Work is going well! Hurrah!
I didn't work on Saturday which was lovely and think I will keep that up. Managed to get out for a swim on Saturday too which was great - I haven't exercised for aaaaaages so felt brill for getting out and about, but also was just lovely to leave the house on mah todd to do something for a wee while just for me.
I did work yesterday and am working agian this morning. This morning was a bit weird as Bean woke up at 5am, I kept him in bed until 6ish when I gave up and went downstairs with him, then at 8 he wanted to go back to bed for a nap which was ace, but I slept in till 10am missing an hour of work :0( Was worth it though in the sense that I am actually refreshed and able to work - otherwise I would be so shattered.
My baby is being super clingy today. I think I might pop him in my mei tai sling later on my back so he can be with me while I am cooking. Otherwise he follows me from the fridge to the oven to the table and I feel like I am always running away from him! And he clambers up my legs so am forever unpeeling him, bless him!
Am not working tomorrow, it's DBs day at the office. Back on Weds morning though. Mornings are the best for me I am working out, I do actually get on with it.
x J
Monday, 8 November 2010
Friday, 5 November 2010
Just checking in
Worked yesterday afternoon and am working again this morning until one.
Just getting together all my analyses and writing them up into my chapter. It never occured to me how much using my own research info would be like using references to and quotes from books. I have planned it all, am writing up the main themes and what people said and next to that each village ref so I can pad it out with more detail and proper quotes. And it really is coming together like a proper thing! It looks like I really found some information out! Hehe, how funny. And in this I also want to keep bringing in book references and social theory. One thing my Sup said that suprised me was that I do have to infer sometimes from the information. I can say 'One could argue that this shows...' which I didn't know, I thought I had to stick to what was obvious but there are definitely a couple of inferences I would like to make. Am most pleased. This is going to be a big chapter, I haven't even started to contextualise the info with general knowledge I have from being in India and just talking to locals.
Is fab and actually really easy. Am definitely going full speed on this one at the mo, just writing it all up. Just got to get on and not procrastinate... I have till the end of next week to write this all up, then I am starting to bring the chapter together by joining up the primary research with the documentary evidence that backs it up and creates a certain 'voice' or narrative that is the chapter.
When I have finished this chapter I will have done half of the writing up! Then I will start bringing together the thesis as a whole, rather than working in segregated chapters. Ooooh!
It shall be mine yet...
x J
Just getting together all my analyses and writing them up into my chapter. It never occured to me how much using my own research info would be like using references to and quotes from books. I have planned it all, am writing up the main themes and what people said and next to that each village ref so I can pad it out with more detail and proper quotes. And it really is coming together like a proper thing! It looks like I really found some information out! Hehe, how funny. And in this I also want to keep bringing in book references and social theory. One thing my Sup said that suprised me was that I do have to infer sometimes from the information. I can say 'One could argue that this shows...' which I didn't know, I thought I had to stick to what was obvious but there are definitely a couple of inferences I would like to make. Am most pleased. This is going to be a big chapter, I haven't even started to contextualise the info with general knowledge I have from being in India and just talking to locals.
Is fab and actually really easy. Am definitely going full speed on this one at the mo, just writing it all up. Just got to get on and not procrastinate... I have till the end of next week to write this all up, then I am starting to bring the chapter together by joining up the primary research with the documentary evidence that backs it up and creates a certain 'voice' or narrative that is the chapter.
When I have finished this chapter I will have done half of the writing up! Then I will start bringing together the thesis as a whole, rather than working in segregated chapters. Ooooh!
It shall be mine yet...
x J
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Writing Up - Advice
From my kind supervisor for me to remember when trying to write:
*Always signpost for the reader, don't leave them guessing where you are going. The introduction is very, very inmportant. Have an introduction for each chapter, tell the reader what happened in the chapter before, what will happen in this chapter and at the end, summarise and say how it links to the next chapter.
*The thesis should always be driven by your thesis. Don't write anything unnecessary. Each chapter is a process of unpacking, disaggregating and deconstructing whaty is going on you are not simply engaged in narrative. Be explicit and clear to the reader so what you hear in your head is down on the paper - don't assume they know what you know!
*Imagine your thesis is a skeleton/thread throughout the PhD to guide the reader. Hangs loosely together but is invisible under the meat and bones that are your research and the chapters.
*Don't say 'we have seen that' or 'this chapter looks at'. No one wants to know what you have seen or are looking at, they want to know what is being *argued*, what is being unpacked, what is being *analysed*.
