Today, it came to my attention that I have had meetings with professors every single day this week. Busy, busy week. It's been a week of sorting things out and trying to figure out my next steps in the program and my plans for the summer. I met with KB and DM to talk about the status of my qualifying paper. On one hand, I'm ready to be done with it and move on. On the other hand, I am sort of grateful that KB and DM aren't so eager to just sign off and approve this paper. I'd rather have something that could possibly lead to a publication than something that won't go anywhere except my hard drive. So, I'm back to revising, editing, and re-organizing. My results aren't exactly what I expected, so I'm struggling with figuring out the angle I want to take. I'm still tweaking (it seems neverending), and I'm just trying to determine what kind of story I want to tell.
In the meantime, I'm trying to get my 2nd qualifier in the pipeline. This past quarter, I wrote a research design revolving around issues of national identity, immigration, birthright citizenship, women, and reproductive control in Ireland and the United States. An interesting thing happened last spring: I surprised myself by stepping back from abortion politics and exploring other research areas. So, I don't really know what will happen to this project. TS thinks it is a good idea, and LD thinks I need to do some more reading to develop the idea. I think this is a topic that may be more suitable for my 3rd qualifying paper (a literature review) and perhaps eventually a dissertation. So I've shifted gears and I may pursue a project about the anti-rape movement instead. Sometimes, it really feels like I have academic ADD. Seriously.
A couple things that I have learned thus far is that sometimes things don't go exactly as planned and everything takes longer to complete than anticipated. This is why I plan ahead, so then I'll be right on track. A year ago, I thought that my 1st qualifier was going to be about abortion attitudes. Instead, I shelved that project and my 1st qualifier is on abortion rates. This time around, I thought that the immigration and citizenship project would become my 2nd qualifier. Instead, it seems as though the anti-rape project may be my 2nd qualifier and the birthright citizenship project may become the 3rd. Or it may not work out this way at all. I'm open to the possibilities.
I booked a plane ticket to Michigan for the middle of July, and I just signed a housing contract. I'll be in Ann Arbor for a month for what is affectionately known as Stats Boot Camp.
In the meantime, I'm trying to get my 2nd qualifier in the pipeline. This past quarter, I wrote a research design revolving around issues of national identity, immigration, birthright citizenship, women, and reproductive control in Ireland and the United States. An interesting thing happened last spring: I surprised myself by stepping back from abortion politics and exploring other research areas. So, I don't really know what will happen to this project. TS thinks it is a good idea, and LD thinks I need to do some more reading to develop the idea. I think this is a topic that may be more suitable for my 3rd qualifying paper (a literature review) and perhaps eventually a dissertation. So I've shifted gears and I may pursue a project about the anti-rape movement instead. Sometimes, it really feels like I have academic ADD. Seriously.
A couple things that I have learned thus far is that sometimes things don't go exactly as planned and everything takes longer to complete than anticipated. This is why I plan ahead, so then I'll be right on track. A year ago, I thought that my 1st qualifier was going to be about abortion attitudes. Instead, I shelved that project and my 1st qualifier is on abortion rates. This time around, I thought that the immigration and citizenship project would become my 2nd qualifier. Instead, it seems as though the anti-rape project may be my 2nd qualifier and the birthright citizenship project may become the 3rd. Or it may not work out this way at all. I'm open to the possibilities.
I booked a plane ticket to Michigan for the middle of July, and I just signed a housing contract. I'll be in Ann Arbor for a month for what is affectionately known as Stats Boot Camp.
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