Thesis Update; Page Creep
Just another thesis progress update... I'm wondering if I should make November NaTheWriMo, but my lack of progress would make it too depressing...
To explore another side of thesis writing, I have found that spending days working at home ends up being pretty isolating. I make a conscious effort to get in a walk around the neighborhood, but there are some days when the sum total of my real-life interactions are:
I'll bag it myself, thanks.
Debit please.
No cash back.
Thank you--have a good day!
Admittedly, I have a lot more interactions (that are far more interesting and fulfilling) via blogs/LJ, email, and IM.
I met with my advisor yesterday morning, on the one day that he's in town this week. Given that we're five weeks away from the deadline, and this is the first time he has gotten a chance to see my thesis draft, it looks like I'll be going with my plan of finishing writing in Boston.
He echoed some of the comments others have made on my blog--that my thesis scope isn't too far from a PhD thesis. "Too bad it doesn't work that way," he commented. Well, if nothing else, if I ever decide I should go for a PhD, I already know the scale of the project involved.
As for page creep:
I have recently gone over the 150 page mark (i.e., what other recent MASc theses have rung up to, total). I'm still working on the results from one of my two research sites; I still need to write up the second site results, computer modelling, and conclusions.
I don't think I'm trying to add filler; I just figure that if there will be any source that should be the complete, unabbreviated record of this research, this should be it. Also, I'm afraid that I'm trying to make my thesis useful, or have useful conclusions. I have seen (and have been guilty of) far too many research reports that state their findings, avoid any conclusive interpretation, and wrap up with a handwavey, "further research is needed..." Considering how many man-hours and data points went into this research, if I can't turn this work into some useful and practical recommendations, it would be a real embarassment.
posted by Bats @ 10:03 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Go Bats, Go! Theese Bats, Theese!
Some days when I'm working on a paper from home, I never leave the house. Which is not good for the psyche, that's for sure.
On behalf of frustrated researchers everywhere, past and present, thank you so much for your research ethics. Every draft that gets handed to me has completely lacked a discussion section. Nothing like leaving the interpretation to the person perhaps least qualified for the job... [/vent]
Go Bats, Go!
It sounds like the difference between those projects and yours is that you have conclusive results, while they're documenting something on the way. no need to feel guilty about that, it just means some more work.
(one practical thought: it might make sense to move some of the data/unabridged record to appendices to make the thesis argument more readable--so people can follow the story from your synthesis of the data to your conclusions.)
i take it it's too late to just declare the project a PhD thesis, huh?
Yeah - let me know if you figure out the meaningful-interaction thing. Of course, you get get that with scheduled events - church dinners or quilting bees or sleeper cell meetings - but those don't necessarily schedule very well with high workloads.
i think doing it alone, as you're doing now, is incredibly hard. i couldn't have done it that way. you should give yourself some serious credit for that -- and, again, keep an eye open for study buddies or similar.
my 2 cents
josakana
(one practical thought: it might make sense to move some of the data/unabridged record to appendices to make the thesis argument more readable
Just to clarify, the ~150 page count I have right currently includes ~40 pages of appendices. A small amount is filler (i.e., "here are the specifications for the sensors and data logginer system"), but a lot of it is smaller sub-research projects that do not fall into the main narrative ("this is the benchtop test to get the material properties for this layer in the wall assembly").
So, what happened to your thesis writing? I think talking with your advisor can really be a thesis help. They can be mean sometimes, but they do it so that you can improve your paper and avoid problems in the future.
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