Sallyacious

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November 21, 2004

One Paper down, 2 to Go

I have finished my process paper. The one my committee reads to get an idea of weaknesses they can exploit when they attack me during my jury. Dave will proof it for me, and then I can give it to them and just wait for the Moment of Doom (cue music of portent and warning).

This time, I have signed up to go first. Hopefully that will mean I don't spend the entire 15 minutes sobbing horrifically. Instead of being a conduit for all of the emotions left in that damn chair, I will be leaving them for everyone else to "enjoy."

Now I have to write the two jazz papers and proof my play. Fortunately, the "Jazz and the Development of the Individual" paper is going astoundingly well, research-wise. I thought I was going to have to work really hard to support my thesis, that it might be too out there, but I've found all kinds of proof, almost without trying. So that's good.

I'm going to print out what I have now. (I've been typing useful quotations into Word so that I can just cut and paste them into the paper when I get down to actually writing it.) I may already be ready to start writing. But that's always the trick, isn't it. To know when to stop trying to find more information and to stick with what you have.

I always end up with about 3x as much as I need. I had an assignment last spring that ended up being 90 pages, which was about 3x the required size. When I turned it in, the secretary in the History Department office said, "OOOh. Looks like somebody's finished their dissertation." I didn't correct her, that way lies embarrassment in copious draughts.

Posted by sally at November 21, 2004 03:39 PM

Comments

Posted by: paulmonster at November 22, 2004 06:59 AM

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