should know?
Is the dissertation written in a different language? Is it written for a specific community that typically gets shunted to the margins in academia? Is there another accomplishment associated with the project, or perhaps some follow-up work that has since taken place? Tell us more so that we can share it with the writingotherwise.ca community.
