Comp Exams and Dissertations in Rhetoric

This originally was made to discuss the comprehensive exams for a Ph.D. in Rhetoric but now has morphed into a Dissertation Discussion Board.

I did it!!!!!!!!!

I just submitted the first draft of my prospectus to Dr. Burns (it was due today)!!!!!!  I am so...exhausted.  hehehe  I am also very excited, very proud, and very relieved that it is done.  I know that this draft is very rough and will probably need much revision, but I finally feel like I have started and am getting somewhere.  I don't know how long this high will last, but I am enjoying it while it does.

I have been reading your postings, but I haven't had a chance to reply lately.  I have been so frustrated lately because I got so behind on my work over spring break, and this past week was rough (that didn't help at all).  I had intended to use the spring break to get ahead on my grading and write the prospectus.  Then I was going to spend all last week revising the draft so that the version I sent to Burns wouldn't be quite so rough.  However, I spent my entire spring break sick - really sick - so I hardly got anything done at all.  I am still a little behind on my grading (going to try to remedy that problem this morning), but I got the prospectus done and turned in on time.  On top of all that, this past week our oldest (11-year old) cat had to have massive surgery.  What was originally going to be $850 dental surgery became $1200 surgery.  There was one point that we thought that we might have to choose to have her put to sleep, but fortunately that didn't happen.  She was having major dental surgery, and she also had an eye infection.  At first, the vet thought that the infection might have been cancer in her eye.  Fortunately it wasn't.  But as they were finishing her dental surgery, they found mammary cancer.  They were able to do an aggressive mastectomy and remove the cancer.  However, the pathology report said that even though the nodule was small and pretty compact, there was evidence of growth.  So, since the cancer spreads through the lymphatic system, there is a chance that it could have already spread and we don't know it yet.  But for now, Sadie is recovering very well, and she is very happy (especially since her mouth no longer hurts constantly).  Loren and I half-joke that she had a boob job and a tummy tuck.  But even with the joking there is the harsh realization that if her cancer does come back, we don't want to put her through chemo, radiation, and/or more extensive surgeries.  She's 11, and we don't think that she would take it very well.  She's strong and very healthy, but we don't want to put her through that.  Also, we can't afford it.  So, in the event that the worst should eventually happen, we're going to do our best to keep her as happy as we can for as long as we can.  Then we'll let her go when it is her time to go.  However, when I was in high school, I watched my first dog slowly die from cancer (over months - at the time we didn't know that's what she had), and it is very painful to watch.  I don't think that he has any idea of what it will be like to watch her suffer that way.  But then again, Loren had cancer when he was young, so he has a completely different understanding of it than I do.  

I'm sorry - I didn't mean to depress any of you.  I just had to vent, I guess.  All week I wished that I had been able to put off my prospectus longer, but I knew that that wasn't an option.  So, I got it done or started at least.  Thanks again for all of your help (encouragement, sending drafts, etc), and thanks for listening to me vent about Sadie.  She was Loren's cat before we met, but I love her and think of her as mine just as much as Luna and Lily (my cats before we met).

Now for another depressing thought...I have to finish grading those stupid midterms!!!  And I'd like to get it done within the next 3 hours, so I'll go for now and write again soon.  Thanks again for everything - I truly appreciate it!!!        

posted by: jlbrockman at 06:45 | link | comments (2) |

Deadlines and other stuff

Hi everyone!  Sorry to interrupt those dense thoughts, streaming pearls of wisdom, critical analysis, and creative paragraphs flowing effortlessly through your fingers!   OK, OK, stop laughing.  I called Dr. Burns this morning and he asked that I put the word out that he is leaving tomorrow -- don't faint, he's just going to visit his new grandchild over spring break.  He said that he would have notified you himself but he is busy looking at digitized images of the baby   I have posted a bit more information about his availability in Blackboard in case you need to contact him.

Angela, in case you are still checking in here, I have been looking for a dissertation that a friend of mine wrote on Ruth several years ago that I thought might come in handy for you but haven't had any luck yet.

For anyone else who was foolishly optimistic like I was about graduating in May, remember that tomorrow is the deadline for rolling your graduation date further into the future

I hope all is well for everyone.  Just think.  A year from now this will all be behind us . . .  uh, I think!

posted by: Sandy at 10:44 | link | comments |

Rubies56 aka Angela

Cheri reminded me that everyone might not know my screen name so I thought I would 'introduce' myself.

