Despite the fact that the children are back at school again, I am still largely working in the bedroom/'satellite study'. This is because many of my textbooks are upstairs at the moment and I can't be bothered to haul them en masse downstairs at the moment. Plus when the Bright-Eyed Boy arrives home from school, he is eager to get onto the family computer which occupies the big desk in the downstairs 'study' and hops about until I give in and move my laptop and books upstairs. Although I do work on my laptop there, I unplug it and take it upstairs for safe-keeping if I leave the house: the front room windows are a bit to close to the pavement and I haven't got the blinds I've been hankering after yet. Actually I have been working downstairs today. It's much brighter and the proximity of the street is a welcome distraction if I'm feeling gormless. At this time of year the south-facing aspect is really a pleasant bonus rather than a hindrance. I'm making reasonable progress at the moment trying to verbalise the scope of the thesis, but am constantly tempted to go off at a tangent on some sub-topic that I really intended to expand upon later. I keep having to rein myself back in and just put up 'signposts'. I've also discovered that my brain works better on a high-sugar intake - it really does! If the words start to fail, it's a fair bet that a coffee and a Mars Bar will ensure a return to full fluency. It's a dangerous precedent to set at such an early stage, particularly as I spend much of my time just sitting about. At this rate I could double in size before I finish my PhD!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Mars to the Rescue!
Despite the fact that the children are back at school again, I am still largely working in the bedroom/'satellite study'. This is because many of my textbooks are upstairs at the moment and I can't be bothered to haul them en masse downstairs at the moment. Plus when the Bright-Eyed Boy arrives home from school, he is eager to get onto the family computer which occupies the big desk in the downstairs 'study' and hops about until I give in and move my laptop and books upstairs. Although I do work on my laptop there, I unplug it and take it upstairs for safe-keeping if I leave the house: the front room windows are a bit to close to the pavement and I haven't got the blinds I've been hankering after yet. Actually I have been working downstairs today. It's much brighter and the proximity of the street is a welcome distraction if I'm feeling gormless. At this time of year the south-facing aspect is really a pleasant bonus rather than a hindrance. I'm making reasonable progress at the moment trying to verbalise the scope of the thesis, but am constantly tempted to go off at a tangent on some sub-topic that I really intended to expand upon later. I keep having to rein myself back in and just put up 'signposts'. I've also discovered that my brain works better on a high-sugar intake - it really does! If the words start to fail, it's a fair bet that a coffee and a Mars Bar will ensure a return to full fluency. It's a dangerous precedent to set at such an early stage, particularly as I spend much of my time just sitting about. At this rate I could double in size before I finish my PhD!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Routines and Expectations
OK...I've set myself the goal of starting work by 9.30am latest each weekday morning. This allows me enough time to get up (6.30) and make sure that the children (and dog) have been fed and are ready for school, get any washing on and sort out what we're having for dinner (i.e. peer into the freezer) before walking the bright-eyed boy (and dog) to school. Fortunately, the husband is brilliant and makes tea, empties the dishwasher, assembles packed-lunches and walks the girl to the bus before taking himself off to work. If he's got to go on site, I have to incorporate his duties into my routine too. I usually get back home by 9.00: Radio 4 on, coffee on, sit at computer mug and marmalade toast in hand to check emails and facebook/blog for about half an hour. This short respite is very important to my psychological well-being being, as it represents a buffer between family and 'work' life. I won't do anything even remotely domestic, not even hang up laundry, until the late afternoon when I have to pick up the boy and daughter #3 arrives home: my study time is way too precious. It also provides me with the chance to limber up my word processing skills (mentally as well as actually), much as an arthritic must stretch their limbs before attempting any physical exercise.
I was somewhat disturbed, whilst in conversation with a friend, that a mutual academic acquaintance of ours (NOT at my currently uni.) whose doctoral studies had seemed to have run like a dream - had been told at the viva that the submitted thesis did not contain enough original scholarship to merit a PhD - it had to be extensively rewritten over the next 12months, or submitted as an MPhil. The student was naturally enough devastated, as was their supervisor, who had assured them throughout the whole three years that their doctoral programme was a paragon of scholarly virtue. Their organisation and commitment was second to none; the relationship with the supervisor one of friendly mutual respect. It was only when the appointed internal examiner eventually looked worriedly over the completed dissertation that alarm bells began to sound. So what went wrong? And how can this dreadful and wholly traumatic situation be avoided? I really feel very, very sorry for candidate, supervisor and their department. If regular reviews have been carried out to the satisfaction of all concerned, what more can be done? And what is to say that the external examiner hasn't just got out of the wrong side of bed, is having a bad day, or just doesn't like the thesis or the arguments therein? (That, too, happened to my friend's partner: they had 'the' expert in their particular field at the viva, who didn't seem to like the fact that their scholarship was repeatedly taken to task). Apparently, our mutual friend's work was stunningly well-written in beautifully polished prose -and that may have contributed to the situation: did the well-turned phrase camouflage the apparent shortfall of original content? But surely the supervisor would have realised this? And how much original scholarship is sufficient? When reviews of literature are practically mandatory, and one is called to engage continually with accepted scholarship on one's topic, it is very difficult to crank the argument around to display just how different our own argument is, without looking too deliberately perverse or obstreperous. On the other hand, we owe it to ourselves to reiterate that what we are doing is a departure from what has gone before!
