For months I've heard the same question over and over: "When are you done with grad school." My normal response has been, "Well, I've already finished my classes and will be graduating with a 4.0 GPA, but I have to finish my thesis. It's due in April." That comment is usually followed by the question: "How far along are you on your thesis." And my reply is, "I've done an outline, but hope to write 30 pages/a chapter during Thanksgiving and 50-60 pages/2 chapters during Christmas."
Notice how above, I said "I have to finish my thesis" not "I have to write a thesis." I should probably say the latter. It's time to come clean.
Here's what I've done: I've written a 4 page prospectus/brief outline and a 15-page paper on the same topic. I wrote the 15-page paper last Spring and I'm planning on expanding it for the thesis. I also have 90% of the research done (using sources from several previous papers about a similar topic). But have I written one word of the actual, 100 page paper/book? No. That's what I'm working on this week.
I'm not a slacker - I've been busy with work and working on my relationship/moving in with Billy. I don't know how I survived the past two years in grad school - how did I have time to do it all??
But Thanksgiving holiday is upon me and I'm ready to be productive. I've brought no grading home with me, Billy is camping with a friend for a few days. I've just done laundry and cleaned the kitchen so all is ready.
So, now begins Thesis Day 1. All of my sources are sitting on my coffee table and I've divided it into chapters. I've found my transcripted notes from a book of letters, and today I'm going to go back over the letters since I haven't read them in months. My thesis takes a slightly different direction from the original paper, so I need to make sure I have everything I need from those letters.
When I need to procrastinate, I'll update the blog. I finally have a new blog focus!
Ciao!
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