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