Perhaps a process of self-review is in order (and this is what I intend to incorporate into my chapters) whereby we provide meta-comments about what we have said and its place in scholarship both pro and contra received wisdom. I've already got this underway, highlighting it as blue text. At the completion of each chapter, I'm going to assemble these meta-comments into a final summary, ultimately deleting the blue mid-text insertions. That way I can both monitor my own progress and point out original contribution to other parties (supervisor and examiners). It should also act as an alert if I'm falling short of content, or the argument is faltering. It could also be used as a pointer for what lies ahead. I think that I'm also going to insert (as a temporary measure) a chapter-by-chapter bibliography so that I can keep tabs on the spread of scholarship and note/reassess any gaps/over-dependence. God, it's so difficult to be interesting, cogent, objective and original! But at least I am now aware of the need to say what I'm going to do, do it and then tell everyone what I've done - and how brilliant it is!
I was somewhat disturbed, whilst in conversation with a friend, that a mutual academic acquaintance of ours (NOT at my currently uni.) whose doctoral studies had seemed to have run like a dream - had been told at the viva that the submitted thesis did not contain enough original scholarship to merit a PhD - it had to be extensively rewritten over the next 12months, or submitted as an MPhil. The student was naturally enough devastated, as was their supervisor, who had assured them throughout the whole three years that their doctoral programme was a paragon of scholarly virtue. Their organisation and commitment was second to none; the relationship with the supervisor one of friendly mutual respect. It was only when the appointed internal examiner eventually looked worriedly over the completed dissertation that alarm bells began to sound. So what went wrong? And how can this dreadful and wholly traumatic situation be avoided? I really feel very, very sorry for candidate, supervisor and their department. If regular reviews have been carried out to the satisfaction of all concerned, what more can be done? And what is to say that the external examiner hasn't just got out of the wrong side of bed, is having a bad day, or just doesn't like the thesis or the arguments therein? (That, too, happened to my friend's partner: they had 'the' expert in their particular field at the viva, who didn't seem to like the fact that their scholarship was repeatedly taken to task). Apparently, our mutual friend's work was stunningly well-written in beautifully polished prose -and that may have contributed to the situation: did the well-turned phrase camouflage the apparent shortfall of original content? But surely the supervisor would have realised this? And how much original scholarship is sufficient? When reviews of literature are practically mandatory, and one is called to engage continually with accepted scholarship on one's topic, it is very difficult to crank the argument around to display just how different our own argument is, without looking too deliberately perverse or obstreperous. On the other hand, we owe it to ourselves to reiterate that what we are doing is a departure from what has gone before!
Perhaps a process of self-review is in order (and this is what I intend to incorporate into my chapters) whereby we provide meta-comments about what we have said and its place in scholarship both pro and contra received wisdom. I've already got this underway, highlighting it as blue text. At the completion of each chapter, I'm going to assemble these meta-comments into a final summary, ultimately deleting the blue mid-text insertions. That way I can both monitor my own progress and point out original contribution to other parties (supervisor and examiners). It should also act as an alert if I'm falling short of content, or the argument is faltering. It could also be used as a pointer for what lies ahead. I think that I'm also going to insert (as a temporary measure) a chapter-by-chapter bibliography so that I can keep tabs on the spread of scholarship and note/reassess any gaps/over-dependence. God, it's so difficult to be interesting, cogent, objective and original! But at least I am now aware of the need to say what I'm going to do, do it and then tell everyone what I've done - and how brilliant it is!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Nose to the Wheel....Shoulder to the Grindstone etc...
