Sunday, March 27, 2011
Abstraction
After a month and a half of concerted effort, the fifth and final chapter of my dissertation is now drafted. Whether or not it meets with my advisor's approval remains to be seen, but for now I have a moment to catch my breath and start contemplating the future. Eventually, that will mean working on the project's introduction and conclusion, both of which must accomplish a large amount of theoretical work in a relatively small amount of space. I'm not sure whether writing those sections will be easier or harder than revising the core chapter drafts, but for the first time, I can almost envision finishing this whole Ph.D. program.
Of course, in the short term, there are other responsibilities on my plate, most notably planning for this fall's conferences. Several major academic events have abstract deadlines during the last week of March, so I'll be spending the next few days figuring out if I have anything interesting to say to historians of science and technology and then distilling my work so as to maximize my chances of being noticed by the program committee. Brevity and brilliance wrapped up into one 500 word package. One never knows precisely what the conference organizers are looking for in a paper, especially when one's topic doesn't fit into conventional boxes. For example, many historians of science don't really focus on work done in industrial labs, which is the main focus of my research. Consequently, it is less likely for me to fit well into a preexisting panel or even to organize a panel of my own on short notice. (In hindsight, perhaps I should have made some additional inquiries.) So I somehow need to pitch my ideas in such a way as to appeal to a broad swath of potential audience members without appearing overly generic.
Ah, the fine art of academic marketing! Still, this week of abstract writing will be a nice break compared to dissertation research. And who knows, maybe I'll get a good idea for the following week when I need to slam out a 10 page submission for a workshop on the history of the physical sciences. Yes, an academic's work is never done...
After a month and a half of concerted effort, the fifth and final chapter of my dissertation is now drafted. Whether or not it meets with my advisor's approval remains to be seen, but for now I have a moment to catch my breath and start contemplating the future. Eventually, that will mean working on the project's introduction and conclusion, both of which must accomplish a large amount of theoretical work in a relatively small amount of space. I'm not sure whether writing those sections will be easier or harder than revising the core chapter drafts, but for the first time, I can almost envision finishing this whole Ph.D. program.
Of course, in the short term, there are other responsibilities on my plate, most notably planning for this fall's conferences. Several major academic events have abstract deadlines during the last week of March, so I'll be spending the next few days figuring out if I have anything interesting to say to historians of science and technology and then distilling my work so as to maximize my chances of being noticed by the program committee. Brevity and brilliance wrapped up into one 500 word package. One never knows precisely what the conference organizers are looking for in a paper, especially when one's topic doesn't fit into conventional boxes. For example, many historians of science don't really focus on work done in industrial labs, which is the main focus of my research. Consequently, it is less likely for me to fit well into a preexisting panel or even to organize a panel of my own on short notice. (In hindsight, perhaps I should have made some additional inquiries.) So I somehow need to pitch my ideas in such a way as to appeal to a broad swath of potential audience members without appearing overly generic.
Ah, the fine art of academic marketing! Still, this week of abstract writing will be a nice break compared to dissertation research. And who knows, maybe I'll get a good idea for the following week when I need to slam out a 10 page submission for a workshop on the history of the physical sciences. Yes, an academic's work is never done...
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