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First-generation college students are students whose parents or guardians did not obtain a four year collegedegree (Davis, 2012). As a group these students make up a large part of the college student population and areoften reported to encounter difficulties in their campus experience. While the topic of first-generation student hasreceived much attention over the past years, no research effort has been reported that examines dissertations onthe topic. This article utilizes a bounded qualitative synthesis study framework to examine the 133 dissertationabstracts found by searching the ProQuest Dissertation and Theses TM digital database for dissertations abstractsfrom 2009 through 2013 using the search terms “first-generation college students” and “higher education.” Theresearch question for this study was: What can we learn from the examination of doctoral dissertation abstractsthat focus on the experience of first-generation college students regarding research strategies, topics addressed,and lessons learned? The study’s findings provide an overview of researcher attributes and the characteristics ofthe research in terms of methodology and topical focus. “Lessons learned” from the abstracts as well as theomissions in the research are presented. A major finding of the investigation was that very few of thedissertations have entered the academic conversation regarding first generation students – major books on thetopic do not reference the dissertations and in a search of academic journals only three of the 133 dissertationswere found to have been published.

First-Generation College Student Dissertation Abstracts: Research Strategies, Topical Analysis, and Lessons Learned