Let the Thesis do the Organising

A tip from my Sup.

He emailed me back and has basically told me that I am writing too much!  Apparently I don't really need a methods section and only a para on ethics, in the intro!  And apparently I don't need a lit review either, just about 3000 words in the intro...  I have managed to write 10,000 words!  i sweated over those words

My heart sank into my boots because although this is obviously fantastic news as it means I have practically finished and am sweating the small stuff too much, it also means that if I followed his advice mty thesis would only be 60,000 words long!  Where would I make up the rest?  I desperately don't want to revise my contentions chapters as they are all written, re-written and re-written again and, as far as I am concerned, need never be changed :( 

So I emailed back about this and said that I wanted to keep the theory section I had written, and said why and said actually I wanted the methods bit to be longer than a small bit of the intro and explained why, as my methods are really integral to the theory and my arguments.  And he emailed back and said that I should let the thesis do the organising, but to keep the methods bit shorter rather than longer.  This is interesting, letting the thesis organise me, because that is actually really important and lends a sort of instinctive element to the work.  I feel that the methods bit has to go in, whether i like it or not, because it is important to the thesis. 

I like that I am not needed to labour under it though :)  Hurrah, less work to worry about when I get back!  Holidays here I come!

x J

ps I can't believe I have been told I work too much!

 

Time for Hollibobs :)

Sod work, am off :) :) :) :)

I have gone through the chapter and written a big note to myself outlining the structure as I have it so far (is grand) and what each section needs writing in it, so when I come back and can't see through my tears or think through my post-holiday blues I can start with some help :)

I have reminded myself to only do 10 mins, and then float about being stupid, then another ten mins...  or else I will not work at all! 

I have also reminded myself to eat a lot of crisps and chocolate while I am working :)

Should be fine.  I also emailed my Sup to show off about finishing the theory chapter and being halfway through another one.  I lied and said I was tkaing work on holiday with me; I can say I am definitely NOT.  Not even a laptop, but I have worked my socks off to get to a stage were this can happen, so hurray for having a motivating deadline.

Have fun times peeps, will be back to work on Sunday 30 September, weeping, weeping.

x J

And Calm...

I did take last night off and I slept and slept for hours!

Today I feel much calmer, more objective and back in control of the work :)  Instead of just typing and typing I need to slow down and be more careful about what I am saying and why.  I hve got the basic structure there which is what al the typing was about, now I need to flesh it out, linking my methods to my theory.

This is pleasing, but time consuming!  Not as satisfying as a flurry of typing the obvious.  I shall work intermittently until 2.30 when I have the drs appt I cancelled yesterday to work.  I have to pack a bit here and there but will aim to have the work in a good place to come back to (is it possible I am dreading coming back to it already?!) and copious notes about where I am going with it and how to do it, if necessary, so I don't come back after two weeks off confused.  I will be very de-motivated and cross and sad so would like to make it as soft a blow as I can!

x J

Calling it a Day

I have reached saturation point!  I can't work any more today!

I have done really well, sorted out a first draft of a whole new chapter ready for editing and am over halfway through the next one, is all structured and just needs to be added to.  I know where the notes are is just a case of plodding on and filling in the gaps.

But I am knackered!  And I can't write ANY MORE!  What I am writing is getting pretty rubbish too.  I am on day four of five of blasting through this before going on holiday so leaving now (all of half an hour early) is a good idea to give my brain time to refresh.  I won't work tonight, will just come back tomorrow hopefully with renewed vigour for a last go at it before going away.  It won't be finished but it won't be too horrible to come back to, and tbh I should just be really pleased with what I have achieved in two weeks :)

Righty, till tomorrow then.

x J

It *Is* Two Chapters

Yep.  The methodology is two chapters now, one for the theory and one for the practical 'how I did it' and why gumf.

Wonderfully the theory one is now all done; although it needs some serious editing everything should be there.  It is 8000 words long :)  And I have written half of its sibling chapter, so 4000 words on the methods, ethics and analysis.  I have to make sure I am always linking these to the theory.  It is boring graft but is coming along.  When these two chapters are done my word total should be about 75, 000, so with the intro I should comfortably ease into the requisite 80,000 words.  Phew!

