Examines difficulties in turning educational practitioners into educational researchers as U.S. education schools, noting factors affecting the way that doctoral programs function at education schools based on differences between schools and universities and between the work roles of teachers and researchers. The transition is facilitated by…

Advice for doctoral students and fledgling educational researchers presents the following suggestions: (1) use what is known about problem finding to choose a dissertation topic, (2) be persistent in productivity and in the face of discouragement, and (3) replace the typical dissertation structure with a more functional one. (SLD)