#dissertation

[shitacademicswrite]

[gwenpoolsaesthetic]

Hey you! Yes, you!

Would you like your creation on display in a museum?

Would you like to help a super awesome PhD candidate complete her dissertation?

Would you like a great excuse to further procrastinate that thing you've been procrastinating?

All of these and more are great reasons to participate in Affirmation/Transformation: Fandom Created, an exhibition at Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art. (You do NOT need to be an artist, or even someone who creates art to participate!) Write a story, write a song, design a cosplay, create a fancy manicure, make a meme, make a stop-motion video, choreograph a dance, make a SuperWhoLock gif fic, or anything else your heart can dream up.

Your creation must follow only one rule: It must be inspired by a fusion of 1. any fandom of your choice, and 2. one of the featured Haggerty pieces (click the link to see them!)

Completed works are due July 1, 2024. The exhibition will run August 23rd-December 22nd, 2024, and will be available to view in person and online.

To see the Haggerty pieces, and to sign up to receive email reminders about the fan event, visit https://epublications.marquette.edu/fandom/Affirmationtransformation

[aquietplacetostudy]

days of october 🍂

aka coffee, daily walks and never-ending thesis work

[magpiecollectingknowledge]

Dissertation prep is scary but exciting! I can’t believe I’m already having to start this; it feels like I started uni yesterday.

[salvadorbonaparte]

How to set up a research journal

This is just one way you can set up a research journal but it's helping me tremendously so maybe it also works for you. My set-up is partially inspired by this video by Answer in Progress and I suggest you check out their curiosity journal.

Preparation

First you need a notebook. The trick is to find a notebook that you're not afraid to "ruin". We all want a really neat, aesthetic research journal, but the reality looks more like hasty scribbles, but that's okay, that's where the research breakthroughs happen.

I personally bought a cheap lined notebook from Søstrene Grene that I thought looked cute and put a sticker on it. That way I feel good about using it but I also don't mind when my handwriting gets messy because it was only like 3€.

You should also stock up on pens you like writing with. Different colour highlighters and post-its are also a good idea but not a must. Keep it cheap but comfortable.

Title Page

Here you should put down all the really important information: year, title, deadlines, word count, supervisors. Maybe add an inspirational quote to spice it up but keep it simple and relevant.

Key

This should either be your next or your last page. I personally use the last pages of my journal so I can add thing and find it easier. Your key is there to list abbreviations and symbols.

For example, I have different symbols for statistics, dates, new terminology, questions, breakthroughs, important notes and abbreviations for the most important terms in my field. It's shorter to write T9N than Translation.

The trick here is to have enough abbreviations and symbols to save time and effort but not so many that you constantly have to look back and forth between your page and key. They should be memorable and not easy to confuse.

Topic Mind map

If you hate mind maps you can skip this of course or use a different method but what helped me is to visualise all the topics that connect to my research project in a mind map. I then colour-coded the main groups of topics with my highlighters. It helps me to keep an overview on how many topics I need to do research on.

Proposal

If you're writing a thesis/dissertation it can be helpful to have a page set aside for your proposal and take some bullet point notes on methodology, chapter structure, research context, aims and objectives and think of some titles. You can also do this for your lit review and a list of works to include.

Hypothesis and Question Pages

I set aside four pages for this but you can adjust this to your needs. The first page is my hypothesis. It doesn't have to be fully formed yet, it can just be bullet points with five question marks. You can always revise and update it but it is important to keep an eye on what you're actually trying to find out.

The next idea is basically just stolen from Answer in Progress: a section for big questions, medium questions and little questions. These aren't necessarily hypotheses you aim to answer but questions you have about your topic that might be good to look into (maybe they lead somewhere, maybe they don't).

Research Notes

Now comes the big, fun part. Research notes are allowed to be a little messy but you should have some sort of system so you can actually find what you're looking for afterwards. I'm currently just looking at books and articles so that's what my system is based on. You can totally adjust this to include other forms of research.