Cancelled doc until tomorrow as this time tomorrow I think I will have called it a day and swanned off to pack for holiday while Bean is not around to unpack everything :)  And I will just be in a fine excitable mood!  so will go to drs and then come back and do packing etc but today it means I can just carry on working (or begrudingly 'plodding') without interruption.  If I don't do any more it wouldn't be the end of the world, I will have time to do it when I come back just would be nice not to have to!

Anyway, still got one and a half hours to keep plodding away.

For some reason I feel like I just got a chapter for free.  How strange!

x J 

Ploughing On

Bloody hell, I have got my head stuck up my arse today.

I cannot work for love nor money.  I have worked though, but it is like trying to think through treacle.

I have also had the unpleasant realisation (that I do with all chapters) that this chapter is not quite as simple any more :(  Boo hoo.  I am also pretty sure I won't have a draft done for before I go on holiday but we shall see.

I am working very hard to get it done but I have a slow bit now where I have to go through my old notes and get out quotes and ting to help explain my choice of methods.  Boring, time consuming and bla bla bla. 

I am off for luncheon. 

x J

Difficult Day Today

Today is going to be challenging.

For a start I am hungry but the shitty bread I buy from co-op as gone off already.  Grrr.  And I can't go out and buy more because I am waiting in for a parcel for my holiday with a swimsuit and lovely flip flops in :)  I have a drs appt at 3pm which is no big deal but drs is always a bit nervewracking. 

And on top of that I am edgy about needing to get organised for the holiday and needing to finish this chapter!  'Needing' to finish it is freaking me out and making it difficult to work.  I want to run away!  So I must stick to my ten mins efforts today and try not to freak out and get writer's block.

I am also completely shattered as I didn't sleep much; the adrenaline of needing to get organised for holiday, get the house ready for two weeks of us away and finish work got to me last night!  My mind was whirring around!

So, first ten mins...  Then I shall rummage for some food.

x J

Self Plagiarism :)

Someone kindly commented on this:

Anonymous said...

"Self-Plagiarism is defined as a type of plagiarism in
which the writer republishes a work in its entirety
or reuses portions of a previously written text while
authoring a new work."

Do you need to worry about this? They have some clever software for detecting this!
ps Glad to see that you're back on track

So do be aware peeps - I am SURE no-one copies what I do but do be aware that if you are copy and pasting old work verbatim or paraphrasing you do need to put that in your references, then it should be fine (look at your uni guidelines).  Generally when I am saying I copy and pasted I really do mean it only as a template for further development - is virtually unrecognisable by the time I have finished editing as my old work is useful for the basics but conceptually a bit crap :)  And I NEVER have reason to copy and paste anything that was thoughtful and analytical, just obvious stuff like ethics guidlines on participant observation or methods etc that haven't changed in aeons.  A PhD is a piece of ORIGINAL work!

Just so you know NOT to do a PhD by simply copy-and-pasting old work into chapters!!!!

x J

Back for More

Arf I have decided, entirely of my own volition, to do some more work :)

Bean went to sleep at about 7.15 so I had a house to myself and decided I should just work!  I had a filter coffee at 6pmish and am completely giddy from it.  I have managed to find an old essay on ethics that I wrote for my MRes back in the day that will do just fine for my ethics section so have copy and pasted that in which is grand.  Will edit it when am back from hols.  So that has taken my word count up to 10,000 and I haven't touched the sides of blathering on about my methods.  This might turn out to be two chapters...  Interestingly though this means that my word count for the PhD is now up to 70,000 words!  I don't know how or when that happened.  Crackers, am nearly there!

I am really not sure how to write about my methods without being insanely boring or formulaic or crap.  Am not sure what is expected of me at all.  Basically I think I ought to write the methods I used and why, how they tie in with my theoretical perspective, issues or drawbacks and well, that is it.  I think the key might be in the subheadings, so I don't call them 'methods' and 'why I used these methods' but more nuanced and linked to my research/theory or something.