*Be aware that only three people will read this version of the PhD (until you try and make it a book that others probably won't read either ;0)). You are writing for these people. They are busy and looking for certain things so they will skim read, they know what they are looking for. They won't quibble with you over small details, but they will want you to be consistent. They won't quibble over minor references you have used but will over the big names. You must know who says what and why and be able to relate the nig names to each other. 'So and so believes this but I know that so and so would disagree...'. With the VIVA this kind of knowledge is very impressive and if you can say something about current lit, after your thesis was published, this will be even better.
*Your examiners will firstly read introductions and conclusions and go to the references to see what you are saying, why, and how clearly, before reading anything else. Again, make these clear as day and you will have the examiner in a very good mood. This work is not a magical mystery tour.
* Getting the PhD is about showing that you can explain what is in your head to someone else. It is about being able to engage in a high level of intellectula activity and make it so someone else can understand it and learn (maybe!) from it.
* Throughout the thesis send out little signals regarding the final analysis - the discussion shouldn't be a surprise but will be developed from these signals.
tis all for now :0)
x J
*Always signpost for the reader, don't leave them guessing where you are going. The introduction is very, very inmportant. Have an introduction for each chapter, tell the reader what happened in the chapter before, what will happen in this chapter and at the end, summarise and say how it links to the next chapter.
*The thesis should always be driven by your thesis. Don't write anything unnecessary. Each chapter is a process of unpacking, disaggregating and deconstructing whaty is going on you are not simply engaged in narrative. Be explicit and clear to the reader so what you hear in your head is down on the paper - don't assume they know what you know!
*Imagine your thesis is a skeleton/thread throughout the PhD to guide the reader. Hangs loosely together but is invisible under the meat and bones that are your research and the chapters.
*Don't say 'we have seen that' or 'this chapter looks at'. No one wants to know what you have seen or are looking at, they want to know what is being *argued*, what is being unpacked, what is being *analysed*.
*Be aware that only three people will read this version of the PhD (until you try and make it a book that others probably won't read either ;0)). You are writing for these people. They are busy and looking for certain things so they will skim read, they know what they are looking for. They won't quibble with you over small details, but they will want you to be consistent. They won't quibble over minor references you have used but will over the big names. You must know who says what and why and be able to relate the nig names to each other. 'So and so believes this but I know that so and so would disagree...'. With the VIVA this kind of knowledge is very impressive and if you can say something about current lit, after your thesis was published, this will be even better.
*Your examiners will firstly read introductions and conclusions and go to the references to see what you are saying, why, and how clearly, before reading anything else. Again, make these clear as day and you will have the examiner in a very good mood. This work is not a magical mystery tour.
* Getting the PhD is about showing that you can explain what is in your head to someone else. It is about being able to engage in a high level of intellectula activity and make it so someone else can understand it and learn (maybe!) from it.
* Throughout the thesis send out little signals regarding the final analysis - the discussion shouldn't be a surprise but will be developed from these signals.
tis all for now :0)
x J
Still A-OK!
All is still well in my world. Phew!
I have had this morning to work, though admittedly I have not done much. At all. But then it is nice to be able to catch up on normal life (bills, emails etc) and sort of relax a bit before am on duty with the wean and all that entails :0) I have tomorrow, Friday and Saturday morning booked to work too so all good. May work Sunday doing some reading. Started some reading last night too so not a total skiver...
DB is looking after Bean brilliantly, it really feels like we are a team for once instead of in competition for who is the most tired, most stressed and who deserves the most time to work. Hurray!
Thank you for your lovely comments by the way, am very touched.
Gosh I am thirsty!
Uh oh I can her the baby screaming his head off! think I better go and see if he needs a nap. Is nearly time for me to stop work anyway - we are swimming after lunch so I have to leave early today and get him and me ready and him napped. And am just skiving ;0) Will be back tomorrow properly, am just taking this wee time to bask in the pleasure that is, for once, feeling on top of stuff.
x J
I have had this morning to work, though admittedly I have not done much. At all. But then it is nice to be able to catch up on normal life (bills, emails etc) and sort of relax a bit before am on duty with the wean and all that entails :0) I have tomorrow, Friday and Saturday morning booked to work too so all good. May work Sunday doing some reading. Started some reading last night too so not a total skiver...
DB is looking after Bean brilliantly, it really feels like we are a team for once instead of in competition for who is the most tired, most stressed and who deserves the most time to work. Hurray!
Thank you for your lovely comments by the way, am very touched.
Gosh I am thirsty!
Uh oh I can her the baby screaming his head off! think I better go and see if he needs a nap. Is nearly time for me to stop work anyway - we are swimming after lunch so I have to leave early today and get him and me ready and him napped. And am just skiving ;0) Will be back tomorrow properly, am just taking this wee time to bask in the pleasure that is, for once, feeling on top of stuff.
x J
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
YAYYYYYYY!
I can only be quick but am taking the rest of the day off (with an article to read of course) to look after the wean who is currently trying to pull the radio off the shelf, and the lamp...
