Thesis Writers Group – Debrief
Went to the Social Sciences thesis writers group last night. About 15 people there. Some observations:
1. over the last two years, when I’ve attended, there were always a few students in the midst of actually writing their thesis. Most of the participants, however, were at other stages of the process: just thinking about ideas or working on their proposal. Each year I moved deeper into the process. Two years ago, I had my main topic: private security contractors but no “angle”. Last fall, I was figuring out my focus, my question. Last spring, I was finishing my proposal. Last night, I reported things have moved along nicely (happily) — I have handed in two chapters and am working on the Results and Findings chapter (due in December). Each year, there were a couple of students, different faces each year, who were well into the thesis writing and then they graduated so you no longer saw them at the group.
So I could see this progression. Last night, it was clear to me, felt good too, I was the vanguard for this year. I’m one of a handful of people who are deep into it and will be graduating in June. Hearing others around the table talk about the status on their efforts, I remembered listening to those ahead of me last year, like Curtis and Nadia, and wondering if I was going to get where they were.
2. The wide range of ideas at the table. I’m always amazed at how diverse the govt. and history topics are.
3. At every meeting I’ve been to in three years, there are always a few folks off in the weeds. Students who are overly-enamored with their subject but not good at boiling it down to a specific inquiry. Perhaps they’re not really interested in boiling it down — some people like hanging out in the weeds. That’s fine but not if you really want to graduate. (and I’m well aware some folks don’t want to but that’s another post).
4. Those enamored with their subject often take too much air time! Dr. O. is not a highly-directive group facilitator : ( Unfortunately, this translates into some students having much less time (or none) to talk about their work.
5. One technical tip: CMS does not offer much direction in the way of citing a variety of government documents. Don reminded us that you need to cite fully but regardless of how you cite something, be consistent throughout the paper. The point of a footnote (or endnote) is that someone reading your work can find your references.
6. In the “technical” portion of the evening, Don noted that the ALM Manual was written with a typewriter in mind. Think about this for a minute. The latest edition is 2003. The thesis is supposed to look as if it were done on a typewriter? That’s just weird in 2008. It was weird in 2003. It would have been odd in 1998! Update the ALM Manual.
7. And last but not least, in the very good news category, Don said that the ALM office will be working to make the theses available online so anyone can access them (next best thing to being in ProQuest/ABI) and a thousand times better than just being in print in Grossman! I think Ian Lamont will be very happy to hear this. He graduated last year and advocated for this for some time.
