Doctoral Capstone

Walden shifted to APA 7 (from APA 6) in Summer 2020, allowing a grace period through 2020 for doctoral capstone writers to complete their full documents in APA 6. As of January 1, 2021, all doctoral manuscripts must be in APA 7. Students should use the APA 7 template for their program and follow the Form and Style APA 7 Checklist in all their doctoral capstone documents. To learn the Walden doctoral capstone variances to APA, see this Letter From an Editor on APA 7, and see below for a helpful tool for students who need to convert a document from APA 6 to APA 7.

The video above is a brief overview of writing resources for doctoral students, from coursework through dissertation/doctoral capstone.

Right away

1. Ask your mentees to select and bookmark your program’s page from the list on the Programs page of the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style site, and point them to the resources you find most useful.
2. Once on this page, require your mentees to (a) download the capstone template* to use as the base document for their study and (b) watch the accompanying template demonstration video.

During proposal writing

3. Keep form and style concerns on your mentees’ radar, although they should not be the primary focus of your feedback. To do so,
   1. Point your mentees to the Form and Style Review checklist on our Form and Style Review Checklist page.
   2. Offer your mentees incremental feedback on APA, scholarly voice, and grammar issues. For mentees who need developmental writing assistance, make more detailed editorial comments on at least a few pages. View the Writing Center's writing feedback resources for some advice on how to do so efficiently.
4. Keep an eye on synthesis, especially in the literature review. This is better addressed sooner than later.
5. Encourage your mentees to proofread and revise effectively, taking advantage of Grammarly and their Microsoft Word grammar and spell-checking tools. Counsel mentees who consistently exhibit doctoral-level writing deficiencies during their proposal drafts to take a CAEX writing course, enroll in a proposal writing workshop, or hire an editor. You can also refer them for chapter edits with the form and style editors.

Nearing submission to URR

6. Review the Top 10 Reasons for Delays page to ensure quality in areas where editors most often observe problems at the form and style review.

*Note that templates will be updated as requirements or links change. To avoid circulating outdated materials, please share the link to the page where the document is housed rather than sharing the document itself.