BUT I went in to see my Sup and he is really pleased with my work! No WAY. He said it was excellent and I apologised for it being so rough and he said that the intro was excellent and it didn't look at all rough, and that the rest was wonderful! How jammy is that. Somehow I managed to make two nights of work look like two months, am just so relieved. ANd so pleased that he made me do that work because now I am really back into the swing of things and have lots of work to do between now and Jan, is all very organised and just a case of getting on with it.
AND today was the first tijme I have left Bean in the daytime to go off on my own, and it was fine.
AND DB was looking after him and did a marvellous job, Bean is all fed and watered and clean and most importantly, had a grand time with his Daddy :0) DB is super keen to keep doing this, so I work mornings on four days a week and he works afternoons, I have Saturdays and he has one working day a week to go inton his client's office. Sounds great to me, Bean is in such a fine mood having been cared by by both his parents.
So am in a great mood and looking forward to an afternoon slumming about with my baby knowing that my PhD is still safe and sound.
Thank you for seeing me through my whinging. Am so grateful. Hopefully I can start to be a better example of a PhD Mum :0)
Now I feel back in the swing of things I think I can drop the 'coming back to it after maternity leave' tag. Am not 'coming' back, am BACK! hehe!
x J
BUT I went in to see my Sup and he is really pleased with my work! No WAY. He said it was excellent and I apologised for it being so rough and he said that the intro was excellent and it didn't look at all rough, and that the rest was wonderful! How jammy is that. Somehow I managed to make two nights of work look like two months, am just so relieved. ANd so pleased that he made me do that work because now I am really back into the swing of things and have lots of work to do between now and Jan, is all very organised and just a case of getting on with it.
AND today was the first tijme I have left Bean in the daytime to go off on my own, and it was fine.
AND DB was looking after him and did a marvellous job, Bean is all fed and watered and clean and most importantly, had a grand time with his Daddy :0) DB is super keen to keep doing this, so I work mornings on four days a week and he works afternoons, I have Saturdays and he has one working day a week to go inton his client's office. Sounds great to me, Bean is in such a fine mood having been cared by by both his parents.
So am in a great mood and looking forward to an afternoon slumming about with my baby knowing that my PhD is still safe and sound.
Thank you for seeing me through my whinging. Am so grateful. Hopefully I can start to be a better example of a PhD Mum :0)
Now I feel back in the swing of things I think I can drop the 'coming back to it after maternity leave' tag. Am not 'coming' back, am BACK! hehe!
x J
Monday, 1 November 2010
huzzahs!
I am working again! AGAIN!
DB is bathing the baby, dinner is cooked (Jamie Oliver's Beef and Ale Stew - is the shizzle of stews) and I have to type up my fieldwork findings that I worked out yesterday. I ahve the whole of this evening :0)))))) DB and I are totally back on track and I feel more relaxed all the time. Just need to get exercising again and I will feel totally coowell.
I am not sure about my fieldwork analysis... I mean, I really like it and I have lots of information that answers my (vague) research questions. So that's all grand. Only, I seem to have analysed it quite easily. I haven't used NVIVO. I haven't fretted over themes or justifying why I am asking some questions and not others. I just went through the interview transcripts and wrote down what was repetitive. Obviously the transcripts follow a format as I had questions for the interviewers to follow so I can easily draw out themes according to the answers. It's all been quite simple.
I suppose I should just be pleased rather than suspicious...
Anyway, am going to type it all up now then I can show my Sup tomorrow what the chuff I got up to in India and that it was, actually, worth it :0)
Am so dreading going to Uni tomorrow. Really dreading it! Am dreading being away from my baby - I hate leaving him so much! Am dreading the meeting. Am dreading missing my train home and being stranded while my baby needs feeding at home (should I drive? Is that just silly as the trains are every half an hour lol). Am feeling a bit stressed as I have lots of chores to do in Uni that I should do tomorrow but don't really want to spend the time doing them. Library etc. I might just not do them and stick to the meeting. I don't know why I am so skeered! Is really Very Silly. Mild agoraphobia I suspect - I have hardly left my village for a year let alone hit the City! Yep, that's what it is. I should go and be pleased to be amongst humanity as a normal person. And maybe buy myself a new top to celebrate being in a Big Place ;0)
Ok back to work. Well, must mash some tatties first, then am back to work.
Am so much happier! Thanks for sticking with me through my whining. I really hope that is all there will be and it will only be downhill (in the good way) from now on...
watch this space!
x J
DB is bathing the baby, dinner is cooked (Jamie Oliver's Beef and Ale Stew - is the shizzle of stews) and I have to type up my fieldwork findings that I worked out yesterday. I ahve the whole of this evening :0)))))) DB and I are totally back on track and I feel more relaxed all the time. Just need to get exercising again and I will feel totally coowell.