Back from uni. and quite inspired on the academic front: it's really good to feel a part of an academic community rather than hovering around on the periphery as I have done for the past couple of years (since I finished my MA, I suppose). My supervisor seems to think that I'm basically heading in the right direction (which is quite heartening) and is urging me to consolidate my random thoughts into some solid doctoral writing. And I wholeheartedly concur: I've identified that (just) one of my personal failings is an inability/unwillingness to pursue a topic, pin it down, wrestle it into submission and tie it up in a pretty bow of words. I'm really good at appropriating research, hounding out papers and digging up references only to let it drift and move onto new areas of interest. I've got to ditch the heavyweight butterfly approach and follow my current topic to its natural conclusion. That being so, I've been tasked to produce 3000 or so words (by our next meeting - in 4 weeks time) tackling the status questionis, specifically the scope of my thesis.
If I consider that I will probably have a total number of seven chapters, and seven terms left until a nominal submission date in 2012, that falls out at one chapter per term - an entirely reasonable rate of work. I've decided that a good way to mentally and physically organise this will be with seven actual 'chapter boxes' (boxfiles) wherein I shall keep all the references, bibliographies, references pertinent to that particular section. This will impose a sense of order as well as a satisfying visual indication of progress. Obviously, some chapters will prove far trickier/time-consuming than others, so I am not going to be too pedantic about it. But at the same time the background reading will be enormous, and it's all too easy to postpone it as 'not really productive' (although it is absolutely essential!) or, conversely, kid oneself that any sort of reading is 'doing work'. So what with that to contend with, plus the German Reading course (starts next month too), the conference circuit (which I'm really looking forward too) and the dreaded papers that I'm expected to present, it is clear that the academic writing is the very tip of the iceberg. It's the bit that showcases everything that underlies it, its consummation if you like. I'm all too aware it's time to buckle down.
(And, since you ask, the campus Starbucks was full of students!!! Can you believe it? Grrr! Couldn't get near the counter.....)
If I consider that I will probably have a total number of seven chapters, and seven terms left until a nominal submission date in 2012, that falls out at one chapter per term - an entirely reasonable rate of work. I've decided that a good way to mentally and physically organise this will be with seven actual 'chapter boxes' (boxfiles) wherein I shall keep all the references, bibliographies, references pertinent to that particular section. This will impose a sense of order as well as a satisfying visual indication of progress. Obviously, some chapters will prove far trickier/time-consuming than others, so I am not going to be too pedantic about it. But at the same time the background reading will be enormous, and it's all too easy to postpone it as 'not really productive' (although it is absolutely essential!) or, conversely, kid oneself that any sort of reading is 'doing work'. So what with that to contend with, plus the German Reading course (starts next month too), the conference circuit (which I'm really looking forward too) and the dreaded papers that I'm expected to present, it is clear that the academic writing is the very tip of the iceberg. It's the bit that showcases everything that underlies it, its consummation if you like. I'm all too aware it's time to buckle down.
(And, since you ask, the campus Starbucks was full of students!!! Can you believe it? Grrr! Couldn't get near the counter.....)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Off down to the university tomorrow - virtually 3 hours to get there on the disgustingly smelly CrossCountry train, and another 3 hours to get back! When I first started down there I thought that I'd never, ever get used to the travelling: but one does. Now that I'm embarking on full-time as opposed to part-time study, I'm expecting to ramp up the attendance somewhat. I'll see what my supervisor says. I don't think supervisory meetings would benefit from being any more regular than once a month, with concentrated periods of reading/writing in between. I just hope that my nearest and dearest recognise that, as a full-time, fully-funded student, it'll be the same as me having a 40hr-a-week, full-time job, and that I just won't be up for casual visits, prolonged lunches or trips into town. I always found it to be a considerable problem when we ran our own business and I worked from home. People didn't consider that I was doing real work, and that because I was at home, I was available at the drop of a hat for this or that. I might have to do some straight talking, never mind drop veiled hints! Got to pick up a new ID card, go to the library and check out a new Starbucks on campus, which is in the same block as the new Special Collections facility.
Wallace Chafe's book is very interesting - I'm going to read it and make more notes on the train. He approaches language from a cognitive point of view as a manifestation of consciousness that reflects the individual's capacity to focus on certain events whilst maintaining the context as a semi-active background programme. His division of information as active, semiactive or inactive fits quite nicely with imperfectivity, perfectivity and stativity in verbal aspect though I'll have to have a good, long think about it. Discourse, Time and Consciousness is such an interesting book that it'll be quite difficult not to forget what I'm supposed to be up to, and get swept into digressive backwaters. I must discipline myself to recognise what is actually useful and what is merely fascinating!
