I felt similarly. In computer science, we tend to publish our work as we go, so the dissertation is just weaving all of that work together into a coherent narra

I felt similarly. In computer science, we tend to publish our work as we go, so the dissertation is just weaving all of that work together into a coherent narrative. (Or coherent-ish.) I wonder if the humanities are more susceptible to this kind of abuse, maybe because they don't publish as much during the process? Long turn-around time on publishing articles could exacerbate this.