Chapters

Good question, Amstr. I'm going to ask around because I really don't know ... How long was the original paper, and how many chapters will be in the anthology?

Chapter-length = ?

The panel I'm on at RSA is turning out to be a great thing. I've been invited to submit a more developed version of my conference paper into a book chapter for an anthology on maternity and early modern romance. It's due in December, so I'll have plenty of time. So how long is an essay in a book? Any idea what I should aim for?

Quicky quick

I just can't beLieve I've been off line for so long. How are my fellow Dissertanians? I'm in the trenches of Orals preparations at the moment, and I'm teaching full time which really isn't such a good idea. For now, hello! I hope you are doing well. More soon!

Finding Books

I have to say, public libraries ROCK! Living across the country from my campus, I thought I was going to have to pay a hefty visiting scholars fee to Stanford, drive 20 min. each way, navigate a college campus, only get books for three weeks, etc. etc. etc. But no. I get to order books through the public library Interlibrary Loan system and walk three blocks to pick them up.

How long has it been?

GEW--I saw on your blog roll that it's been 3 whole months since any of us have written anything dissertation-related over here. So here's my update:

-Draft of RSA paper turned in to advisor (check)
-Prospectus approved by primary and secondary advisors (check)
-Contacted possible third reader (check)
-Dissertation draft totals 45 pages (check)
-Some research done for RSA paper (check)

I should specify that the dissertation draft is just a zero draft. I pick something I think I'll need to explore in the dissertation and write 2-4 pages a week (depending on the week). The idea is that eventually I'll have a chapter take shape and then focus more specifically on the argument for the chapter.

Here's my "to do" list for the next couple months:

-Revise, revise, revise, and polish my RSA paper (deadline: April 1)
-Do as much research as possible on and around paper topic to be prepared for panel and for diss. chapter writing.
-Nail down third reader and submit prospectus (somehow, three busy professors will magically sign the form without me in the state)
-Keep working on dissertation writing
-Finish reading Sidney's New Arcadia (I'm halfway through Book 3, near the point where there's a big blank spot; this book is a doozy. I'm taking good notes, but I do hope I can find some good detailed plot summaries to jog my memory about the insane plot twists and all the Greek character names.)
-Pick a diss. chapter to work on and start sketching out some preliminary arguments.

My current timeline (which I hope is generous) has me defending in about 3 years. As it happens I just ran across something on my Uni website that specifies that I have five years from advancement to candidacy to complete the dissertation. That puts my end date just inside the deadline. It's a good thing I waited to do my areas until after the kids were born. Otherwise I'd be up a crick.

What have you been up to?

Sanity Inducer

I recently re-discovered the dissertation database (ProQuest at our library) where one can look at full and partial dissertations. Why, you ask? For inspiration. My husband's cure for dissertation blues was to read the worst dissertations that his department had passed in the last few years. He was pretty sure he could do better than that. Since I'm working on the chapter synopsis section of my prospectus, I found it really helpful to take a look at a bunch of different Tables of Contents to get an idea of what people actually cover in real dissertations that get people their degrees. I'm also keeping my eye out for some "worst of" dissertations to keep me going later.

Reply to Amstr by GEW (with an update)

Thanks for the update, Amster. I, too, blew off the dissertation way too much during the summer. It's very hard not to do that, especially since the hubby and kids are on vacation, too. But in the future, when summer isn't followed by a sabbatical, I will need to really work.

As for my progress, I got a little bit done in August. Basically, I started working up some preliminary notes and arguments for what might turn out to be Chapter Four of the dissertation. Some of it is probably silly, but some of it will be productive.

And today I had my first meeting with my supervisor, which was great. We talked a bit about my notes (regarding Chapter Four), and we discussed my overall plan and the central driving questions of the thesis. We'll meet again tomorrow to talk more.

As for my studies, right I'm looking at primary sources and I'm review some Bakhtin. I think Bakhtin might turn out to be useful! But I'm pretty rusty on theory, so I've got a lot of work to do.

So, Amstr, are you enjoying working during the daytime? How are the September goals going? I really like the "Really see it" project, and I'll be working on that soon.