...every time I have a meeting with my supervisor but indulge me this once.
THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO AND SO MUCH TO LEARN AND I HAVE SO LITTLE TIME IN WHICH TO DO IT!
Ok, that last part is probably not true. A PhD takes at least 3 years (and I'm ignoring the fact I need to write a 20,000 word lit review by this time next year) but the first part is. I had a meeting today to talk about the notes I made when reading Carol Clover's Men, Women and Chainsaws, and lots of ideas came out of it (it was a 1 hour meeting that lasted for 2 hours) but there are so many more areas to examine than I first thought and so many books to read and ideas to organise. I actually spent part of the meeting telling myself it would be a huge waste of money to drop out this early but given we're only a few weeks into the term wouldn't I at least get some money back. Which isn't the way I want to think at all but this is really overwhelming. There's definitely a part of me that wishes I was just writing about TXF on my own, with no pressure to get a PhD or get published or present papers. But then that's definitely countered by the sheer enthusiasm I've encountered among fans who want to be interviewed and think this is really interesting and want to know more. I love studying TXF and talking about it. It's all these new theories I'm less sure about.
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Tuesday 19 October 2010
At Least I Know I Can Write Great Abstracts
My 'scientific nature of the whammy' paper just got accepted for the magic and the supernatural conference in Prague. On the one hand I'm chuffed cos this is a proper (scary) conference which runs for 3 days and last year's paper looked reakky interesting. On the other I'm turning it down because it looks scary (seriously-no powerpoint usage [which doesn't bother me but it means people will look at me rather than shiny XF clips], picking out the main points of the paper rather than reading it because drafts get posted to the site in advance), it's expensive (£245 plus accomodation plus flight), my supervisor would probably go a bit spare and I have no time or money to do it. But in a few years' time hopefully I'll be able to submit and go and that'd be cool.
In other news, I need more hours in the day and a job which leaves me with more than £74 at the end of the month (and that's when I'm on a tight budget).
Ok. Time to get up.
In other news, I need more hours in the day and a job which leaves me with more than £74 at the end of the month (and that's when I'm on a tight budget).
Ok. Time to get up.
Saturday 16 October 2010
My MA?
I passed it with a distinction! So pleased and relieved at that. Picking up feedback Tuesday but I don't even care what they say because I am done! (Although maybe I do, a little bit.)
Friday 8 October 2010
Training, Meetings and Suchlike
So today I had my starting out as a researcher training event and my first formal meeting with my supervisor. The training was good, even though some of it was obvious, some of it too long and some of it information we'd been given previously. There was an overview of our rights and responsibilities, detail on the graduate schools and a (very nice) free lunch.
The morning session I'm sure was designed to freak us out. Cardiff (and a few other UK universities from what I've heard) are very keen on students completing in 3 years, and that 3 years is going to go very quickly. That did scare me, especially as I have so much to learn and not much spare time in which to learn it. They are very good with things like interruptions to study and so on though, so if I run out of money or decide to do the course part time instead I think they'll be able to accommodate that. But still-there was an element of 'Oh. My. God' to it.
The afternoon did go better, though I'm sure part of that was the free food, and I did an online IT literacy thing that tells you where you need development on research skills, intellectual property right and copyright, and plagiarism. I scored above 90% in all of them which is apparently very good and means I don't need to worry so much.
After that was the meeting with my supervisor, which was both good and overwhelming. The first thing he told me was don't freak out, which was reassuring! There're a few of us without a cultural studies background so I shouldn't compare myself with those who know theories I don't. That's something I have been doing so it was nice to be told I'm an individual, will be treated as much and will do just as good a job. We then talked about the literature review, which should be 20,000 words, due in a year's time. My lit review is going to look at representations of gender in the media, audience studies, fanfic and a bit on TV (creation of characters, etc) so a lot of stuff to cover. I'm going to look at the gender side first, so I've got to read about Clover's 'final girl' and make detailed notes for our next meeting. We'll have fortnightly meetings for the 1st semester at least, which I am happy with because this is going to be a steep learning curve for me.
He did caution against accepting any more conferences this year given I'm going to have so much else on, and would probably like me to not do the gender one I'm at in November, though did say not to drop out because I've already agreed to it. That means I probably won't do the erotic adaptations one, which I really am gutted about because it's so interesting! But it makes sense because I have so much to learn and read about and I am a bit scared that I'm working, doing conference papers and learning BA level theories while writing this! On the plus side though, in a year or so I'll be able to submit chapters I'm writing to conferences, journals and even books, and be seen as an expert in my field rather than the girl who does this, that and the other (my words!).
