Things don’t always work in order

The process of getting a PhD is pretty straight forward. You get a bachelor’s degree. Then a Master’s degree. Then you take however much coursework your program requires. Next come exams. Then a prospectus. Then a dissertation. Then a defense. Then, hopefully, a job. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But that’s not how [...]

The problem with following rules

Rules exist for a reason. They give us guidelines to follow, and they show us how to get from point A to point B with minimal fuss. They keep order and prevent society from falling into chaos. At least, most of them do. Some of them don’t. Some rules restrict us, blind us to possibilities, [...]

An epiphany that made me slap myself

I’ve been dragging my feet with my dissertation. That said, my prospectus meeting hasn’t happened yet (so the prospectus isn’t officially approved) and I already have about a dozen pages. But I’ve still been dragging my feet. I’ve been questioning the academic methods and railing against them. I wanted to say something new, not just [...]

Moving along

Getting back to work is sometimes harder than getting to work in the first place. I’ve had to reset and recenter myself several times over the last few years, and it doesn’t seem to get any easier. But when I do manage, it always seems to be worth the effort.

Sometimes, you learn lessons the hard way

I haven’t posted here in quite some time. There’s a simple reason for that: the last six months of my life has been pretty hard. My cat died, then I had cancer, and then my father died. All in the last 6 months. It’s pretty mind boggling. The cancer was minor, and I’m recovered from [...]

And so it begins

My exams are done and passed. My prospectus is all but done, awaiting only the official word of my committee. But while waiting for that official word, I did get the go ahead from my adviser to just keep going. He said that he is glad I learned not to wait around, and that I [...]

Putting it all together: How to write a prospectus

No one ever did this for me. I wish someone had. I wish I’d known before I started. But I didn’t. I started my prospectus with no idea what I was doing. I had two others I had seen, things to model after, but I didn’t know even the basic format, aside from what my [...]

Prospectus, a (sort of) outline

For the last few days, I’ve been approaching the prospectus in the “Throw it all, see what sticks” format. No attention really paid to structure beyond a few basic signposts, I’ve just been trying to get the ideas down on (electronic) paper. Thankfully, I’ve been collecting sources and doing little outlines for quite some time [...]