Ship of Fools: Thesis Support Thread v6.0

Thread: Thesis Support Thread v6.0 Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :

From the tail end of v5.0, which has now been Oblivionated:

quote:
<taps on door & peers into the SCR>
Hi all - is there a space for a Master's dissertation here? Final year of a distance learning MTh starts in Sept, and I've just had a scoping meeting with the programme leader.

How do you eat an elephant? [Eek!]
Any and all sage advice welcomed for this non-humanities student!

Thanks

[I've checked with her Hostliness and so I'm opening this year's thread where we left off.]

Reporting in with progress, and a question for all you clever real post-grads.

I'm half-way through, calendarically speaking, with 10,000 words written on paper, most of which I need to discard, and pages of notes of stuff I still want to say [Ultra confused]

. Sadly, I've rather lost my way chasing fascinating tangential red herrings, and I've got to ruthlessly edit and re-write furiously for the next six months in between the day job. I had a very useful supervision last week, but it all still look pretty daunting [Help]

. I'm guessing it's not an uncommon experience at this stage?

One question, if I may, please? At this level, quite rightly there's an expectation of originality - not a problem. But my supervisor says I need more heavy-weight supportive evidence to bolster my argumentation. How to cite the Big Names while trying to hang on to the fact that I'd got there without their help?

Oh yes, and he also suggests I present a 2000w paper at the Uni's PG Research Day in June - another first for me [Ultra confused]

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

It sounds as if you take your heavy weight references and pull them together to support a step further in the argument's development. If that makes sense.

When I was doing a masters, we were advised to start with the conclusion and work backwards. Of course,you could end up with a " how do I get to?...Well, I wouldn't start from here" situation.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

The essence of a really good thesis is that you read and draw from all of the best minds in the field, and find something in them that nobody else has seen.

Now the truth is, you probably didn't do it in that order. But that needs to be the idea that you put forward. Almost always, what you do is find multiple "heavyweight" authors, and find some connections between them, something that provides your direction from multiple authors, not just a single one.

The reason is you have to know what other people have done, you have to have a good understanding of what the leading thinkers in the field are saying. Knowing this, you then need to find something new to say, some way of taking these ideas on a stage.

Today, I will be getting to the end of chapter 3 on my thesis (draft 6), after which I hope to be able to send it to my supervisor. I am really hopeful that it will now be of a standard that I can consider submission.

Posted by Hazey*Jane (# 8754) on :

I seem to have a habit of showing up at the beginning of these threads and then disappearing off for quite some time!

Anyhoo, I am pleased to report that earlier this year I finally submitted my thesis and passed (subject to corrections) a few weeks ago. Quite a relief after a somewhat convoluted path over a number of years. I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself now (though 'FINISH YOUR CORRECTIONS!' is the main message I'm getting from my nearest and dearest when I ponder that out loud).

I'm far from detached enough from the process to look back on it with rose tinted spectacles, but I can say that the stresses and strains of the last few months (years?) are starting to abate. It *is* a tough process, but (hopefully) worth plugging away at. Good luck to those still on the journey.

Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
The reason is you have to know what other people have done, you have to have a good understanding of what the leading thinkers in the field are saying. Knowing this, you then need to find something new to say, some way of taking these ideas on a stage.

Thank you - I find this a very helpful way of putting it.

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

In the final stages of current redraft. I just need to get the final chapter into shape which it was refusing to do this weekend.

Then off for the "Nihil Obstat" from my supervisor after which I have to get it ready to send to editors. Meanwhile there are appendices to get into shape.

Then onwards to submission.

Jengie

Posted by cynic girl (# 13844) on :

Anyone here doing PhD fieldwork? My second year* (this year) is mostly dedicated to this, and it's been fascinating but lonely. My friends ask how the work's going, and it can be difficult to explain what I'm actually doing!

*Officially I'm in my second year. Actually, because of sickness leave and being part-time to start with, I've been doing the PhD for over four years. I'm enjoying it, but definitely looking forward to the home stretch of writing up that will start around September!

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Ok, Ok

I am an ethnographer and have done my fieldwork! I did it 2007-2011. Yes four years of fieldwork which is only possible in a part time PhD. I am however strongly based towards the social anthropological tradition and therefore my field work was primarily participant observation with interviews only playing a limited part. Jack the Lass's Fieldwork was also ethnographic with a greater reliance on interviews particularly as her field work was conducted overseas.

The problem and one that is not taken seriously is that most ethnographer are investigating issues that are very close to them emotionally. I am not saying that all ethnography is auto-ethnography but that the demands of ethnographic field work are such that if a person was not highly involved in it they would not have the drive to do it. I was not lonely but I had to take strong emotional discipline the entire four years. The reason for this was I spent two lots of two years travelling with two very different congregations. I came to care for both congregations. Indeed I have never been with a congregation that long and not come to care about it. My whole PhD is driven by that caring.

Secondly PhD work is lonely and part time PhD work exceptionally lonely. You and hopefully your supervisor are the only people you can be reasonably sure are excited by your topic. If you are like most (self included) you will tend to not just study the topic but for it to colonize alsorts of areas of your life. The mono-focus makes it hard to sustain interest in other topics. You actively need to put effort into gaining other people's support. Do not take my word for it, take a look at what the Thesis Whisperer says on the topic.

Jengie

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

Thesis writing is SOOOOOOO boring. Especially on the 6th draft.

I need to get another 1 1/2 chapters done this weekend at least (2 1/2 would be good)

Posted by Tukai (# 12960) on :

Are there no northern hemisphere shipmates currently struggling to complete a thesis before the end of the northern academic year, and thus in need of support? .

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Yes

See prayer thread. It looks as though I will be able to physically submit tomorrow, electronic submission was yesterday. Deadline is 23rd June. This is a PhD submission for revisions.