He did say he's a really hands on supervisor and will give detailed feedback, so that's good. Given the review I had for the journal article I mentioned previously I'll be much happier with detailed feedback! We also broke my thesis down into more easily manageable parts (5000 words for intro, 5-10,000 for methods, etc. means half's written before we come to my actual research!) and I'll be writing a chapter on Mulder, which pleases me (and makes sense given you can't really talk about on without the other)! He did say it's a lot of work and he expects me to put in the time and effort, but he also thinks it's got the potential to be a really cool thesis when I'm done. So overall it was a really encouraging meeting, even with a bit of a 'walk before you can run' caveat!
The morning session I'm sure was designed to freak us out. Cardiff (and a few other UK universities from what I've heard) are very keen on students completing in 3 years, and that 3 years is going to go very quickly. That did scare me, especially as I have so much to learn and not much spare time in which to learn it. They are very good with things like interruptions to study and so on though, so if I run out of money or decide to do the course part time instead I think they'll be able to accommodate that. But still-there was an element of 'Oh. My. God' to it.
The afternoon did go better, though I'm sure part of that was the free food, and I did an online IT literacy thing that tells you where you need development on research skills, intellectual property right and copyright, and plagiarism. I scored above 90% in all of them which is apparently very good and means I don't need to worry so much.
After that was the meeting with my supervisor, which was both good and overwhelming. The first thing he told me was don't freak out, which was reassuring! There're a few of us without a cultural studies background so I shouldn't compare myself with those who know theories I don't. That's something I have been doing so it was nice to be told I'm an individual, will be treated as much and will do just as good a job. We then talked about the literature review, which should be 20,000 words, due in a year's time. My lit review is going to look at representations of gender in the media, audience studies, fanfic and a bit on TV (creation of characters, etc) so a lot of stuff to cover. I'm going to look at the gender side first, so I've got to read about Clover's 'final girl' and make detailed notes for our next meeting. We'll have fortnightly meetings for the 1st semester at least, which I am happy with because this is going to be a steep learning curve for me.
He did caution against accepting any more conferences this year given I'm going to have so much else on, and would probably like me to not do the gender one I'm at in November, though did say not to drop out because I've already agreed to it. That means I probably won't do the erotic adaptations one, which I really am gutted about because it's so interesting! But it makes sense because I have so much to learn and read about and I am a bit scared that I'm working, doing conference papers and learning BA level theories while writing this! On the plus side though, in a year or so I'll be able to submit chapters I'm writing to conferences, journals and even books, and be seen as an expert in my field rather than the girl who does this, that and the other (my words!).
He did say he's a really hands on supervisor and will give detailed feedback, so that's good. Given the review I had for the journal article I mentioned previously I'll be much happier with detailed feedback! We also broke my thesis down into more easily manageable parts (5000 words for intro, 5-10,000 for methods, etc. means half's written before we come to my actual research!) and I'll be writing a chapter on Mulder, which pleases me (and makes sense given you can't really talk about on without the other)! He did say it's a lot of work and he expects me to put in the time and effort, but he also thinks it's got the potential to be a really cool thesis when I'm done. So overall it was a really encouraging meeting, even with a bit of a 'walk before you can run' caveat!
Monday 4 October 2010
Research and University
I spent yesterday researching for my papers, filling out my expression of interest form for teaching next year, reading Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's point of view and it's just as bad!) and generally pottering about. Speaking of research, I now have my first typed notes! They're not very long, but I think they're relevant. I hope they're relevant! The conference schedule is also up and I'm presenting in one of the last panels of the day. My name (my actual name!) is the first one out of the three of us so I don't know if that means I go first or what. I'm on the same panel as my friend though so that's making me feel better. Oh, and there's a conference budget in uni that'll pay for it =D
I have a meeting about teaching in uni tomorrow (though I'm not teaching this semester), followed by my first seminar (on semiotics, which I get more than I did but I'm still not sure I fully understand) on Wednesday and a training course and my first formal meeting with my supervisor on Friday. A busy week but I'm really looking forward to it.
I have a meeting about teaching in uni tomorrow (though I'm not teaching this semester), followed by my first seminar (on semiotics, which I get more than I did but I'm still not sure I fully understand) on Wednesday and a training course and my first formal meeting with my supervisor on Friday. A busy week but I'm really looking forward to it.
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