I think this might be one of those chapters where I just have to suck it and see, then send it to Sup and see if it turns his face inside out with horror or is sent back with a nice big tick.  I just don't know!  What I do know is that any text I write is useful, whether it is in the right place, or worded right, or whatever is something that can be tweaked later - for now it is all about getting the text down on paper.

Writing about what methods I used and why is really dull.  I am also concerned about whether I ought to be using references to talk about all this or whether it is just so obvious that no-one in PhD land wants a brief synopsis of what discourse analysis is by wetherall et al.  Hmmm.

x J

Getting there!

I can't believe how quickly I am writing this chapter compared to the others!

It really is just a case of communication I think.  I know why I did my research, where I did it, what methods I used and why and why not others so is just a case of letting the reader know I was actually thoughtful in my choice (which is half true tho largely, as I think a lot of research is, it was just the best option at the time!)

I have 7830 words down already (added nearly 1000 today), so this chapter will probably be about 9000 when it is finished.  I hope to get a fair whack of it done tomorrow then Weds can be about tidying and then all it will need is editing when I get home.

It has been such a breeze I feel like I have cheated.  I expect when i get it back with 'CRAP' written all over it (in academic language of course!) I shall be less chuffed.  And i still have to get my lit review back which I am utterly dreading.  I cannot cannot go back and re-write that chapter!  i can't read another thing!

Righty, off to get Bean!

What a pleasant day of work it has been :)

x J

Worked My Socks Off

Last night I worked really, really hard and today I reap the rewards!

I cam up at about 5.30pm; I was sent up actually as I was just being crotchety downstairs :)  And I worked until 8pm until X Factor started and I did 1500 words!  Typed up a whole section of one of my theories.  Went to bed, thought it was rubbish ALL night and went back through it this morning thinking I would have to re-draft it but it is just fine :)  Yay!

Now I am tidying up the theory section, explaining briefly how the three work together and then I shall leave the dreaded, hideous, boring theory section to get on with the hideous, boring, evil methods section!  Am chuffed to bits though, am actually ahead of time for finishing the first rough draft of this chapter before beggering off on holiday on Thursday :) 

SO pleased, I can't begin to tell you.  The joy of it is that I have detailed plans for all of this chapter - I have obviously been here before.  I have brainstorms of all the main ideas from each theory and have even written who said what and, most importantly, the reference!  So all I have to do is type it up, I only need to look at the notes to plump ideas out.  Fabulous planning.

x J

Feeling Much Better!

I have done some good work today!

I did an hour, took an hour off, did an hour and will do some more and then slope off again for a bit.  I can hear my family outside and I want to be there too! 

I have managed to sort out the melee that was my chapter and have a semblence of order to it.  I have been ruthlessly avoiding proper editing; I have got the right text in vaguely the right place but not edited it or sorted the sentences so they are neatly conjoined and sensible.  This I can do after the holiday, for now I am all about adding text and making the chapter structurally tolerable :)

Am so glad I worked today, even though I am feeling a bit rough.  (Feeling a bit under the weather as the day goes on, better not have got Bean's skanky cold!)  I really didn't want to work earlier and when I thought about why I realised it was because I didn't really know what was going on with the chapter.  It was a big confusing mess and I did not like it!  Which made me realise i need to work on it more than ever then; I don't think there is a better reason to have to work than when you don't know what is going on with it. Sometimes chapters just are like big knots that need untangling and I HATE this!  Am not patient with it at all, I just want to get on with it.

Anyway, I have sorted it and gradually the chapter is starting to make sense to me again.  Thank goodness, I can watch X-factor and eat my chinese leftovers in peace :)

And I have inadvertently written another 500 words.  Hurrah.

x J

Saturday, Sunny, am bastard Working :)

Yep.  Only while bean naps but still, here I am working when the sun is out and I have the saturday paper to read.

Tbh I have to admit the principle reason I am up here is because DB is working downstairs and made me feel guilty.  And I will have two weeks of sun from Thursday...  But still, it is sunny and saturday and I don't want to!

