Exciting times indeed

My entire draft thesis was emailed to my supervisor on Friday. What a great feeling. Tomorrow I can go to the beach, shop, swim, ride or whatever I feel like. It's the first real holiday feeling where there is no point working on my studies. LOVE IT!! Freedom for a week...

Mount Bold Reservoir 4 months after the 2007 wildfire

Aims or objectives or hypothesis or goal or enlightenment= 42

The answer is 42. If only we knew the question. Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is a classic book that seems to answer why a PhD thesis is so difficult. If we know the answer then we need to know the question. Neither is easy to define. Today I have put the entire day aside to make my thesis aims and objectives clear.

Studying across three differing universities makes the "simple" (lol) task of writing my aims seem impossible. Everyone has differing views and styles. Hmmmm which one is correct? Well that is the beauty of it, clearly if no one agrees then there is not a black and white answer. The main thing is to make them clear so the reader can work out what you are attempting to do and so the discussion can link nicely back into them.  I'd be fascinated to hear if any student used the same aims/objectives in their final thesis as they did in their proposal. Your ideas are refined during your candidature and it's unlikely they are the same at the end as when you started. If they were the same as your proposal was the journey really worth it? Did you learn on the way?

So in order to better work out the ideal "aim" I've been procrastinating by searching the web. Here are some interesting sites I found- just to fuel your own procrastination. If you know some good sites for thesis writing - especially  aims -please leave a comment.

How to write a PhD thesis

http://3monththesis.com/how-to-write-a-phd-thesis/

 

What is a Thesis Statement?

http://www.experiment-resources.com/what-is-a-thesis-statement.html

How to Write a Thesis:

http://ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au/pub/HowToWriteAThesis.pdf 

 

Marias Diploma and Ph.D Thesis writing suggestions

http://www.genetik.uni-koeln.de/groups/Leptin/links/thesis/Thesis_writing_rules.htm

 

Writing a thesis proposal

http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/documents/thesisproposal.pdf

 

10 easy ways to fail a Ph.D.

http://matt.might.net/articles/ways-to-fail-a-phd/

Aims, Objectives and Guidelines for PhD Students

http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Teaching/learning/phd-guidelines.html

Planning a PhD: Getting Your Research aim/question Right

http://www.brighthub.com/education/postgraduate/articles/68825.aspx

With this small selection of web-sites and numerous completed PhD thesis to guide me I'm a step closer to knowing the question, but then again maybe my answer isn't 42.

Now

When is a good time to write the thesis discussion!



Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work I go

Peer reviewing

I've discovered a new club to join, the academic peer review process. It's a bit like the child birthing club. Everyone keeps fairly quiet until you have experienced the pain. Once the experience is there, everyone who has been there before is willing to share. The truth comes out about how harsh the process is. I've needed thick skin to survive the ordeal. Over the past few weeks many a war story has been shared about the review process. I kinda understand the end product is better. Hmmmm lets hope the second birth is easier ; )

So in honour of the review process enjoy this you-tube

I guess I'm privileged to experience the pain of a peer review process. Strange warped mind of a critical scientist.

Success

This picture has been doing the rounds on facebook. Sums up how I'm feeling at the momment. I'm stuck somewhere in the crazy middle bit assuming there will be a way out. I really hope there is. Did I tell everyone don't do a PhD. It's a cruel process.

Writing retreat at Lord Howe Island

What better way to enjoy a PhD than to turn it into a holiday. If you are writing up your thesis I strongly recommend a writing retreat. The final write up stage is a hard slog that can be so easily enjoyed in beautiful settings. Removing all extraneous workloads such as cleaning, cooking and kid wrangling frees the mind for flowing words and  thoughtful ideas.

Last week Mum and I went away in style to Pinetrees at Lord Howe Island. The food was divine and tranquillity amazing. Most mornings I rode the island then settled down to write. A couple of days were devoted to island exploring by walking snorkeling and kayaking. The food was all catered so I could spend my time writing, fixing equations and walking. Lord Howe is a spectacular World Heritage destination. The scenery is dramatic with subtropical forests, rare flora and fauna, gorgeous beaches and curious marine life. So beautiful!

Mobile phones don't work at Lord Howe and internet access is tricky. Makes an amazing stop to e-procrastination of email, twittering, facebook and blogging. The word count is rising, just maybe one day this never ending PhD thesis will be finished ; )

Soccer Mum

Recently I purged my brain of the Mount Bold erosion discussion using dot points. It only took a couple of hours of rough writing but now the details are out. Sometimes it is better to just write whatever comes to mind. Soccer training on Friday was a great setting for some simple reminiscing and editing about my research.

Maybe it’s the academic Mum in me but when my little man scored the first goal of the season on Sat I failed to notice. Thanks goodness for the other Mums giving me a quick rib to cheer. Hubby was away looking at rocks in Adelaide so I was juggling three boys all having different games at different times in two different locations with only one of me and one car. I struggle a bit with cheering at soccer. If one kid gets a goal that means another kid failed to stop the goal. Should I really cheer at another person’s failure? It’s a bit like I struggle with the negativity of academic reviewers. Maybe I just need to toughen up princess.

Productive procrastination

I've been working on the productive procrastination today. Made a location map for my Ch 4 Case study on Mount Bold. Of course the computer crashed wthout me saving the final touches. Scary blue screen announcing I need to seek help. Reboot and away went that screen. Luckily the learning had been done on my map so fixing it didn't take too long. I'm backing up my stuff  now the computer is alive again . It was last year when I backed up at home. OK so the production has not been so great this year buts there's still plenty of work to loose. Gosh knows how long ago I backed up away from this house. If it burns down I'm in strife. Mental note to fix that tomorrow.

ps This is not my house. It was a training exercise at Verdun. Check out
South Australian Country Fire Service Promotions Unit for amazing photos.
We live far enough away from the bush for no direct flame contact from a bushfire however the sparks and embers could get us. Most likely reason for the house to burn down will be when I forget to turn the iron off or I leave the stove on. No worries about the ironing, I generally successfully avoid that wasted past-time. Actually the flickering electrical lights might cause it. Another mental note. Must get the electrician over to fix the house.