The verdict is in!

My Master's thesis is back from review. I have a report from an internal reviewer and an external reviewer to the university. And they're feedback is brutal! Some of it is constructive and I can take it on board when writing my next thesis. But other parts are questionable. Either way, I received my credit meaning I can go onto the PhD pathway.

After seeing my Supervisor today and going through the feedback, on the third reading, it doesn't seem so bad. I just need to do up a table suggested by a reviewer and send in my paperwork to graduate.

Unfortunately, I have to wait now until April 2014 to don my Master of Education gown and cap but it will give me some time to plan the afterparty!

How do you take on feedback? Do you even read the comments?

What's in a title?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post (here) about writing my first article or rather my procrastination getting in the way of writing an article.

Today, I started writing that article. I have gone from re-reading the journal's guidelines (choosing a journal is a whole other post!) and reading articles in the journal that were published on my topic.

So, how far did  I really get? A couple of hundred words? Well, eight words to be exact. Yes, eight. The eight words that I wrote formed the title. Okay, okay, it wasn't a whole heap of new writing on my topic BUT it was a new title.

I recently read a book by Professor Anne Sigismund Huff called Writing for Scholarly Publication (1999). Amongst many good writing points Anne makes, writing effective titles is one of them. She suggests writing down seven possible titles before making a decision. I wrote a bunch of titles down weeks ago and it is only today that I have thought 'you know, that sums up what I am writing about'. And it is now my working title - to be changed as needed.

How long did it take you to decide on your article title or even your thesis title?

Paperwork schmaperwork: the PhD application process

Scholarship applications for semester one next year are closing, so I thought I better take a look at the requirements for PhD candidature at my University. I have now realised I need to do my application for the scholarship and the University enrolment at the same time. However, as the closing date for scholarships is next month and I need my paperwork completed, including my research proposal, time is a big problem here. I'm only up to a mind map of my proposed research topic!

Then I get to one of the application questions - publications. Hmm...nope, nothing to write in here. My last blog post was about writing an article on my research and the fact is, well, I haven't written it yet!  See that blog post here

Looking at what I need to do inthe next six months, my goals to achieve are;

1. Write a research article and persevere with getting it published

2. Write a draft research proposal and ensure the literature review is strong

3. Find a willing secondary supervisor 

4. Complete my HDR application for enrolment (done scholarship application at the same time)

What was the process like for you when applying to do a PhD?

Write that article!

I have read many blogposts, books, articles recently about writing a research article for submission in a journal to increase academic credibility. 

It is recommended that I get writing sooner rather than later. I thought that now my thesis is in for review and I have goals for my writing that getting started would be a non-issue.

I was wrong! My article goals, topic focus, guidelines from selected journal, article l

Format and previous articles from the selected journal are still sitting on my desk, bulldogged clipped together.

My supervisor told me last week, to take this time while my thesis is in review to have a break. So why do I want to write this article now?

1. I love my topic and I have my focus - the area I want to hone in on is based on a finding from my thesis.

2. I want to practice my writing

3. I believe I have something that needs to be shared

4. I want credibility by adding a published article to my list of achievements- lots of published articles will get me a job, post PhD, right? (This is what has been drilled I to my head from some articles, blog posts by academics,

5. The satisfaction of having an article published after the huge review, edit process. 

So, why in the last two weeks, have I not reached my writing goals? 

Here's my procrastination list:

1. Family commitments

7month old baby, school child- I need to focus on them while they're young. 

2. Sleep deprivation.

One word - teething!

3. Pressure from reading too many articles on 'I must get published now'.

4. Back to work

Juggling work, family and the household is tiring and time-consuming.

5. Procrastination has never been a problem before, so what's the problem? Hmmm, confused?

What next:

Follow a '20 days of writing' program. I will start with an easy short goal of writing 'new' words for approximately 20 minutes a day, for 20 days, on my topic. Original form of program states the topic of writing can be on anything- well I do that, just not on my topic!

What do you do to overcome procrastination? (Especially if it's something you want to do!)