I have done my first ten minutes and feel miles better for doing so.  I am hating doing this chapter so much!  I hate it, it is soooooooo boring and I have said it all a million times throughout the research and now have to explain why I use each theory and am sick of it :)  I suppose it is the last time though... 

Better get back to it.  Am so pleased am working!  I will work until bean gets up then will be back again later from about 5pm till 8.

x J

did it hehe

I did do some work.  I sloped off for 15 mins until I realised that i just need to sort out the structure so I can come to it tomorrow and be writing and not faffing.

Had to do the ten minute sections to know I only had to sit for 10 mins at a time!

Sorted it out, now can go and relax :)

x J

Can't do it

I can't work.  I just can't. 

Am shattered and my brain has gone soft; I don't know my arse from my elbow.  I would like to, but it just isn't going to happen.

I am going to go downstairs and stare at the tv instead.  I am allowed a day off a week and guess today is it!  I didn't want to have a day off before going on holiday but my brain is fugged.  I shall listen to it and begger off and come back tomorrow hopefully properly refreshed and ready to go...

x J

Have to work

I took last night off, and all of today and am back and feeling MUCH better than yesterday!

Some time away really does help.  I was putting bean to bed alst night and I realised what I need to do to make this chapter work for me again and I don't think I would have worked that out if I had been stressily trying to write. 

Basically it needs a more nuanced structure for the theory instead of just blathering on about the theories I am using into an endless black hole.  I have decided to structure it by saying what chapter each thory works for (is different for each as each is a different ofucs of analysis; unusal but works in my case), how it will be used, and why other approaches wouldn't work. 

I really want to have the theory stuff done by Monday...  I don't know if this will be possible or not...  But I can't bear the idea of going on holiday on Thurs and hving to come back to write new stuff for this chapter.  Coming back an editing will be bearable...

Anyway, better get on.  Just working until 8pm tonight to keep my hand in really.  Want to edit the chapter into the new sub sections and tidy it up and maybe write a bit more.

x J

Still Tired and Bored!

This my 1000th post!  jeez louise. 

I did my work and then some!  I did some more typing up, have moved onto a new section and have copy and pasted some stuff from an old dissertation into my new section.  The chapter is about 6000 words long.

But I haven't even touched the SIDES of it!  The theory section is weak and too long and I have yet to tie my different theories into each other and say why I am not doing other theories.  The methods I have still to do blardy bla, is all so dull. 

I am mashed.  My brain is taking a holiday early it seems and just wants to switch off!  I am concentrating ok but what is coming out is pretty basic stuff.  I can't seem to reach my Inner Analyst, it seems she is on holiday early :)  Along with Academic Eloquance and Memory.

I do get like this on a Thursday if I have worked hard each day Bean has been with the childminder.  And I worked the past two evenings (I think).  I have been working a lot but havem't really got anywhere :(  Am so sad and a bit frightened.  I have a lot to do before we go on holiday and the thought of what I have to do, the fear of not doing it and being stressy on holiday, and the thought of having to do it when I get back after two weeks away, is getting pretty high and not helping!  Am getting a bit stressed!

I think I need some time away.  Put it away and come back refreshed on Saturday.  yes, saturday.  I might have to come back tomorrow though.  I will come back tomorrow.  The thing is every day I don't do my 500 words is another day without 500 words and actually it doesn't take me long to do.  Am just tired now is all.  I will come back and do more tomorrow when DB is bathing Bean.

I won't work tonight though, I will just mope around feeling guilty for not working ;0)  I must get some SLEEP!  Am knackered!

x J

Tiiiired and Boooooored

Arf I am tired and bored today!

I managed to change my childminder date to Monday so I have tomorrow off, which is grand because I need it!

