Krista, over at Thinkery, posted a picture of her dissertation mascot: a stuffed sting ray. This mascot, she says, watches as she writes and thinks.
I have a peace bear (who happens to listen to Sarah McLachlan) as my dissertation mascot . . . she keeps me calm (the bear and Sarah) as I write.
What kind of mascot do you need, dear boot campers, to get you through this process of writing?
Got a lot of reading done today and some writing. It felt good to accomplish something!
Today I was to have met with my advisor to discuss my current chapter, but I was unable to meet with him (issues with my daughter and her car being broken into). [He's also not at the same university where I am. It's a drive to see him.] It seems, though, that so much gets in the way of writing the dissertation, of meeting with advisor, of just doing the work of dissertating. I don't think I intentionally sabotage my efforts, but it does seem like it sometimes. The car gets broken into? I have to schedule student conferences? I have to attend meetings that can't be scheduled any other time? The dog needs a bath? The curtains need changing? Something always seems to get in the way. I wonder, though, if I don't just place those things in the way . . .
However, I will not berate myself over it all. I'm keeping to my goal of writing something everyday. I'm reading each day and making notes . . . and it's all coming together. Just very very slowly. Tomorrow will be a better day. It will.
Made it to the library at 8:30 a.m. Skimmed some articles before finally saying, "Get something down on paper. NOW!" Wrote quite a few handwritten pages (that I'm hoping my sister will type). Stopped for lunch and to write an entry for my other blog. Spent the afternoon writing.
I feel good!
I'm at home, alone (unless you count my cat, which I often do, to tell the truth), and have no one to hear my exclamation:
I finished my proposal draft!
It's been sent to my reading group and to my director. I'll be meeting with him tomorrow to discuss it.
The draft is substantially complete, but not done, so I'm not completely off the hook. It feels good, though, to know that the major holes are all filled and now all I need to do is come back with some spackle and sandpaper.
My goal for this week: spackling.
Hello, dissertation boot camp lurkers,
We are glad you are here! This is an open forum and you are more than welcome to participate, comment, post, support us as we write dissertations, allow us to support you as you write, and in general, join in the merriment. If you would like to post, though, you must have access to the blog. Please leave a note here, email me (Billie) at partsnpieces [at] gmail [dot] com, contact any of the other posters you might know, and we'll get you in and on board. We would enjoy getting to know you and helping you reach your goals of a completed dissertation!
Come and join us.
I just discovered Complete Your Dissertation. (Found at The History Enthusiast.) It's written by someone who makes a business of dispensing dissertation advice. There's plenty of *free* content. I just watched this short video about putting together a schedule for completion. The info there isn't revolutionary, but it is helpful.
Cross posted at Reads and Writes.
Hi. I'm Jason, and I haven't started on my dissertation yet, but I will soon. Right now, I'm reading about twelve hours a day, getting ready for my dose of academic hazing, otherwise known as comps. I take them at the end of this month.
After comps, I've gotta get crackin on my 4C's paper. I'm doing a series of interviews with teachers and administrators about using new media in writing classes and TCU's New Media Writing Studio.
My goal is to have a prospectus and a chapter by the end of the semester. That's ambitious, I know, but I'm still holding out hope that I'll have a shot of going on the market next year. We'll see.
I don't have a good blurb about my dissertation project yet, but I'm interested in the technology, and the impact it's had on teaching writing and rhetoric since the 1930's. I plan to look at legislation and several other archives. I'll iron out the details in the upcoming weeks.
Right now, though, I trying to fill my head stuff to regurgitate over six essays over three days of testing (and orals, too). I'm examing in Modern Rhetoric, Literacy/Historiography, and New Media Literacy/Computers and Comp.
Okay, breaks over. Back to Bakhtin.
Uh, sorta.
i emailed the director of institutional research at my institution to see if i could get my hands on some data: a breakdown of grades and gpas for student-athletes and regular students for various semesters. He emailed me back saying give him some more details and he'd be happy to provide all the data i wanted! Pretty sweet.
What's not pretty sweet is this: that's the only thing i've done to "get started" on the prospectus. i mean, of course i've already put together some other things via my pilot study etc. But this is the first specifically protocol related thing i've done. Too, i need to get crackin on some article reading. Till now all i've been reading are books. i need to bury my nose in some qualitative and quantitative studies such as the diss that billie sent me last week (thanks, b!).
i still haven't finished Philosophy in the Flesh yet. But that's okay.
Oh, one last thing, once i get my hands on this data (i.e. grade breakdowns) i'm not quite sure what i'll be doing with it. However, as a measurer of performance, i figured that was one logical place to start comparing athletes and civilian students...
So, my activities today included...
OUTLINING THE CHAPTER!
Which you might think is common practice or, at least, common sense. But not for me. I operate under the theory of, "Hey, I know what I want to say. No need to write it down!" So I never outline. But, since I was struggling, I thought, what the heck.
And I must begrudgingly admit that it seems to have helped.