This forum is very interesting to me. I read them through Kairos but have never responded. I did respond to Cheri's question but it logged me as an unlogged visitor so I'm still working things out. Not quite like blackboard is it? I do have a xanga site to keep up with Jacque and kids at church so I should be able to figure this one, right?!

My daughter turns 20 on Monday! She's in her first professional show (play to us lay people) this month. It runs every weekend (3 1/2 hours long) Thursday through Sunday at the Garland Civic Theater. She won't let us come see it because she's afraid we won't like it. It's the first show she's had any part of (technical, directing, managing, or acting) that we won't have seen.

Cheri's mantra -- I have a feeling that is not a unique mantra for anyone who has a family.  I had a dear friend -- you all knew her -- Dr. Sandi Reynolds! -- who explained to me one time that we don't get through our dissertations because of our family but in spite of them.  In other words, all of the love and support they have for us is great but they just don't understand sometimes the struggle and time it takes.  My favorite chant though comes from Finding Nemo when Peach says "find a happy place, find a happy place, find a happy place" as her voice rises with each utterance when Darla is tapping on the tank.

Happy Writing!

posted by: rubies56 at 07:08 | link | comments (6) |

I Love My Children

Really.  I keep saying that to myself.  It has become my mantra:  I love my children.  I love my children.  EVEN THOUGH I was trying to finish ONE footnote--just one--really short footnote, but my 19-year-old son decides he's going to make a pizza recipe that he got from one of the buddies he plays games with on the Internet all day.  So, of course, I think that's cool.  So, the first thing he does is go stand out in the middle of the kitchen--NOWHERE NEAR a cabinet.  "Where's a big bowl?"  Me:  "You haven't even opened up one cabinet door yet."  So, banging around occurs.  He's REALLY looking.  He does find one--a miracle of all miracles.  Next, "Do I use this salt?"  Sea salt in a big blue box.  Me:  "Use the one in the round blue container."  I refuse to get up and find it for him.  Yes, I'm already feeling guilty.  But, just one more sentence in this little tiny footnote--just have to reread this para . . . "Did you know that yeast is a fungus?"  Me:  Grunt.  "Did you know that the French word for something is something?" (I'm still trying to write my footnote, so I don't really hear.)  Finally, "does this look right?"  I gave up, in, whatever.  Now I have dough on my fingers and there actually is pizza dough rising in the kitchen--made entirely by my son.  I am so proud.

No, the footnote is not yet complete. 

posted by: crenshaw at 12:48 | link | comments |

Chapters

Catching up on the chapter discussion; everything I've seen (previous dissertations) has at least 5 chapters. Mine currently is scheduled to have six because I have the required Ch 1 problem, Ch 2 lit review, then Chs 3 - 5 are the three texts I am analysing, then concluding with the results and further research in Ch 6.  I'm on spring break from TCC next week so hoping to crank out a draft of each chapter by the end of the week!

posted by: rubies56 at 12:46 | link | comments (2) |

Chapter structure and other stuff

Cheri, I hear your pain about how to structure the chapters.  Based on what I read in the old dissertation handbook, using 5 chapters is a guideline.  The dissertation that I am using as a format guide has 6 chapters and that is what works for that particular topic.  The “non-negotiable” part for us is that we need an introductory chapter, a literature review, a methodology, the chapter that displays our findings based on chapter 3’s methodology, and a chapter that summarizes or provides info for further research, pedagogical connections, etc.  Burns wants us to aim for 50 pages per chapter but I don't think I will hit that number in any Chapter.

The literature review is a challenge if we don’t know the guiding idea is or the central answer to the research question.  I think your questions express the “test” of writing a dissertation.  We will be judged on how well we assimilate tons of information into a coherent whole.  Part of that task is discerning what to include and what to leave out.  I am still struggling with that in Chapter 4.  I decided to go ahead and write Chapter 4 before finishing Chapter 3 so that I will know exactly what I should include in Chapter 3 but now I’m not sure this is a good strategy.

