Categories: phd
Tags: thesis
Date: 27 September 2010 14:26:01
Cal quite rightly pointed out that I've not blogged about the thesis for a bit, so this is to rectify that. It's sort of going OK, and sort of, well, I don't know really. Am having a touch of the can't-see-the-woods-for-the-trees sort of thing. It's basically there, but in reordering some of my chapters and taking bits out of one chapter and into another and all that sort of thing I'm losing my way a bit. It'll be fine, it's just all a bit of a faff at the minute (which is why I am spending longer on the blog than usual!). Most recently I have enjoyed adding a section to my introduction on the genesis of the thesis (as suggested by my supervisor). It was really interesting to reflect on what I had thought I was researching when I started the PhD, and how it has evolved into something quite different. It was almost as though when I started to ask the questions I thought I should ask, the answers I found were to quite different questions. It feels like the thesis found me, rather than the other way round. Of course, right now I wonder if I'll ever be rid of it! (but not in a bad way, I just want the writing to be over). In other thesis news, a discussion on the SoF Thesis thread today about interesting and distracting tangents reminded me of all the things I've come across in the course of my research which are either not or are only tangentially related to my thesis but which I'd love to delve into some more. I've dealt with them by collecting the information about them anyway and filing them away in Word or NVivo files (somebody else said about putting that stuff in a second blog which I thought was a great idea) with the thought that I can go back to them later. I think we both felt that by putting them somewhere 'official' it was easier to put them down and get back with what we're meant to be getting on with right now. Whether I ever get them done or they languish in the file for ever who knows, but it does mean that if I get the "what next?" question in either the viva or job interviews, I'll have something I can waffle on about for a bit. Of course, right now it's not interesting tangents keeping me from the thesis. It's anything and everything. Ironing, internet, making lunch, washing up, you name it. Some things never change :)