(no subject)
31/8/04
Tough day today.
I finally have a meeting with my dissertation supervisor, only to have her tell me that to achieve the best mark that i can, i will need to pretty much re-write everything that i have done so far in a completely different way. I'm not feeling too good as a result of this i can tell you. However, i am writing this now, having had the rest of the day to brood on it, talk to other people and make a few decisions. As such, you're not going to get the big upset diatribe that i felt like writing a few hours ago. I have divided the supervisors comments into ones that are stylistic and ones which are substantive. I am going to address the substantive ones, as i have understood the points she made here and can see that some changes/additions are necessary. This is going to be quite a bit of work on its own, but some of it is entirely unavoidable. The stylistic comments though are another matter.
Basically, i have divided up the chapters of my paper contextually, whereas she suggested that i should have divided them thematically, drawing examples from the various contexts into the themes. Although i can see why this is, i am more comfortable with a contextual approach. To me, i cannot see how the chosen form of presentation of basically the same information can be that critical. Even if it is, given that i am this close to the deadline, a complete re-write is just unfeasible. However, we also discussed what i can do to improve it in its current format, and i will take that on board.
I felt like such an ungrateful cow at the end of the discussion. I know she has gone to a lot of trouble to read my work and give me advice, and i really do appreciate that, and i wasn't being arrogant in that i thought my format was better or anything - its simply that i know that i do not have the time, wherewithall or emotional capacity to face completely overhauling the paper at this stage. I thought that it would be best to use the limited time that i had to talk about changes that are realistcally achieveable. She seemed to understand though, she even said that the essay would pass in its current state, and once i had taken into consideration all the other things that i have to be getting on with, i would be better off assessing whether the potential detriment to them was worth it.
So, considering this, i have decided to implement as many of the changes as i can without taking on too much extra work, in the knowledge that anything i do from now can only be doing it good. I feel that i can introduce and maintain the thematics within my curernt structure, so that will remain as it is. Overall though, i i'm glad that i went. It gave me plenty to think about and i have discussed her recommendations with Cat and Uncle P, both of whom have experience with academic writing so i could determine what the best course of action to take is going to be. Its only from talking to everyone that i've realised some of the larger changes are possible - so thanks to you both!
I gave myself the afternoon off from it though. Despite not being occupied though, it has flown past.
Tough day today.
I finally have a meeting with my dissertation supervisor, only to have her tell me that to achieve the best mark that i can, i will need to pretty much re-write everything that i have done so far in a completely different way. I'm not feeling too good as a result of this i can tell you. However, i am writing this now, having had the rest of the day to brood on it, talk to other people and make a few decisions. As such, you're not going to get the big upset diatribe that i felt like writing a few hours ago. I have divided the supervisors comments into ones that are stylistic and ones which are substantive. I am going to address the substantive ones, as i have understood the points she made here and can see that some changes/additions are necessary. This is going to be quite a bit of work on its own, but some of it is entirely unavoidable. The stylistic comments though are another matter.
Basically, i have divided up the chapters of my paper contextually, whereas she suggested that i should have divided them thematically, drawing examples from the various contexts into the themes. Although i can see why this is, i am more comfortable with a contextual approach. To me, i cannot see how the chosen form of presentation of basically the same information can be that critical. Even if it is, given that i am this close to the deadline, a complete re-write is just unfeasible. However, we also discussed what i can do to improve it in its current format, and i will take that on board.
I felt like such an ungrateful cow at the end of the discussion. I know she has gone to a lot of trouble to read my work and give me advice, and i really do appreciate that, and i wasn't being arrogant in that i thought my format was better or anything - its simply that i know that i do not have the time, wherewithall or emotional capacity to face completely overhauling the paper at this stage. I thought that it would be best to use the limited time that i had to talk about changes that are realistcally achieveable. She seemed to understand though, she even said that the essay would pass in its current state, and once i had taken into consideration all the other things that i have to be getting on with, i would be better off assessing whether the potential detriment to them was worth it.
So, considering this, i have decided to implement as many of the changes as i can without taking on too much extra work, in the knowledge that anything i do from now can only be doing it good. I feel that i can introduce and maintain the thematics within my curernt structure, so that will remain as it is. Overall though, i i'm glad that i went. It gave me plenty to think about and i have discussed her recommendations with Cat and Uncle P, both of whom have experience with academic writing so i could determine what the best course of action to take is going to be. Its only from talking to everyone that i've realised some of the larger changes are possible - so thanks to you both!
I gave myself the afternoon off from it though. Despite not being occupied though, it has flown past.