dissertation support group

Dunno about Baby Jesus, but I'll keep an eye out on you. If you're around too much, I will yell at you. Please do likewise.

I am far worse than you. I am halfway into my 6 month fellowship, where I have nothing but the dissertation to do, and half is gone, and i haven't gotten very far. i did get to India and I did write a conflict resolution brochure (50 pages single spaced) for an unrelated project (well paid though), but the Dreaded D has been on ice. This week I got jumpstarted and I have officially entered the freakout zone.
I have drafts of 4 chapters, i have one more and intro to write and edit the whole damn thing. oooooooh, boy....gotta run!

We could use this thread as a punching clock: you gotta report here when you get on a2k and sign out when you're getting off - thus keeping track of wasted time and numbers of shirking per day. That would be mui embarassing in my case, maybe the sheer shame would keep me off much more...

what's your thesis, gargamel?

GET BACK TO WORK!

sheeesh. ok. no, i'm really leavin. signing off (going boxing, don't tell anyone).

cracked my head with statistics today. got the fright of my life, when my SPSS announced my license is no longer valid and SPSS must shut down. Restored computer to a few days back and am making sure not to allow it to connect to internet... so far so good. WHY oh WHY did i run around slovakia with questionnaires?!?!?! now i have to evaluate them all.... ugghhhgg.

You can't make a Chi-square with a roundhouse.

chi square is easy. but who the hell should understand PLUM ordinal regressions? eeeeh, i'll just do with chi square. gutt enuff for a slovak.


out!

Yikes, Dag!

At least you get to travel.

I'm writing a collection of short stories. I've completed a little over half. I'm shooting for 200pages. And then massive editing in March and April.

My girlfriend is a Rhet Comp Phd (barf) and begins the dreaded D next semester.

uh....back in...

what's a rhet comp? short stories? i'd love to write short stories. then again, if i was supposed to write short stories, i'd want to write an academic treatise - always that what i'm not supposed to be doing. i LOVE writing, but i have outlived my topic, been stuck with it too long, moved on to other areas of interest..... or did i? not really, today i got really into it and liked it... i guess it was just my lame lazy excuse for the past few months of lingering... ATTA GIRL! and outta here!

My dear support group,

here I go again. I haven't touched this thread for two years. I haven't touched my dissertation for two years either...

Now I have this summer, that's right, July and August, to finish what I can. I do need a support group. Since I'm still working more or less full time (I negotiated with the boss that I can only focus on essentials to keep the office running, give work to interns, and deal with my thesis...but that amounts to almost full time), I need a strict schedule. My mother, who's frighteningly always right (family therapist that knows me through and through) claims I need a schedule and a support group to check in on me. Preferably with a whip. I have very little discipline, and this endeavor demands a lot of it. It will be a personal battle. But darn it, if I win, I'll feel soooo goooood. (Ugh, it's not helping). If I lose, I'll have to pay another $5,000 in continuing student fees (eh, not helping either).

If all goes well, I should have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mostly available to me. Tuesdays and Thursdays I work with the interns. I should be able to commit some 30 hours a week or more to writing.

Problem: I already don't believe myself that I can do it. That's a problem I'm aware of. Not sure how to tackle that though. Not that I don't believe I cannot write such a thing, I can if I have to, but I think I believe I'm too lazy to believe I can do it if I don't have to. That should be resolvable, right. Change the self-image and such. How do we make change happen? First, we realize what the problem is. OK, got it. Then we envision what we want...uhhh.... sorta got it, but the motivation is lacking. Guilt, shame, parents...got all that. But my own motivation is minimal. Those might be lazy excuses again, not sure. In any case, I'll deal with that ongoingly.

Today is Tuesday, so I'm off to the office. But tomorrow, I MUST start.

SO HELP ME DOG, and a2k!

Envision both eventualities.

You don't finish your dissertation. People ask you about it... "So, did you ever get your Ph.D?" (That's what it's for, right, getting a Ph.D?) You sigh, you say no. You make vague noises about getting to it someday. People smile at you tightly and change the subject.

You see a job advertised that would be so exactly what you want -- but it requires a Ph.D.

You date a guy who's brilliant, has several degrees, you talk about classes you've taken, you realize you took some classes together, he talks about how hard it was to finish up and get his degree and how great it was when he finally did, looks at you expectantly, and you admit you never finished. He's nice about it, but you see he's disappointed.

