the dissertation
david silver posed a series of questions that others may have wondered about too. david emailed privately about whether i would be open to discussing this on the blog; i repleid: sure. perhaps i don't do it enough? i need people to hold my feet to the fire.
i am working this week -- in fits and starts -- on revisions of the second the draft. most of these i shelved this past year while i was teaching. i am aiming to submit to mary a copy of the next draft in a three ring binder before i return to ann arbor on july 6th. make me swear an oath on this one, dear readers. i need to do this for real.
i am not sure how to count the chapters i have. i will explain unless pressed, but here's the status in as few words as possible.
INTRO: drafted mostly. needs some few paragraphs still on the government's agenda and program to set up chapter one. needs a bit more on methods and sources.
CHAPTER 1: drafted. working on revisions. and filling in the blanks on details i neglected and have found in archives and other primary sources this includes details on applicants' work positions, and their profiles. i also need to work onthe transitions.
CHAPTER 2: drafted. revised. ready to re-submit. i think.
CHAPTER 3: ruff ruff. needs major intervention from dissertation fairies.
CHAPTER 4: strong draft. need to smooth, tinker and refine, but it's good. maybe rivals chapter one for the best or most interesting chapter?
CHAPTER 5: strong draft. this chapter has gotten much better thanks to the conference presentations and teaching that i need in the past 15 months or so. i need to re-read and cut things out sentences/passages that do not support the argument about use of space inside and outside. i have a lot of extraneous stuff in here.
CHAPTER X: this is an unusual chapter. i am not sure whether my committee will go for this. or to pull it off like as i would like, i might wind up being expensive. but this as it is right now, is a photo essay of Langston with captions. it is printed in color and ready to submit. this might turn into an appendix; it might turn into the illustrations for chapter 4. i need to think about this and see what my committee says. i am not going to fight about this.
CONCLUSION: ?????
posted by kq @ 5:46 PM
4 Comments:
this looks great q. the impressive thing, to me at least, is that you have drafts of everything rather than having some stuff done and some stuff not even begun. cool. this is great.
it will take a lot of work to turn in a new draft of the whole enchilada by july 6th, but it's totally doable and you will do it. i'm not gonna ask you to swear an oath. but i am gonna remind you how good it will feel when you do turn it in on july 5th.
two things.
first, the mantra that i told myself over and over again as i wrote my diss and the mantra that i tell any dissertation-writing student i meet: this document will not be the best thing you have ever written so get that out of your mind. the goal is to finish and to write as good a manuscript as you can. but to strive for perfection is not only silly, it is irrational. no publisher - none - will take a dissertation without revision so right there you know that what you will be turning in is not, by definition, perfect. perfection will come later. but first: july 6th.
second, are there any chapters - 2? 4? maybe even 1? - that, with one or two days of hardcore focusing, you can polish off and say to yourself (and to your blog readers): "done." if so, i strongly suggest going for that. how cool would it be to finish the day - today, or tomorrow, or the next day - with a nice glass of wine and a realization that CHAPTER X IS DONE! here's my thinking q: you've got 5 chapters + intro that are really strong, almost there. what you need now, i think, is at least one chapter that is done, polished, finished. the moment you realize what a finished chapter (ie: not perfect, but polished and ready to turn in) feels like, you will get off on the buzz and want another one. and then another one. and then another one.
ooh, one more thing. i don't think i ever convinced you, back in the day, about the virtues of editing on paper (rather than pixel) but i swear by it. there's something great about printing out a chapter and bringing it with you to a cafe, to a park, to a body of water and just FOCUSING ON IT. i understand that many like to edit on computer but there's too many distractions on a computer. plus, there's something wonderfully tangible about a paper draft.
ok, that's it. you're the best kelly and you got one hellava fan on the west coast.
dear kelly, remember: Dumb, but Done. Dumb, but Done. you sound so close! it will happen. love julia
kelly! adian! quinn!
it's time to rock out on this dissertation thing. first off, david silver has given you The Advice.
Follow it. Live it. Shower with it. It is awesome.
My take: the photo essay ('chapter x') sounds fantastic. However...if the powers-that-be will be happy to take the diss. without it, it might indeed make your life easier to keep it in the file drawer for the moment. (You should definitely deploy it when you publish the book. Let me underscore this--we can't wait for the book!)
But for now, one less thing to deal with as you press to the 6th.
The Conclusion: you have been living with the project for a while, now. I tried this strategy: sit down w/legal pad, and just start writing freestyle. Don't stop for anything--look now and then at your table of contents, think to self about what is in this thing, and just write.
Write clearly, with force, and with confidence.
Voila, conclusion. Or at least a first cut at such a thing.
I hope this comment posts--blogger confuses the jason.
Who is getting a doctorate in stone-cold-rockin'-it? KQ, that's who.
q,
first, julia and donna are wise. this line, Who is getting a doctorate in stone-cold-rockin'-it? KQ, that's who, is one of the best i've seen in a while. so is this: Dumb, but Done. (quick clarification: judging from the reception you get - always get - from conference papers, you know your ideas work and that your dissertation is original, important, and rocking. so dumb may not be exactly the right word, but i'm willing to roll with julia cause she seems wise.)
second, which chapter are you currently working to completion? please don't tell me that you are trying to finish all chapters simultaneously. seriously - and i ain't asking for nor looking for some wise crack - which chapter are you currently finishing?
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