![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Postcard from Thesis Hell
Ah, the semester is over, and yet, the last few days have been hell, waiting for my grade on this semester's thesis work.
Er... and what work would that be, exactly? Because, I admit, all thesis-related writing for the semester got crammed into the last couple of weeks. The last week of classes was my last opportunity to have my UHP paperwork signed. (The form that tells the University Honors Program people that I'm taking the departmental thesis option.) So, it was time for a title, which I wrote in, oh ten minutes. But what a beautiful title it is. "The Philosopher and the Philologist: Heidegger, Tolkien, and Poetic Language." Bit of a tongue-twister, that first part, but isn't it nice? I was so pleased with it that I can, without hesitation, quote it without having to look it up. Which is more than I can say about the title of my conference paper - it has something about Minas Tirith, Troy, and a "re-imagining" somewhere in there.
And then it was time to write the thesis prospectus. I started out with such good intentions. I was going to start on the weekend before finals so that I could be a good student for once and do the drafting thing that is always expected but I never actually do. And I was going to have it finished by Tuesday of finals week so that I could spend Wednesday studying for and taking the paleography final and afterward drink to my heart's content with a clear conscience. That was a nice little dream.
What really happened was that I did nothing over the weekend after taking the Latin final, did little more on Monday, other than starting the peer evaluations for Scribendi, which I hurriedly (and lamely) finished Tuesday morning, spent the rest of Tuesday writing a funding proposal, and spared nary a thought for thesis before the final from hell. (It may actually have been bitchier than Steve Arch's exam in Intro Bio.) Once I got home, quite late, I tried to concentrate on thesis work, but about all I was capable of at that point was alphabetizing and otherwise getting my preliminary bibliography in order.
So, after four hours of light sleep and paleographical nightmares, I got up at six in the morning. It's been a very, very long time since I've woken up at such an hour. So I was quite surprised to find that it was STILL DARK out. But no time to dwell on that, as I had six hours to write the prospectus, get to campus, and print out/turn the thing in. And all this with the sketchiest of notions of how to go about writing such a thing and aiming for the low end of the specified 750-1500 word length. I made it with time to spare (even with time to turn in the UHP form with a copy of the prospectus and the Career Services funding application). But oh, the nagging doubts after turning it in. How would my three pages look next to the 5-8 page final papers all the non-auditors in the Heidegger class had written? Does my focus go too wide? And how good was it, really? It was one of the few papers I didn't despair to turn in for fear that it would be justly judged to be absolute crap. But perhaps that's not a good sign, given how often those papers I despair over turn out to be better than my jaundiced eye had judged. And of course, this would be the last grade to post.
But finally, at long last, it posted today. And I got an A, bitches.
Er... and what work would that be, exactly? Because, I admit, all thesis-related writing for the semester got crammed into the last couple of weeks. The last week of classes was my last opportunity to have my UHP paperwork signed. (The form that tells the University Honors Program people that I'm taking the departmental thesis option.) So, it was time for a title, which I wrote in, oh ten minutes. But what a beautiful title it is. "The Philosopher and the Philologist: Heidegger, Tolkien, and Poetic Language." Bit of a tongue-twister, that first part, but isn't it nice? I was so pleased with it that I can, without hesitation, quote it without having to look it up. Which is more than I can say about the title of my conference paper - it has something about Minas Tirith, Troy, and a "re-imagining" somewhere in there.
And then it was time to write the thesis prospectus. I started out with such good intentions. I was going to start on the weekend before finals so that I could be a good student for once and do the drafting thing that is always expected but I never actually do. And I was going to have it finished by Tuesday of finals week so that I could spend Wednesday studying for and taking the paleography final and afterward drink to my heart's content with a clear conscience. That was a nice little dream.
What really happened was that I did nothing over the weekend after taking the Latin final, did little more on Monday, other than starting the peer evaluations for Scribendi, which I hurriedly (and lamely) finished Tuesday morning, spent the rest of Tuesday writing a funding proposal, and spared nary a thought for thesis before the final from hell. (It may actually have been bitchier than Steve Arch's exam in Intro Bio.) Once I got home, quite late, I tried to concentrate on thesis work, but about all I was capable of at that point was alphabetizing and otherwise getting my preliminary bibliography in order.
So, after four hours of light sleep and paleographical nightmares, I got up at six in the morning. It's been a very, very long time since I've woken up at such an hour. So I was quite surprised to find that it was STILL DARK out. But no time to dwell on that, as I had six hours to write the prospectus, get to campus, and print out/turn the thing in. And all this with the sketchiest of notions of how to go about writing such a thing and aiming for the low end of the specified 750-1500 word length. I made it with time to spare (even with time to turn in the UHP form with a copy of the prospectus and the Career Services funding application). But oh, the nagging doubts after turning it in. How would my three pages look next to the 5-8 page final papers all the non-auditors in the Heidegger class had written? Does my focus go too wide? And how good was it, really? It was one of the few papers I didn't despair to turn in for fear that it would be justly judged to be absolute crap. But perhaps that's not a good sign, given how often those papers I despair over turn out to be better than my jaundiced eye had judged. And of course, this would be the last grade to post.
But finally, at long last, it posted today. And I got an A, bitches.
no subject