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.....)

Input v. Output

The problem with doing part-time doctoral work (which I am at the moment, hopefully I'll be moving to full-time in the autumn) is that it's quite hard to gauge whether you're working hard enough. With full-time study, like my research MA, it seemed easier to calibrate - every day for the core hours. Since I started last October, I've never quite decided if it's better to work for a while every day, or condense the effort into larger blocks. The problem with the former approach is that one is just getting into the swing of things when it's time to do something else. the drawback with the latter is that it's difficult to know when to stop. Consequently my research efforts tend to veer from all-out 9-5 (until I get tired, p*ssed off or confused) to days and days of consecutive idleness. Still, even that works out as part-time in its own way! I guess many dedicated doctoral students will furrow their brow and wonder why I don't want to devote every waking moment to it (and there are a lot of pretty humourless beard-strokers out there), but I believe it's all about pacing oneself, appropriate effort, a sense of proportion and having a life. Academia does take itself very seriously, but there again so does building services, or sanitation, or quantity surveying. The inward-turning eye cannot appreciate the magnitude (or otherwise) of the subjects in its field of vision. The objective eye finds the mote therein risibly small. Thus it is necessary to reassess one's output continually, rather than concentrate on the input effort. As my supervisor thinks that I have produced 'eminently' enough work for a student of part-time status, I must be getting it approximately right! Now that I know some potential funding is on the horizon, I have to say that I am now looking forward to going back to full-time study. I'm much better working under a bit of pressure: Less time for procrastination, which as we all know, is the thief of time.