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.

My Summer Vacation, by Me

Welcome to Fall, my fellow dissertationers. What did you do over summer vacation?

My work stalled out for the last half of June and all of July. I had hoped to get a draft of my RSA conference paper done this summer, but alas, I have nothing. August ended up being a month of easing back into dissertation work. I read a modest amount, finished a paragraph-by-paragraph summary of Crane’s difficult introduction to Shakespeare’s Brain, got back in the rhythm of working, and prayed for September. Why the praying, you ask? Preschool.

Yesterday, both kids spent 2.5 hours with their teachers and other kids while I haunted a table at a Starbucks housed in a 70s strip mall, looking out over a shiny new Shell station. And I got a ton of writing done. I managed to re-write half of the methods section of my prospectus, and I toyed around with possible structures for my RSA paper. I actually came up with a clever idea for my conclusion, too. I hope I can keep up the momentum. Working during daylight hours is really pretty amazing.

So my plan for September:

-draft RSA paper

-read bunch of relevant articles and write Summary-Critiques of them

-revise my prospectus

-finish prospectus bibliography

-re-read FQ Book 3 (and relevant parts of Books 4 and 5)

-finish as much of Sidney’s New Arcadia as I possibly can

My other dissertation-y project is one I found here (scroll down to the "REALLY see it" section). I’m making a mock-up of my dissertation in a 3-ring binder. I’ll put in a title page, table of contents, sections for each chapter, etc. The hope is that it can help me work on small chunks without being overwhelmed by the dissertation as a whole. I may even cover it with “I heart Shakespeare” stickers, just for the encouragement.

Hope you’ve had good summers, and I’m eager for updates!

Pre-Vacation Organizing

Okay. Well, I haven't gotten a lot of work done, but yesterday I DID take some of the advice from that last link. I pulled a little file cabinet out of the playroom closet. Emptied it of many strange things, put it next to the desk, moved the printer onto it (which had been taking up desk space), and cleaned the desk and the rest of the office/playroom. So now I just need some file folders, and I will use the cabinet for all of the scholarly articles I have in giant piles. And the desk is ready for work when I get back, which is good because I won't get back until the middle of August, and I'll have about 2.5 weeks to crank out a bunch of work before I go back to Wales in September.

Anybody want to go with me to Wales in September? I think I'm going to fly out around the 3rd, get back around the 12th.

:)

Post-Vacation Working

I'm definitely having trouble getting back in the groove after a couple weeks of vacation. I've done very little since I turned in my prospectus draft, and I have a lot I want to accomplish this summer. I ran across these articles and thought I'd pass them along:

How to Re-start Your Dissertation after a Vacation, Part I

How to Re-start Your Dissertation after a Vacation, Part II

I'm supposed to be writing a full draft of my conference paper this summer, but it's been years since I wrote a paper (specifically 4.5 years, excluding area exams). I'm having trouble getting started. Any suggestions? Any surefire strategies you use?

Summer Madness

Hey folks. Hope to catch up soon, but I've been crazy busy moving into a new apartment working on a story and my orals lists. Also, check out the site which is keeping me busy building away: shoecellar.com Hopefully, I'll be resurfacing soon-ly!

Scraps

Thanks for sending the prospectus to me, Amstr! Everything has been crazy with parties, family visits, etc., so I haven't read it yet. I'll read it when I get back from the cruise. I'm eager to read it because I had a just a couple of hours on Wednesday to do a bit of diss work, and I found myself re-thinking the chapter organization. I'll be running my thoughts by my fellow Dissertanians when we get back from the cruise!

Back soon . . .

News (used to be a plural)

News item #1: My panel got accepted to the RSA conference! Yay! Now I just have to convince my parents or brothers or close friends to travel with us to help out with child care. Oh, and write a paper.

News item #2: I turned in my prospectus draft. And boy, is it a draft. No citations. Bracketed notes to myself all over the place about what I still need to write. Each "chapter" section in a different form and style. But it's turned in. My next step is to put together a working bibliography by the end of the month.

News item #3: Next up, working on writing the RSA conference paper, which will get me started on the reading and research for my Faerie Queene chapter. I'd love to have a solid draft by the end of the sumer.

How's the summer shaping up for you?

Yet again . . .

I had an "I really, really feel like quitting" week last week, and tonight, my ideas for my prospectus (and its theoretical basis) came together quite nicely--at least in my head. I hope sleeping on it makes it even better.

Hope you two are having good endings to good semesters.

One step closer to Italy

I found out today that my paper proposal for RSA 2010 was accepted to the panel "Maternity and Renaissance Romance Narratives." Now I have to whittle down my 342 word abstract to 150 words and submit it directly to RSA. Evidently, RSA reviews our panel and gives a thumbs up or thumbs down on the entire thing. I'll likely hear back over the summer.

I Heart Cognitive Theory

I’ve been reading the introduction to Mary Thomas Crane’s Shakespeare’s Brain, and I love, love, love cognitive theory. It’s the first theory that feels right, or makes sense, or works in concert with the ways that I think, or however you want to say it. She does the complicated work of justifying the use of cognitive science as a means for describing/interpreting literature, situates it among all the big hitters--Foucault, Althusser, Derrida, Lacan, and others--and proposes specific ways to apply cognitive theory to literature. Here’s a shout out to Dr. Rubba for exposing me to linguistic analysis of literature in general, and cognitive theory in particular. (And for telling me that I should go get a PhD.)

I had a little bit of confirmation that I'm doing the right thing by working on a PhD: I stayed up reading literary theory until 1am BECAUSE I WANTED TO! I was so enthralled, I couldn't put it down.

What crazy things have you done that show you have that crazy-making, magical, mystical, brainiac relationship with your PhD subject?

GEW, I'm so happy for you! Convincing and original is really impressive. Can I have some of that?! Seriously though, you must feel very good about your work. I look forward to hearing more about it.

Sorry I didn't get back to your FB wall post. The conference went well, and it turned out to be an unexpectedly edifying experience. I look forward to attending more conferences.

The answer to the question regarding theory is unfortunately complex. I have a lot to think about this summer, and I hope I work hard at that thinking rather than indulging in the escapism I am longing for! I guess Foucault has had the biggest impact on me in terms of heuristic devices, but that has political implications and complications. I'm not sure what to do about it yet. Also, F. Jameson and Bourdieau have left deep impressions as well. More on that later.

Amstr, good call! I do remember the Summary/Analysis responses, and I have not tried it. I will. I think it would be incredibly helpful, and it's precisely the much-needed skill I may be lacking right now. I'm glad you called that one out.

Okay, good luck everyone!

Cloud Nine

I got a response from my supervisor (already!) about the 5,000 words that I sent to her, and she was very affirming. In fact, she said, "Overall, I thought this was very good indeed and not rough at all. You really are starting to get to grips with this and shape an argument which is convincing and original."

Yay. Yay. Yay. I am so excited and motivated.

Theory

Amstr, Is your dissertation going to be theory-heavy? Is there a certain theorist that's driving your work?

SafiaK, I'm guessing your paper will be fairly theory-heavy. In your studies over the past couple of years, what has been your favorite theory/theorist? The most interesting and the most useful for opening a text? is there a certain theorist whose work you'll rely on in your diss?

Summary-Responses

GEW, I know you took Keesey's class when I did. Did you, SafiaK? Do you remember all those summary-responses we had to write? That exercise made me a much faster at reading and assessing articles. I'm guessing that it would do me well to re-develop that skill, so I'm starting to write Summary-Responses for the articles I'm reading in connection with my dissertation. Have you tried this? Do you think it will be ultimately helpful?