Yesterday was a nightmare.  A nightmare!  Endnote wouldn't work in my methodology chapter, I think it was an old chapter and  had started it using Word's referencing system many moons ago, before I have endnote.  But it wouldn't put my new refs in properly or convert my old ones, it was just very unhappy.  I tried opening a new document and copy and pasting the etxt but it was like the text itself was diseased, even without the references, and would corrupt the new document :(  So after an hour of this and feeling utterly exasperated I decided it would be quicker for me to type the chapter out into a new document and re-do the refs as I went along with endnote.  I only had 4 refs!  but it was a nightmare anyway.  i typed half of it out and decided to just type out some more and write new stuff each day until I was done :(  Arf.  DB was adamant there would be a better way and I am sure there is but I do not know what it is and couldn't waste the whole day working it out only to find there was none.  I couldn't work out how to delete the page numbers i had at the bottom too - which sounds daft as I can actually do this normally, but think the doc was just corrupted and fecked anyway.  When at this stage of the PhD I could really do with knowing what I am writing is 'safe' you know?!  I might have taken the long way around but I feel good for doing it... which is what counts.

So I spent all day doing that and was knackered (and sick of typing!) but still had to do the day's work of 500 words so sat down and did that at around 7.15 once bean was asleep (after having a massive tantrum for about an hour because he was soooooo tired :( ).  Worked till about 8.30 then finally relaxed downstairs. 

Today I am very tired as I did not sleep well!  And I am bored, bored, bored of doing methodology stuff!  I have done half of my 500 words so that is good, and want to to more, more, more!  Need to write lots today.  Am freewriting again, just trying to get down as much as I can and not worry too much about form.  I have realised I need a theory I was going to ditch so haven't read as much as I should have, and generally find it quite complicated, so will need to go to the library after holiday and read up on it :(  YUK.

Ok... so better get writing! 

x J

Doing A-Ok

Today feels pretty slow going and Hard Work but actually I am doing pretty well.

I need to work more, faster, harder.  BUT I have gone over my target today of 500 words, as I did last night too, and have worked for long periods of time.  More working than not.  And I am pretty excitable today as I have had some lovely family news and am off on holiday next week :)  #Bout time I cheered up, really.

I am busy slowly going through old notes and meetings from Olde with my Sup which happened to be about my methodology.  I barely remember these meetings so think they must have been before I did my fieldwork (In 2008/9!  Feck that was a long time ago!) but are very useful.  I am sure I am repeating myself and I know I am writing it in a way that will need serious editing, but I am writing so nerr.

I am not angry with my childminder situ any more because she offered to take him for an extra day this week.  So I shall work Friday too although I would prefer Monday so will ask later.  Closer to holiday leaving time I thnk i will feel the pressure more and do better work than on a Friday :)

Erm...  so that is me!

Today is a great day.  So far.

Am so starving though, Sainsburys man better turn up soon with my sausage rolls or I shall be angered.  Oh he just rang, not for 45 mins!  I am starving for my sausage rolls!

x J 

Did lots!

I am so glad I worked tonight now!

I worked solidly for the past hour, putting together my notes into more orderly (and smaller) piles so I can access the info more easily, and then typing up one of my brainstorms linking together the different approaches I am doing.

I am starting to realise that this chapter may not be as descriptive as I hoped and may need some actual brain power.  But at the same time it is nice to be reminded of my theory in depth, as although I do know it, I don't really super dooper know it (any more).  I think having this chapter done will definitely add depth to my latest chapter re-writes.  Which is good.

I also managed to add nearly 600 words!  yay!  500 a day is what I would like to do, and seeing that they notes are all there I hope to achive it, even if it is pretty rubbish.  My Joan Bolker book encourages 'freewriting', just getting info out there, to prevent writer's block and encourage any kind of writing!  Without the words nothing would be edited/deleted.

So.  I am off now to sit and buzz in front of the tv.  I hate working late, i find it hard to wind-down and sleep badly.

Anywho, g'night!

x J

I DON'T WANT TO!

I don't want to be at work!

I don't want to! 

I could even tell myself I don't need to be up here, tonight, having had a day of it on my todd with a poorly, shouty toddler :)

So I am very proud that I am here.  I have eaten a fair few pringles in the time it has taken me to turn on my laptop, but I can't complain as it was the secret lure of those pringles that got me in this room in the first place (when I could be downstairs with my feet up with the biscuits.  d'oh).