What I do is that I put down and underline the author and title of my source. Underneath that I use my highlighters and mark the topic of the paper based on how I colour-coded them in my mind map. You might have to do this after you've finished reading. For example, if a text talks about censorship and dubbing in Germany, three of my topics, I will draw three lines in light blue, dark blue and red, the colours I chose for those topics. This way you can easily browse your notes and see which pages are talking about which topics.

When it comes to the actual research notes, I include the page number on the left and then take bullet point notes on whatever is relevant. These are often abbreviated and paraphrased but if something is especially important I will write down a full quote.

As mentioned earlier, I have a key of symbols I use so I can simply put down a '!' in order to differentiate a research breakthrough from a normal note. You can insert your own thoughts much more easily when you know you'll be able to tell them apart later on. At the end of each article, book or even chapter I write down my main takeaway.

Other Notes

This is your research journal and you can do with it what you want. I also added lists of films that might be relevant for my research, a list of databases and publishers to check for papers and tips on research strategy.

If you're working with interviews or surveys you could write down your questions. If you're nervous about your research you could include a list of reasons why your research project is important or why you're doing it. You can include a to-do list or a calendar to track meetings with supervisors. Anything that helps you with your research.

[beartitled]

I’m struggling

/silly

Mini announcement

There’s probably going to be less posts? I dunno for sure, most likely will be posting old art or some sketches

Currently concentrated on finishing writing and drawing my diploma project, so need some time to get over with it 💪

[thevintagetheologian]

Still proofreading…

[equinesandeducation]

Finishing the first draft of my thesis in between packing for volunteering at the world championships Icelandic horses in Oirschot! Stella helping, like always 😌

[penandpaper-love]

August 4th, 2023

Making slow progress. I'm tackling difficult sections of my text and it's hard but necessary. Slow, slow, but persistent....

[clovdzia]

Hi guys,

My name is Claudia and I am doing a MA in Korean Studies at SOAS University of London, UK. I'm currently working on my dissertation and I'm basing it on Korean dramas and their subtitles - specifically how subtitles may influence people's opinions about Korean culture and language.

I finally finished organising the main survey I was preparing, which I finally launched yesterday. This survey is the key to my research so it's quite important to me!

To explain it quickly:

> It will take roughly 15 minutes to complete as there are quite a few questions and clips to watch.

> The survey is anonymous but I do collect emails just by default (Don't worry, they're not to be disclosed to anyone. It's just to keep track of numbers and not to have people repeating the survey)

> I have used short clips from the following dramas: The Glory, All of Us Are Dead, Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Squid Games. However no spoilers to the plot have been used - all the clips are a few seconds long and only include idioms, expressions and cultural elements so no spoilers intended nor shown.

> In the last section you'll be asked to watch said clips and reply to the questions related to them but again NO SPOILERS to the plots.

I've received permission to post the link to the survey so here it is: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSfFE8rVQ45bDb.../viewform

I'd greatly appreciate it if you could do the survey - but also understand if you're unable to do it for whatever reason!

Thanks so much

[one-time-i-dreamt]

A guy I knew from school asked me for help with his dissertation on the subject of ‘people punching horses in the face in literature.’

[shitacademicswrite]

[littleratsthings]

Attention Baldur's Gate 3 Enjoyers!!!

Hi there, I'm a student at TU Dublin. I'm writing my dissertation on BG3! I'm gathering data, which is completely anonymous, via survey. I would be highly appreciative if you could fill it in and reposts would make my day. It doesn't take too long to fill out. Here's the link:

Thank you so much and I appreciate all responses!

[mytortoisegotstuckinatupperware]

o shit its me

[greywake]

Looking for help!

I'm looking for people to interview for my dissertation research about the employment experiences of people with ADHD.

If you have officially diagnosed ADHD, have worked, or currently work in the UK, and are willing to be interviewed for about an hour, please drop me a DM

EDIT 26/02/23: I just want to say thank you all so SO much for all the likes, reblogs, and responses! I've managed to interview enough people to get on with my analysis and write up and there's no way I could have got this far without all your support.

THANK YOU!!!!

[salvadorbonaparte]

Thesis Finished 🎉