Several high-profile examples of students who have succeeded in pulling off alternate dissertations. Amanda Visconti, who earned a Ph.D. in literature at the University of Maryland in 2015, created an interactive digital project that enables readers to annotate James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Visconti got a tenure-track gig as an assistant research professor at Purdue University. She eventually left that to become managing director of the Scholars’ Lab at the University of Virginia. A.D. Carson, who earned a Ph.D. in rhetorics, communication and information design at Cle...