Tonight I will work until about 9pm and I aim to do at least 3 sessions of 30 mins and write as much of my notes up as possible. 

First ten mins starts now...

x J

 

There is No Motivation; Just Determination :)

I came to my desk at 6ish and have been working pretty well, considering.

I am pretty sulky because my head wants to party after all the hard work I put into my lit review.  Is like having exams back-to-back and Just Not Fair.  It is also hard to come back to writing after editing.  It is a totally different form of work and you really have to keep urging yourself to editing and just write!  I will edit for ages even though the work I have done on this chapter is minimal and only rough.  Silly waste of time.  I have also been struggling not to be sidetracked, so doing my ten min rule religiously then letting myself wander all over the internet for as long as I need until I remember why I am here :)  Is only about 20 mins away tops which is ok for just starting back.  The gap will shorten as I get some typing rhythm going.

But for today I managed to complete a decent introduction (it was already pretty good which was a godsend) and then make the intro the structure of the chapter with headings and subheadings.  Now all I have to do is the colouring in :) I am pleased for now because sorting out this structure normally takes me a really long time, but because it is there I can literally start typing.

To help me work, as of now, I am going to:

• Take my mound of notes (nearly a foot high?!) and if I see an 'important' piece of paper type it into my chapter under a heading.  Chuck anything waffly/repeated.
• Not worry about style or flow, just freewrite stuff.
• Remember that this chapter is really descriptive and doesn't really need much individual thinking or analysis. It is a 'backbone' chapter, providing the support to the ideas chapters and analyses that branch off it.  SO DON'T OVER ANALYSE/COMPLICATE THINGS.
• Just think of this as a getting words down on paper mission.  As many words as possible.  make sense of them later.  Let's get the bulk down and then edit, edit, edit :)

Ooh I feel good now I know what I am doing.  I have some brain storms next to me of reasons I am using certain theories (I do not remember writing this, nor why I am using certain theories... so hurray for the other 'me' that did this work!)  which I will type up tomorrow.

I cannot tell you how much it hurts me to think I have to come back to work tomorrow.  Even though I have finished a chapter and realised I don't have to do another one, I STILL can't have a day off :(  Being motivated to come back day after day is so tricky, and I tell you I am chuffed if I have done 30 mins work in two hours.  All the momentum and motivation I had with the last chapter fizzled out when it finished.  Fizzled. 

Momentum and motivation are hard won.  You will NOT be motivated 'just like that'.  In fact I hardly believe in motivation.  It is so brief and unreliable!  Better thinking there is no motivation, just determination :)

Oh yeah!

x J

 

The Day I Found Out there is No 'Discussion' Chapter

OMFG!  (I use this in a joking way, I do not actually say OMG)

I have just been perusing a colleague's dissertation in order to work out what I should write for my methodology and what I should try and call it etc (Yes, I confess, i thought it might be titled 'methdology'.  It isn't.  It has a proper title of cleverness) and to do this I was going through his chapter summary at the beginning.

And I have noticed that he doesn't have a chapter called 'conclusion'.

Oh no.  And he doesn't have a chapter called 'discussion' (I have already worked out that the discussion chapter is not called the discussion chapter but also has a proper name! )  And as I worked this all out I also noticed that he doesn't have a discussion chapter at all really, but a conclusion.  And then, I realised, *I* don't need to write a discussion chapter!  OMFG.  My discussion chapter is not a stand alone chapter, but part of the conclusion!  The 'discussion' is the conclusion. 

And get this for how slow I am.  My best PhD friend said to me when I was freaking out about my discussion chapter all those months ago, she said 'there is no difference between the discussion chapter and the conclusion you know'.  And I heard this and was flummoxed, but carried on regardless because obviously, every thesis has a discussion...  and a conclusion (I have written two distinction level Masters theses.  I Know Things (soon to be revised to I Know Shit All)!).  And THEN, get this - it is hilarious; I went for a meeting with my Sup.  And he said to me during this meeting about the 'discussion chapter': 'what is the difference between a conclusion and a discussion?'  And I proudly answered, remembering what my wise best PhD friend said, 'there isn't a difference!  They are the same!'  And he smiled, I was correct.