I am not sure about my fieldwork analysis... I mean, I really like it and I have lots of information that answers my (vague) research questions. So that's all grand. Only, I seem to have analysed it quite easily. I haven't used NVIVO. I haven't fretted over themes or justifying why I am asking some questions and not others. I just went through the interview transcripts and wrote down what was repetitive. Obviously the transcripts follow a format as I had questions for the interviewers to follow so I can easily draw out themes according to the answers. It's all been quite simple.
I suppose I should just be pleased rather than suspicious...
Anyway, am going to type it all up now then I can show my Sup tomorrow what the chuff I got up to in India and that it was, actually, worth it :0)
Am so dreading going to Uni tomorrow. Really dreading it! Am dreading being away from my baby - I hate leaving him so much! Am dreading the meeting. Am dreading missing my train home and being stranded while my baby needs feeding at home (should I drive? Is that just silly as the trains are every half an hour lol). Am feeling a bit stressed as I have lots of chores to do in Uni that I should do tomorrow but don't really want to spend the time doing them. Library etc. I might just not do them and stick to the meeting. I don't know why I am so skeered! Is really Very Silly. Mild agoraphobia I suspect - I have hardly left my village for a year let alone hit the City! Yep, that's what it is. I should go and be pleased to be amongst humanity as a normal person. And maybe buy myself a new top to celebrate being in a Big Place ;0)
Ok back to work. Well, must mash some tatties first, then am back to work.
Am so much happier! Thanks for sticking with me through my whining. I really hope that is all there will be and it will only be downhill (in the good way) from now on...
watch this space!
x J
While the baby naps...
I am busy working. I hope it's a long nap but think it will only be half an hour. I can't work when he is awake because he spends all his time whinging that he can't go on the laptop and pulling at it or trying to type!
I managed to do lots of work yesterday... was interrupted but seriously got my head down and got on and worked until 10pm. Came down from the office at about 6pm to enjoy halloween - I love the wee trick or treaters ;0) - and worked on the settee while DB shopped and cooked us dins. Very grateful so I was :0) Am still quite cross but am always cross these days!
Anyway, analysed and collated together my interviews from India yesterday and have some great info and have realised that I was trying to put together my chapter the wrong way. Instead of having the documental evidence at the beginning and then my research - both of which say the same thing - I should have it the other way around, so my research is the focus of the chapter and the documental evidence backs it up. Sounds so obvious now but honestly I have been confuddled about this for about a year! Will also need to change around the order of two chapters for the thesis to flow and means I have actually worked out my thesis completely now! Even the discussion now, I know what I want to say when I didn't before :0) How fab is that. Am very quietly delighted. I haven't told anyone as is just a small victory in a whole quagmire of stress and drama, but is really reassuring. All I have to do now (all... ALL) is write it... Great thing too is that my Sup wants to see my writing for this chapter tomorrow and with the documental evidence I have 3,000 wds down already :0) Today I have to get the skeleton of my research findings down. Let's hope the baby naps for a while! DB is out all day today so I am full time Mumming until hopefully he is back at about 5pm. Then I shall work all night. I reckon five hours should do it and then I should be well on my way to having the first draft of this chapter done with about 5/6,ooo words.
Hurray!
x J
I managed to do lots of work yesterday... was interrupted but seriously got my head down and got on and worked until 10pm. Came down from the office at about 6pm to enjoy halloween - I love the wee trick or treaters ;0) - and worked on the settee while DB shopped and cooked us dins. Very grateful so I was :0) Am still quite cross but am always cross these days!
Anyway, analysed and collated together my interviews from India yesterday and have some great info and have realised that I was trying to put together my chapter the wrong way. Instead of having the documental evidence at the beginning and then my research - both of which say the same thing - I should have it the other way around, so my research is the focus of the chapter and the documental evidence backs it up. Sounds so obvious now but honestly I have been confuddled about this for about a year! Will also need to change around the order of two chapters for the thesis to flow and means I have actually worked out my thesis completely now! Even the discussion now, I know what I want to say when I didn't before :0) How fab is that. Am very quietly delighted. I haven't told anyone as is just a small victory in a whole quagmire of stress and drama, but is really reassuring. All I have to do now (all... ALL) is write it... Great thing too is that my Sup wants to see my writing for this chapter tomorrow and with the documental evidence I have 3,000 wds down already :0) Today I have to get the skeleton of my research findings down. Let's hope the baby naps for a while! DB is out all day today so I am full time Mumming until hopefully he is back at about 5pm. Then I shall work all night. I reckon five hours should do it and then I should be well on my way to having the first draft of this chapter done with about 5/6,ooo words.
Hurray!
x J
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