(Those are just samples, fill in your own.) (And if there aren't any bad "if you don't finish" examples you can think of, don't finish.)

Meanwhile, if you DO finish...

Well, rather than giving samples I'll share my story. I went after my master's degree in a really weird way. I was living in two cities, taking classes in two cities, and working in two cities simultaneously. It was insane. I had one more paper to write (dissertation basically) that was to be done independently, then I'd get my master's. (If you're going for a master's rather than Ph.D, too, replace that in all that I've already said.) Shortly after I completed course work we got married -- a very DIY, labor-intensive wedding that required all of my spare time and energy. After that I started on another job in Madison, and was busy. Then we moved to L.A., and I started my all-encompassing job there.

I was hired for the L.A. job even though I didn't have my master's -- which was required -- because I looked good otherwise and I was so close. I said I'd finish that last paper soon, and have an official master's.

When it came up in casual conversation I'd just say I did have the master's, since I wasn't going to learn more before getting the actual diploma, and it was too complicated to explain. (When it was less casual or when I had more time, I explained.)

Years started rolling by. Still no paper. The longer the interval, the harder it was to get motivated to DO it.

Then we started thinking about having a baby. I realized that as busy as I was now, there was no way I'd have an EASIER time of doing this paper once a baby was born. So I finally, finally knuckled down.

It was painful as hell. Sooo so painful. But getting that thing FINISHED, getting an A, and getting my diploma together rank as one of the high points of my life. I was positively euphoric. (And after nearly a year of trying, I got pregnant the next month.)

It's just so great to get it out of the way. You can do it.

that sounds nice.

sigh.

I think I should give myself one week per chapter.

They are mostly written. I have a lot of editing, additions, re-writing. That way I'd have a first full draft towards the end of August, with still some time to read over (or buffer for chapters that need more work).

So this week, I'll start with chapter 2 (which is really first chapter. Chapter 1 will be intro, lit review...blahblahblah...that i can write in my sleep at the very end).

So, I have till this Sunday to make it readable. How's that? If soz says I can do it, I will try my damnedest.

So I will find my fears and face them
Or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream
or I will kneel and plead
I'll fight like hell,
to hide that I'm giving up ...



I mean, NO! I'll just end it will I will fight like hell. (Bright Eyes, btw)

Soz says you can do it.

I'm willing to wield a whip if you think that will help. Make goals you're sure you can achieve, though, not over-optimistic ones -- you'll just get frustrated and stop again if you set unreasonable goals. If you think a chapter a week is reasonable, go for it.

If you want the whip, on Sunday I expect you to report that chapter 2 is readable, and if you don't I'll go hunting for you.

Of course you can do it, dag. Not only that but you WILL do it. What is this **** about no motivation? Motivation, shmotivation! Just do it for crissakes. Then, when it's done it will no longer be hanging over your head like an anvil waiting to drop. It will be done and done forever!




Get to work!







<soz can be the good cop and I'll be the bad cop >

aPPROACH AVOIDANCE IS QUITE COMMON. The further along you get, the more your work looks like its so damned obvious that you would never grant YOU a degree based on what youve come up with (That is the most common source of thesis and dissertation abandonment). DONT ABANDON IT. You can always fix the short comings with your first paper (pPhD). Then if you do a post Doc, your dissertation can occupy a small drawer of things that you wanna publish .
PS,Ive forgotten (its been a couple of years here) Whats your general subject? Is your reserach recent ? or is it in some area that is being added to hourly (like nano chem or particle physics or (gasp) vertebrate paleontology)

historical memory in central european politics. more specifically in relation to perpetuation of ethnic conflict and tensions for political agendas.
my research is from 2004 mostly... some time ago. but that's ok, because it concerns one statue in a slovak/hungarian town that was squabbled about for 11 years and finally raised and revealed at that time....

So...

You've got your data?

You've got it organized?

You've got an outline?

You've written a lot of it?

You've jumped through all the other hoops?








Setting goals is good... actually sitting down and doing the work is better.

You will report to us what has been accomplished? We expect to see progress!





Imagine going through life ABD. All the other work you've done on your Ph.D. forever tainted by the one hurdle you didn't jump.





We shall be very disappointed. We shall ride you with guilt. You will have to give up A2K in shame and dishonor because we will dog you with the question on a daily basis.

Get to work!