However for Masters in the Northern Hemisphere deadlines are normally between 31st August and 30th September.

Jengie

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :

quote:
Originally posted by cynic girl:
Anyone here doing PhD fieldwork? My second year* (this year) is mostly dedicated to this, and it's been fascinating but lonely. My friends ask how the work's going, and it can be difficult to explain what I'm actually doing!

Apologies for the huge amount of time between question and reply!

I did my fieldwork in 2007; as Jengie mentioned, it was abroad so I can totally relate to the whole 'fascinating but lonely' thing! As I was in a department where nearly everybody's fieldwork was abroad I was lucky in that I could talk it over (face to face when I got back, and via email/facebook while I was still abroad) with people who had also experienced the same things. Even those who were doing historical/archival research, which was totally different from my more ethnographic study, had similar experiences of language misunderstandings/bureaucratic frustrations/heroic 'gatekeepers'/etc. Coming back after fieldwork had finished I also really felt that I had joined a 'club' of people who had actual data to talk and write about (rather than vague musings about what might be out there which was the stage pre-fieldwork), plus it was fun to share the fieldwork shaggy dog stories. I don't know how easy it is as a part-time student, or whether you're even physically based in your university, but I personally found the informal debriefing with fellow PhD colleagues in the office and postgrad common room was invaluable, and meant that I didn't fret so much that 'nobody understands me!'

I'd say try and make the most of the fascinating bits of it (which to a large extent did help ease the lonely bits for me). Remember even if aspects of it go a bit Pete Tong it's still potentially a paragraph for the methods/methodology chapter! (I found writing a vaguely ranty first draft of a 'barriers to research' section very therapeutic!).

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

My thesis is re-submitted. I wait further developments.

Jengie

Posted by frin (# 9) on :

I'm at 4 months to go to my intended submission, and trying to finish the full draft of the discussion chapters (which would finish the first draft of the whole). For the first time, stress has begun to interrupt the rhythm of writing. Any motivating advice for the last big push?

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

Chocolate and coffee got me through the last bit.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

quote:
Originally posted by frin:
I'm at 4 months to go to my intended submission, and trying to finish the full draft of the discussion chapters (which would finish the first draft of the whole). For the first time, stress has begun to interrupt the rhythm of writing. Any motivating advice for the last big push?

Keep going, every day. It matter less how much, and more that you are progressing.

I am 6 weeks off my deadline, and still have 2 chapters of my 6th draft to rework, and the references and appendices. I really need to get it to the printers by early next month, 2 weeks away.

Eeek.

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Counter intuitive but timetable in non-thesis time. You literally can get too close to a thesis that you cannot see the wood for the trees. Guess what I did.

Finishing a thesis is an emotional as well as a technical challenge. It means giving up some of your identity as it has partly defined who you are for at least the last three years. So take the emotions seriously rather than trying to plough through them.

Also work out what needs doing in as much detail in what order. Put this list up somewhere where you can see it. Then focus on the next task in hand. When that is complete move onto the next. It is far easier to walk one mile rather than 100, but a hundred miles is just one mile walked a hundred times. I also gave myself deadlines for these small tasks. Reward yourself each time you complete one e.g Now I have sorted out that paragraph I can have a shower with that nice shower gell I got for Christmas. You might even list the reward with the task.

Jengie

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

I had a wonderful (and scary) friend who would call me daily and say in a menacing voice:

"So what have you done on your dissertation today?"

I learnt very quickly to do SOMETHING so as to evade the verbal boot-to-the-rear that would follow if I said "Well, actually, uh..."

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

Quick question- a Call for Proposals for a book chapter.

Is the proposal written in the same way as a call for papers i.e. no footnotes, or should I include footnotes?

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :

Hi NEQ, I hope you got some good advice on your question (FWIW I would have done it the same as a paper ie no footnotes, but I don't know if that would be the same for all disciplines).

I just wanted to pop in to say I'm still thinking of everyone beavering away at their theses whatever stage you are all at. I hope it's going well for you.

Now that I'm out of academia I'm feeling a bit weird about it all - not wanting to work in it any more, but also missing the intellectual challenge which I'm not getting in my current job. I'm going to keep my eyes open for more suitable and challenging jobs in the NHS, and try to stop feeling guilty that I'm not writing any more (when does that guilt stop? It's not like I need to write to gain an academic post).

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Partly kicking this up due to hoovering.

Also it is ten days to my viva.

Now all I need to do is remain focused.

Jengie

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Finally, finally, pass no corrections.

Jengie

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

[Yipee]

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :

Congratulations Dr Jengie. [Big Grin]

Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :

[Yipee]

Dr Jon, you are a marvel. Hearty and heartfelt congratulations.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

Congratulations, Dr. Jengie! [Yipee]

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

Brilliant news Jengie

Posted by Japes (# 5358) on :

Congratulations, Dr. Jengie!

[Yipee]

Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :

Hooray!!! [Yipee]

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

Congratulations, Jengie. Well done.

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

[Yipee]

Posted by Tukai (# 12960) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie jon:
Finally, finally, pass no corrections.

Jengie

Well done. It's been a long road for you to travel.

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

Congratulations!

[Yipee]

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Thank you all very much.

Jengie

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

Congratulations Dr jon!

Posted by Tukai (# 12960) on :

Thought for the day, from historian Barbara Tuchman:

"Research is endlessly seductive, but writing is hard work"

Posted by LRP (# 5013) on :

Well done Jengie that's great news.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie jon:
Finally, finally, pass no corrections.

Jengie

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Thanks for the congratulations.

This is just to say that for anyone in desperate need of something to send them to sleep my thesis can now be downloaded. I am simply posting it here as I have lost track of the people who have said that they wanted to read it.

Jengie

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