Anybody else out there reading this blog?  I would love to find out what others think.

posted by: Sandy at 12:03 | link | comments (6) |

Structure

There is so much to say that sometimes I end up with several disconnected, or barely connected pages of work.  Then, I have to MAKE myself try to put the ideas in some sort of connected order.  It is ironic because right now I'm dealing with hypertext where connections to small bits of text CAN BE non-linear.  The reader puts the bits and pieces together in her/his own mind.  I feel a little schizophrenic though--talking about writing that happens one way while I actually perform writing that happens another.

Is everyone writing the "same" chapters?  Do we all have to have 5 chapters?  I basically went by Kathleen's model--Ch 1 intro (background, etc), Ch 2 review of literature, Ch 3 methodology, Ch 4 analysis, Ch 5 summary, implications, recommendations.

My review of literature is a mess right now.  I just keep adding in important texts but am not sure yet how to categorize them.  How much do we have to talk about each one?  Or is it just a list?  Guess those are questions I need to ask Dr. B, huh? 

posted by: crenshaw at 08:28 | link | comments |

Stress and Feelings of Impending Doom

Hi everyone! 

Cheri, thanks for re-opening this space. 

And thanks again to those of you who have sent me your prospectus(es?) - I really appreciate your help.  I am working on going through them and figuring out the "proper" (I hate that word because it implies that there is only one right way to do something.  However, I guess that is true in this case.) format that I need to use when writing my prospectus. 

I have a "catch-up" phone call to make to Dr. Burns in a little over an hour, and I am worried about it.  I don't expect anything "bad" to happen or to be said, and he and I always have great conversations.  However, I always experience feelings of impending doom whenever I think/talk about my dissertation with anyone for any reason.  I can now feel the permanent knot in my stomach tightening as I write.  I know it will all be ok in the end, but the time between now and the end seems like forever.

How are y'all dealing with stress as you write?  Have you found any good ways to offset any feelings of panic and impending doom that you might experience? 

Talk to y'all soon!
Jen

 

posted by: jlbrockman at 11:27 | link | comments (1) |

Hi everyone:  Its great being back in the compblog -- actually this is the DIVA blog   There is a nice comfort zone feel about this space -- not to mention easy to use.

Amy and anyone else doing figures, charts, or models, etc. : 

Have you contracted with anyone to create graphics or images or line drawings that you can't do on Word?  I have a couple of names that Dr. Burns recommended but I want to check to see if any you have done it yet.  Have you created a List of Figures page and if so, how did you format it?  I sent a message to Michael and haven't heard back. I can't find enough detail in either MLA or APA.  We can use APA if we wish (according to Michael) for figures.

Amy: I have a gnarly issue with three figures that I want to use.  I cannot access them from the source but they are pubished in a text and online with the original source cited.  Under fair use, can I use these figures citing both the original and secondary source?

Oh . . .  and by the way, when does this process get easier?   I thought the writing phase was the downhill part.

Welcome to the reconstructed Diva blog everyone!  Cheri, thanks for re-opening this space.  Happy writing everyone

posted by: Sandy at 10:02 | link | comments (1) |

Slow Going

I'm actually on a break from teaching for two weeks and so should be going full blast.  And, I have been writing, but so slowly.  It isn't as if you can make unsupported claims in something like this, so I keep having to "check facts," such as--how many books about Oz did L. Frank Baum really write?  And is this the Oz and the Baum I'm thinking about?

I couldn't have picked a more complex hypertext to start writing about, as one part in rhetorical analyses of many different electronic fictions and poetries (making up words here).  I'm looking at the influences in Shelley Jackson's hypertext novel Patchwork Girl, to begin with.  It is a many headed monster (no pun intended) .  I spend the morning rewriting the same 9 pages over and over (deleting and adding) and then the afternoon fending off my teenage children and trying to read and take notes for the next day.

My cat keeps bugging me, too.  I sit on the sofa with my laptop and he tries to crawl onto the laptop.  He and my children have the same attitude--she's not actually DOING anything is she? 

It is amazing how much reading and fact checking can go into one paragraph (not all of them are like that).  The dissertation is growing though.  I've always been a slow writer, so I've decided not to get all bent out of shape about it.

posted by: crenshaw at 14:41 | link | comments (1) |

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