Sunday, May 06, 2007
May Daze: Paper Season
Some of you (namely the Invisible Mom) have been wondering why I have not been posting much lately. The reason is that the end of the academic semester is here and with it comes the inevitable FRUSTRATING GRADUATE SCHOOL PAPERS to write. Classes are basically finished, with the exception of one more meeting for my seminar on the Scientific Revolution this Wednesday, but otherwise I'll probably be hiding in the library anywhere from 10-14 hours a day for the next two weeks or so. I'm hoping to finish both of them by the 18th, but I'm worried that it may not be possible.
I'm writing one paper on the historiography (i.e. the history of the history...it's like the second derivative of the past) of the atomic bomb. My professor was kind enough to keep it "short", i.e. 25-30 pages. So I've been reading and taking notes on every article and book I can find on the subject. I've gotten through about 60 books and articles so far, so I'm planning to stop reading tomorrow and start outlining ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to sift through my notes and find some original ideas. Even though it may be inevitable, I'd strongly prefer coming up with a creative thesis to recapitulating the same old story.
The other paper is trickier because it's not a standard assignment. It's a lecture. But I'm not delivering it orally...I'm just writing it down. Since I've never written an academic lecture before that was meant to be delivered to students who have graduated from high school, this is somewhat intimidating. It has to fit somewhere into the syllabus for the class I'm taking on science in a global context. Tentatively, I'm thinking of doing something about the early history of paleontology. Finally, a chance to apply my kindergarten interests to a serious academic project.
Anyhow, that's why I've been remiss on my blogging and will likely continue to be so for the next few weeks. But I will be back soon with news about my exciting summer plans and some long delayed tales of terror from Underwood High.
Some of you (namely the Invisible Mom) have been wondering why I have not been posting much lately. The reason is that the end of the academic semester is here and with it comes the inevitable FRUSTRATING GRADUATE SCHOOL PAPERS to write. Classes are basically finished, with the exception of one more meeting for my seminar on the Scientific Revolution this Wednesday, but otherwise I'll probably be hiding in the library anywhere from 10-14 hours a day for the next two weeks or so. I'm hoping to finish both of them by the 18th, but I'm worried that it may not be possible.
I'm writing one paper on the historiography (i.e. the history of the history...it's like the second derivative of the past) of the atomic bomb. My professor was kind enough to keep it "short", i.e. 25-30 pages. So I've been reading and taking notes on every article and book I can find on the subject. I've gotten through about 60 books and articles so far, so I'm planning to stop reading tomorrow and start outlining ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to sift through my notes and find some original ideas. Even though it may be inevitable, I'd strongly prefer coming up with a creative thesis to recapitulating the same old story.
The other paper is trickier because it's not a standard assignment. It's a lecture. But I'm not delivering it orally...I'm just writing it down. Since I've never written an academic lecture before that was meant to be delivered to students who have graduated from high school, this is somewhat intimidating. It has to fit somewhere into the syllabus for the class I'm taking on science in a global context. Tentatively, I'm thinking of doing something about the early history of paleontology. Finally, a chance to apply my kindergarten interests to a serious academic project.
Anyhow, that's why I've been remiss on my blogging and will likely continue to be so for the next few weeks. But I will be back soon with news about my exciting summer plans and some long delayed tales of terror from Underwood High.
Comments:
Hi Ben
Yeah, got to love the end of the term! I've been holed up 10-14 hours a day in the lab trying to get my stupid chemicals to obey my will. I have my 4th year (has it really been that long) talk at the end of May, and thats the last hoop I need to jump through, save the actual thesis. Good luck with work!
-Scott
Yeah, got to love the end of the term! I've been holed up 10-14 hours a day in the lab trying to get my stupid chemicals to obey my will. I have my 4th year (has it really been that long) talk at the end of May, and thats the last hoop I need to jump through, save the actual thesis. Good luck with work!
-Scott
And despite reading these kinds of descriptions of long hours at the library, etc, I still want to go back for an advanced degree or two... I must be perty dumb. Ah well.
Good luck with all that, dude
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Good luck with all that, dude
