trouble: Thesis Update because apparently my wild Saturday Night is for talking about myself

trouble (

trouble) wrote,
@ 2010-12-11 11:06 pm UTC

Entry tags:	academic stuff, academic stuff: ask me about my thesis, academic stuff: thesis, history: trust me - i'm an historian, this is a distraction, watch me procrastinate, witty-sounding tag about school
Crossposts:	http://troubleinchina.livejournal.com/603702.html

Thesis Update because apparently my wild Saturday Night is for talking about myself

(It... is Saturday in Canada, right?)

Attention thesis writers: When someone says "Your chapter will come together when you have a theory to frame it around", they are not kidding.

Oh, Chapter 2, you are the best chapter ever.

Also, semi-colons are defeating me. (No, please, don't explain. If I fret too much about it in drafting mode rather than polishing mode it becomes the bestest procrastination technique ever.)

Anyway, I have taken my original shitty draft 1 of Chapter 2, divided it up a bit better (and thus put a bunch of useless paragraphs into what will be Chapter 3), added an actual introduction that says what it's doing, rewritten a little bit of it, and although it is still a shitty draft, it is a much better shitty draft that I need to rework instead of throw out entirely. My brain is a bit tired so I'm going to be finishing up soon, but overall I am satisfied. There are more words. They are not all shite. I think the intro is good. If I smooth out this section and add in all the details I have noted to add in, this could be an excellent roughly 3/4s of Chapter 2. (I'm aiming for 5000 words, it's currently at 1,400 words, which is nothing close to 3/4s, but fixing the stuff up will add more words.)

I'm really pleased with this. I feel like I have something solid to build on now, rather than some crappy words thrown together in the hopes that they'll turn into something. I have some things I need to research (like when the VG opened. When did the VG open? "The Victoria General Hospital was established in 1887 by the City of Halifax and the provincial government when the former City and Provincial Hospital at Rockhead, on the Northwest Arm was renamed; the City and Provincial Hospital having been established in 1859.") (No, wait, "The City and Provincial Hospital opened in May 1867 and made possible the establishment of the Halifax Medical College") (Obviously the internet is not going to be helpful. Lucky I have "Century of Care" at home, which is an academic tome and thus Totally Reliable Really.)

Picture of the Victoria General Hospital in 1910)

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no subject

comeroundsoon
2010-12-12 03:13 pm UTC (link)

Ugh, you just murdered my brain. I like to think that I love non-fiction, and I tend to buy a lot of non-fic. books, thinking I'll read them -- always with good intentions. But slowly the facts start to numb me. I prefer memoirs and autobiographys, the contain a lot of facts, though in a way that's relevant. You know? Surprisingly I aced my history classes in college.

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	no subject trouble 2010-12-12 09:01 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I get that. I tend to just keep to the Interesting Bits when I talk about my thesis, because the theory is pretty dull. Plus, you know, I get to talk about people drinking 318 liters of rum. (I have a "dead people's diaries" tag about the rum stuff.) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject comeroundsoon 2010-12-13 01:42 pm UTC (link)
	Haha, I'll have to go look at that!! I think historical things from personal perspectives are neat, because with facts, you loose the empathy, and sometimes, the context. And I would imagine thesises to be dull; unless you were doing one for creative writing, but even then. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

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