My honour's thesis is progressing!

[beboots]

 Good news, everyone! I'm actually FINALLY starting to feel somewhat comfortable with my thesis! I've been working on it for... way too long. Technically I began in October or November of 2009, when I took a 300-level history of American medicine class with my current Honour's supervisor, Professor Susan Smith. I wrote a short, 12 page paper on Civil War medicine and how it wasn't as bad as people say, really. 

Now, nearly a year and a half later, here I sit, with piles of books on the Civil War and 19th century medical practice surrounding me, threatening to topple at any moment and trap me here in my study space, and... the end is actually in sight. 

I'm planning on handing it in on March 31st, so I can get a chance at winning an award. (Money! Glory! Stuff that looks good on my resumé!), and I really am gearing on handing it in on that date and not two weeks later because there is only one other student planning on applying for it. That means on a most basic level I have a 50-50 chance of winning it. Odds don't get much better than that. 

 

Anyway, I've been working on this particular document - the thesis itself - really since this past December. I agonized over word choices, organization, numbers of sources, etc. I also beat myself up inside for not starting to write it earlier, like, last semester when I was only taking four classes instead of five like I am now. I felt WAY better this past Wednesday when all of us History honour's students met up to compare notes on what we'd done so far. Two of the other five hadn't even begun writing the thing yet, still finishing up their research. Even the mediating professor seemed taken aback by this statement. Granted, they're not planning on handing theirs in until April 15th, but when asked by the professor how long they thought it would take to write 50 pages, one guy answered: "two weeks."

 

Now I feel much better about the series of drafts I've handed in to my research supervisor. I just finished making the edits based on the second draft she looked over, and I'm still planning on handing in a third draft next week. 

 

Today, I read through the whole thing to make those changes. It's starting to come together. For pretty much the first time, it actually looks GOOD. 

 

And about an hour and a half ago, I reached 50 pages. 

 

AKA the required page count. \o/

 

Now if only meeting this goal meant that it was over and done with... ;) I've still got a bunch of edits to make, and there are some examples that I still need to track down, but... the bulk of the work is done. I'm going to FINISH it. 

 

I feel GOOD.

 

(Now I just have to stress out about the other four papers I have to write this semester, most of which I've done little more than do some reading, plus some outlining. That'll be my task for Sunday. But for now, I celebrate!)

Comments

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I mean, it's the longest paper I've ever written, and I'm having difficulty making sure that there's one argument running the whole way through... I'll definitely get you to read it sometime. :)

But still, at the very least mine will look much more polished in comparison? I mean, I know that they've done a lot of good research, and I'm sure that they know what they're talking about, but I doubt mine will have many typos and they'll be running themes and it will all look very lovely. I'm also the kind of person to read my papers aloud to see how they sound, which I find works well for getting it clear, coherent and, well, sounding nice. ;) I think that mine will look noticeably more polished. I even have the chance to put it away for a few days then come back to it with fresh eyes, which is always helpful. :)

*high fives*

[kuiskata]

I'll definitely get you to read it sometime.

From what you've said, it certainly sounds interesting. Please say after this term's over, though?

Oh, exactly. A shorter paper, you can manage to get it out quickly and have it looking halfway presentable. That's exponentially harder with a 50-page paper.

:D

[kuiskata]

As I promised: Secrets, by Vorabiza.

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Yaaay... Wait, no, must not procrastinate! D: Gah!

(But thanks for being my crack fanfic dealer. :)

[kuiskata]

XD

(Also, what? I get this comment in my email but not in my on-LJ notifications?? Not cool LJ. You're making me paranoid that I'm not getting these.)