And then I went home and wrote a 'discussion' chapter, with no conclusions, and, despite two friends telling me there is no such thing as a 'discussion' chapter, have planned for months and months to write a different chapter called a 'conclusion'.

Feck me.  I am so so so so so so so so so so so thick :)

This is a  marvellous finding as obviously the re-draft of my 'discussion' (now conclusion) has to be done anyway and can now just be the conclusion.  It also means I have one less chapter to write!  OMG HOW does that happen to anyone except me?!  God I am so thick I deserve a medal, I really do.  No WONDER my Sup was pissed off with the 'discussion' chapter I sent him; to him it would have just seemed as though I had written a LOT about nothing (9000 words just to round up the research) and completely ignored the point of the chapter i.e. further study etc.  And this is good that I have worked this out before I, ahem, try and write a 'conclusion'.

HOWEVER as far as the word count goes I am a bit worried...  I have just lost 8000 words I thought I was going to write.  I will only do 8 Chapters now which only rounds up to 64000 words :(  I'd say each chapter was about 9000 words but still... it falls short.

Uh oh.

And now I have the small worry about whether another chapter is somehow missing.  This dissertation I have read has TWO methodology chapters.  Eek.  Though it is a thesis about using a particular methodology to study conflict so guess that is why [blush].  I am so thick.  And actually, is only 7 chapters long and they do look like LONG chapters.

I am so thick I once wrote a practical criticism for my A Level in English Literature on a poem and when I asked about the poem to my teacher she said 'oh that poem?  nah, it was written when he was high on opium, it means nothing.'  I sheepishly threw away that analysis I spent HOURS on and was very chuffed with and wrote a new essay.  I could analyse ANYTHING and write ANYTHING about NOTHING.  This is not a skill, it is a WASTE OF TIME!

Seriously, am completely mad.

But I have one less chapter to write!  CHUFFED to bits.  And I realised this on a saturday to boot ;)  I can celebrate! (by having this evening off!)

What a (happy) twat.

 x J

On to the methodology

And after my lovely day off I am back to it :)

I am on a two week holiday in less than two weeks and am determined to get as much of this methodology chapter dones as I can, if not actually finished in some form.  Because then, then, then my friends I would only have the intro and concl to write from scratch :)  Oh what a lovely day!

I had a quick squizz through it the other day and it isn't so bad as it stands, I have about 2500 words down and a decent outline of the structure.  In all honesty I have no idea what goes in a methodology chapter so better find out today.

I have to put away my notes from the precious chapter and get out my methodology notes instead which i will do today.  I will work in ten minute sections as I am completely terrified about starting again from scratch!  From tonight (am working 5-8/9pm) I will start trying to achieve 500 words a day, in ten minute sections, with one day off a week.  This leaves me...  11 working days until I go on hols, so a possible 5500 words to have written.  That's ok by me.  This chapter will NOT be any more than 8,000 words.  I am struggling to work out how to fill 8000 to be honest!

Let me think.  A methodology will need (in no particular order):

• Explanation and defence of theoretical direction.  This will be a lot - about 3000 words.
• Research Question and how I got there.
• Explanation and defence of research carried out, methods used, 'sample', research assistants.  This will include a bit about why I didn't use other methods that might have also been suitable/acknoweldgement of how methods and theory did or did not match (my theory hates the idea of 'objective research' on behaviour but sadly I had to questionnaires and interviews as time didn't allow for ethnography).
• Explanation and defence of my case study country, area, region, villages.
• Explanation of the limits of my research.
• Ethical considerations.

Hmmm.  Anything else?!  Am not sure. 

Am annoyed as I think I have realised that I tried to say too much in my lit review and ended up with it being a garbled load of everything rather than concise presentation of a few ideas.  Eek.  This doesn't matter too much as it is the first draft and anything too 'much' for the lit review will probably go in the intro.  Is just disappointing and makes me dread my Sup's vicious criticism.  Anyway, it is written and ready to re-work at a later date :)

x J