This has been one of those weeks when you doubt whether you should write anything on the progress of the undergraduate dissertation; "what for? I didn't get anything done".
Nevertheless, since I intend to document the progress, I think it is important to reflect those days which feel foggy as well. Maybe the undergraduate dissertation won't be long and demanding enough for those long days of walking in a desert that others experience, but it has its ups and downs, like any other project, and not getting lost in them is an important learning which one is supposed to gain along the process.
This week I intended to have put together in my Zotero dissertation folder all the literature we have gathered on storytelling during the degree, which is a lot, by the way. I started using Zotero on my first year in the degree, and I organise my references in folders created per assignment or unit, so I need to go through all of them to pick the relevant ones. Plus, some teachers gave us articles and chapters of books which I didn't have to use in any assignment and have not been added to my Zotero library yet, so I need to go over my paper folders too.
Well, that was my intention, but I haven't been able to do it; not even in a week where the weekend stretched thanks to a bank holiday today. I guess my health is getting to its limit after having gone through the first three years of the degree and this year it is causing me more trouble than I am used to, so this week has been about a cold and back ache. Spending seven months a year leaving home at 7.20 am and returning at 9.00 pm and sitting down in front of the computer most of the weekend can't be good, especially once you turn 45! The good news is there is only a few months of that left.
Coming back to the dissertation, I have also been doing quite a lot of thinking, but that doesn't show up unless you use a resource like this blog, and that is one of the reasons why I like it so much. I have been thinking about aspects linked with my dissertation topic (storytelling) on which I would like to conduct the practical part of my dissertation (a small research project). The problem is that all the alternatives I have thought about (I don't have time to explain them now, but I will later on) don't seem feasible, taking into account the set up of the English lessons in the school where I am doing my placement. So I feel a bit frustrated, because the sort of things which might be feasible don't look too appealing to me, and the things I am curious about,I can't see how they could be done. I will talk about them with my school placement tutors, both at school and at university, and with classmates, if I can, to see if anyone can give me interesting ideas.
For this coming week, I will print out the abstracts of all the articles I have gathered so far, and read them in order to start narrowing down the topic. That will help me cheer up, since it is a task where I am bound to succeed, as it is just a matter of reading. If I manage to do that and finish putting together the rest of the literature this coming week (meaning next weekend), I can leave the visit to the two libraries for the other week and be all set to spend Christmas doing some intense reading and writing!
iruzkinik ez:
Argitaratu iruzkina