Just returned from a visit to my academic director. She has read my first chapter. Probably the least painful visit over a piece of my writing yet. That is encouraging. My issues are not with content or overall logic - but rather with the internal logic of paragraphs. Stuff that I was watching for, but as soon as she points out it is painfully obvious that I missed them. I've talked in the past about being an expansive thinker and the problems this has caused for my writing. Seems I have a real knack for introducing new concepts without explaining them - most of them really interesting concepts. The funny thing is that I am quite a bit more coherent in my lecturing style. But some what makes this difference is that I have learned how to bring a lecture back from a tangent (and recognize that I've departed on a tangent). I am not always the most linear of thinkers. Doctoral dissertations are painfully linear.
I am in good shape to fix up these problems next week, my course was cancelled due to low enrollment. That sucks in a way, but it allows me to accomplish more work on my thesis.
3 comments:
Hi Frank, You don't know me but I am a long-time, part-time student at the same university. I have been reading your blog, and would have loved to have taken your course, but just returned from overseas last week, and need a break from a gruelling semester. Maybe another time. All the best with your thesis!
Hey Anonymous student at Saint Paul! Maybe we'll get a chance to meet in the future - I am teaching a few courses coming up and those are core courses so they will fill up.
What is your background tradition?
It's complicated, but had a very strong attachment to the Pentecostal church of my young adulthood. Have already registered for fall and winter, but will watch out for yours. Thanks.
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