Wallace Chafe's book is very interesting - I'm going to read it and make more notes on the train. He approaches language from a cognitive point of view as a manifestation of consciousness that reflects the individual's capacity to focus on certain events whilst maintaining the context as a semi-active background programme. His division of information as active, semiactive or inactive fits quite nicely with imperfectivity, perfectivity and stativity in verbal aspect though I'll have to have a good, long think about it. Discourse, Time and Consciousness is such an interesting book that it'll be quite difficult not to forget what I'm supposed to be up to, and get swept into digressive backwaters. I must discipline myself to recognise what is actually useful and what is merely fascinating!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Have finally overcome the moment of inertia and am happily gathering speed on the academic front! The mass - nay, morass - of admin. that cascades through the post and down the wire has been hacked through by the machete of persistence and grim determination. So now I'm officially registered (online) and I've done various lesser tasks such as applying for my NUS extra card, filling in my railcard application, sending off my latest work and routine supervisory form to my supervisor, and booking my train tickets for Wednesday (can't wait until I've got my railcard - it should save me a fortune!). I need to be organised to the nth degree, or I'll definitely forget/mismanage something: I have to have written lists!
I've been reading through my notes to get up to speed on my thesis and it's not as bad as I thought it might be, though I seem to have forgotten a lot of the background argumentation. I think that's what makes it all so tricky....keeping the salient arguments in your head. I'm not sure my mental RAM is very large! (hence the notes). I've got a LOT of books to look through, and it's a bit tricky trying to prioritise: they're ALL clamouring for attention. I think the best ploy is to start anywhere and just let an order evolve. I'm getting quite enthusiastic about the new term and getting down to studying in earnest again. The book I'm going to look at first is Wallace Chafe's Discourse, Time and Consciousness. Although it probably won't deal directly with verbal aspect/discourse prominence, it should be reasonably interesting on the phenomenon of perceived time.
Another good thing is that, with the children returning to school, I have claimed the 'study' room back for myself (at least, in school hours). It's south-facing, so a lot brighter than upstairs, and has my lovely old oak desk to spread my stuff out on. The 'satellite study' (a computer station in the bedroom) has been an absolute godsend over the summer break, and still is when the children need the family computer to complete their homework. I'm going to keep it as a back-up bolt-hole when I want to work on. The laptop is a boon in this respect.
I've been reading through my notes to get up to speed on my thesis and it's not as bad as I thought it might be, though I seem to have forgotten a lot of the background argumentation. I think that's what makes it all so tricky....keeping the salient arguments in your head. I'm not sure my mental RAM is very large! (hence the notes). I've got a LOT of books to look through, and it's a bit tricky trying to prioritise: they're ALL clamouring for attention. I think the best ploy is to start anywhere and just let an order evolve. I'm getting quite enthusiastic about the new term and getting down to studying in earnest again. The book I'm going to look at first is Wallace Chafe's Discourse, Time and Consciousness. Although it probably won't deal directly with verbal aspect/discourse prominence, it should be reasonably interesting on the phenomenon of perceived time.
Another good thing is that, with the children returning to school, I have claimed the 'study' room back for myself (at least, in school hours). It's south-facing, so a lot brighter than upstairs, and has my lovely old oak desk to spread my stuff out on. The 'satellite study' (a computer station in the bedroom) has been an absolute godsend over the summer break, and still is when the children need the family computer to complete their homework. I'm going to keep it as a back-up bolt-hole when I want to work on. The laptop is a boon in this respect.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September Already?
Bit of a bad sign really.....I opened the latest publication of the Philological Society ('The Semantic Predecessors of Need in the History of English c.750-1710') and went "Tsk!" and decided that I couldn't be bothered to read it. Oh dear! My brain seems to have atrophied significantly over the summer break: I've noticed an aversion to anything academic that I really need to overcome, especially since I'm moving to full time doctoral studies at the start of October and my supervisory meeting is in less than two weeks time. Deep breath: try not to look at the pile of unread books in every corner of the room, the PDFs crowding the desktop of the computer, the notes that make scant sense after four weeks up on blocks! The summer holiday was great - just what was needed - but now I must get back down to work again, and that means getting back into a routine. Come Monday - this Monday coming - everything should be back to 'normal' (whatever that is!): children back at school, daughter #2 married, Melvyn Bragg back on Radio 4 (oh no....that's Thursday) as well as Paxman sneering away on University Challenge (yeah - I'd sneer if I had the answers in front of me). All will be right with the world and I shall turn to the appropriate page in my diary and smooth it down before jotting down a quick plan of action. I've got a text book on reading German to have a serious look at before I start on the course in late October, plus a number of things that need a good read-through to re-orientate myself thesis-wise. Need to have a look at iReaders (or whatever) too: ink cartridges are too expensive to keep printing off material where only the smallest bit is relevant, plus once PDFs are consigned to the Box of Darkness, I forget what I've got and where it is! The academic year stretches before me......I feel about twelve years old!
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