fluke

======= Date Modified 02 Nov 2008 23:24:13 =======
I knew broadly what I was doing when I started, as it developed from my MA, but I looked at my original PhD proposal recently and it looked like a little fragment of what the whole thing has become since then. I spent my first year doing what you're doing, reading and researching very broadly around the area, which was great as I discovered totally new but related areas that have become very important to the development of the whole thing. If I'd had a rigid idea of what I thought I was researching then it wouldn't have developed like that, so I'm glad I was open to new ideas - other students don't seem to be, for whatever reason. I'm not sure whether it was a eureka moment, but it wasn't until I was about halfway through it (I'm part-time) that the whole thing fell into place, with my methodology, my ideas and my material gelling in a rather satisfying way. And it has been coming together much more during the whole writing up period too, as it should obviously! Odd bits and pieces I'd found over the years that I found really interesting but didn't seem to fit into the thesis and was saving for possible post-doc projects have all been fitting into place in unexpected ways, so it's been quite good really.

So I wouldn't worry about a eureka moment, just do what you're already doing as it sounds fine - it's such a long process anyway, and you're bound to have exciting discoveries along the way at some point!

I've been like that recently. I sent off 4 chapters on Tuesday night, had to go to work for a few days though it wasn't really busy and I've been like a zombie woman since then. I do all the sensible things too, but it seems to take me longer to shake off deadline exhaustion these days. Maybe it is cumulative, which is a bit scary when I think how far there is still to go.... I'm trying to pace myself more and not end up working late nights for last-minute deadlines, as I don't want to get ill finishing this thing, but there's always so much to do. It really does seem to be a mammoth feat of human endurance sometimes, at least for me anyway - definitely the hardest thing I've ever done! How long have you to got to go with yours, if you don't mind me asking?

slake

spun

Thank you both :-) Good luck with your own work!

snare

skit

Hi Kizzy, I doubt that your original ideas are stupid, or you wouldn't have been accepted onto a PhD in the first place! I'd imagine that you'd already have done a research proposal in some form for your initial PhD application, and your methods should emerge from your research questions - when you know what you want to find out about, it helps shape how you go about finding out about it.

I'm quite near the end of mine now, and had to refine my research questions a year ago. For some reason, it was quite difficult to put into words what I actually wanted to find out about and why it was a valid and interesting set of questions academically to be asking. I thought it had been obvious for years, but it wasn't to the Prof who read my first thesis draft, it was implicit in my writing rather than explicit. I had to do a few pages and it came down to a couple of what I thought were really basic questions, so simple I thought I must have been doing it wrong, but when I started fleshing them out with detail, it all became more complex and PhD-like.

Can you think about what you want to know and why in different ways? Is there a couple of core ideas that you could put into a few sentences, then expand on that with a lot more detail? Maybe you've identified a cultural phenomenon that's not been written about before, so you want to know why it's emerged at that point in time and in that place, because you think it's interesting intellectually to find out specific things about it. Then think about what existing academic work might contribute to your understanding of that. Or you've spotted a gap in existing research that you think is important and valid to investigate because of x y z reasons. Don't get stressed about doing it wrong - if someone you know said to you 'so what are you researching and why are you interested in that?' how would you reply? It's the same basic ideas that your supervisor is probably after, and if you get stuck then your writing will give you scope for discussion in your next meeting.

btw it would probably be a good idea and less stressful in the long run to modify your expectations for your written work a little - everyone wants to write something really impressive, but it's a long, continuous process of writing/feedback/re-writing, so you have to get used to having problems in your work pointed out to you and working with constructive criticism. Hopefully your supervisor is ok and won't pick holes in your work in a negative way, but by showing you what bits can be improved on for the next bit of writing you do.

======= Date Modified 02 Nov 2008 15:28:44 =======
Well thank you very much, you two! :-)

It would be nice to still see you both, though I'm not sure I'm up to keeping a monologue going on my progress around here, as I'm not great at that! It seems too boring to write about on the whole, though it works when there's a few people around. btw You'd be great at doing a blog Lara, as you're extremely good at talking to yourself on the internet, in a good way, not a mad person's way. I'd read it, if you did one! :-)

Knowing you've both got this far has spurred me on, so I'm just getting stuck in now - I want to submit too! Well, I have to anyway, so not much choice there lol, but I'm getting quite restless to finish anyway and move on to other stuff. See you soonish anyway, I hope!

stalk

slot

lol I think we're supposed to take it turns Jade :-)

shall

spun

Hi Lara, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! :-)

I'm so glad you got it done, what a mammoth feat to get it written in 5 months - I didn't realise you squashed it all into that amount of time. No wonder it was a bit on the hellish side! Yep, definitely stay in bed and do nothing, and all the other nice things you've got planned. Plus a huge rest, you definitely deserve it! btw thanks for your encouragement on this thread too, your experiences have definitely helped me, vile though they may have seemed at times! Well done again on getting it submitted!!(up)