Still tackling with lit review

Hello! Been away for some time but back with updates!

• I worked on the changes my supervisor wanted the last time I met him.
• Started working on a new section in chapter 2.
• Worked on the previous sections I've written so far.

My lit review still needs a lot of work but it's growing :) Tomorrow, I'll keep working on the new section. Hoping to finish it this week. Then, there's only one section left in this chapter.

Haven't started working on chapter 3 though. But it's ok. I'll also collect my post-test data this Thursday.

I should see my supervisor before January and decide on a date for my progress report 2!

All for now,
Bye!

Waking up from my slumber

Pff. Here I am again after a long break. Right, I did _NOTHING_ during my absence.

Excuses:

I couldn't get to meet my supervisor..so I couldn't get any feedback on my writings and I stopped writing. Now, isn't that a great excuse?

Ok, yesterday, I finally could catch him in his office and on Tuesday I'll meet him again to show him my draft. He gave me a few books to use in my chapter 2. I've been trying to figure out why I need to include this in my thesis at all. All I need to do is mention the whole idea in just one sentence - if at all necessary. But since he gave me all these books and expects me to incorporate the idea in my chapter, I'll have to find a way to do it somehow. But not today, not today!

Tomorrow, I'll try to do it and read everything I've written so far just to remember so when he asks 'What do you mean by this in this paragraph?' on Tuesday, I'll have an answer. I'm also hoping to start writing my Chapter 3 tomorrow. We'll see.

Be back on Tuesday!

My 2nd progress report is due in January. We're in December, right?!?!

Update

It's been a while I haven't done any work on my thesis. Today I got back to work and started working on my chapter 2.2. Nothing decent yet.

Pre-testing

Tasks all finalized. Tomorrow collecting the first part of my data!

Updates

I kind of finished 2.1. I will start working on 2.2. this week. I'll get help from my previous work again and update it with recent research.

I have the pilots to evaluate. I was planning to do it this weekend but I'll wait for tomorrow since I'm also waiting for some advice from two profs. I'll hopefully finalize all my tasks before Thursday and collect my data this week :)

Although I'm feeling down from time to time for being lazy (the guilty conscience), this blog makes me feel better! I have things to write here ha!!!

Ok, I might be around here during the week, but I'll definitely be back with updates next weekend.

Pilot, 1, 2, 3 go!

Today I saw my supervisor briefly and showed him the tasks. I'll pilot them with his group tomorrow.

Excited!

Articles

I couldn't meet my supervisor today. He is too busy. And the rest of the week I'm too busy but I told him I MUST see him this week as I MUST do my pilot this week. So, we'll meet early in the morning tomorrow.

I downloaded some articles which I'll use in my chapter 2. section 1. I also asked a friend of mine to download the ones I didn't have access to. The library e-sources database sucks sometimes. I'm glad that I have friends in different parts of the world who can hep me!

Well, so tomorrow we'll decide on the piloting date, etc. I'll have to make photocopies of the tasks etc. during the week. I hope the pilot runs smoothly so I won't have to change too much on my tasks. I think I can only work on the articles and 2.1. at the weekend.

Till then,
Bye

Progress

I couldn't meet my supervisor last week. I sent an email to him today and hopefully will meet him tomorrow and show him my tasks and stuff.

I started working on my lit review. I made an outline and started working on my first section. I kind of cheated though. I got help from my previous work. I will need to update it some though. It still makes me feel good to see my document growing.

All for now. I'll be back tomorrow if I get to meet my supervisor.

Where are we?

Here I am! I finished working on my introduction, well I think I did - I can't be sure unless my supervisor says ok.

I also worked some more on my tasks. The bad, maybe good, thing is I found a few stupid mistakes in them and corrected them. Good because I could correct them, bad because what if there are some more mistakes I'm not seeing now. But I'll pilot them soon and if there's something wrong, hopefully I'll know before I actually use them.

I also wrote my task descriptions - something I should have done long time ago. Because I literally forgot what I had in mind while writing them. These descriptions will go right to my methodology chapter. I'll probably write that section simultaneously with my lit review. Sounds good :)

I wrote an email to my supervisor asking to meet him tomorrow. I hope he can. So, I can get some ideas for my lit review.

Tomorrow, I'll also try to see if the paperwork for my research funding is finally done so I can start asking for things!!! I need a printer at home. Urgently!!!

I'll be back here tomorrow. Keep following me.

Shame on me!

My last post was on Aug 24 and today is Sep 27. Since then, I haven't even written a single line. I don't know what happened. I was actually fearing this. Writing something is painful enough, and when my supervisor wants me to add something to it, I feel so discouraged. September was a lost month for me. Ok, I had other things to do (excuses) too. And whenever I take a break from my thesis, it gets more difficult to get back to work. That's what happened.

Anyway, I have a new plan now. I got my schedule for work. I got Mondays off. So, I'll have long weekends to work on my thesis. On weekdays, though, I have to work like crazy and won't have much time or energy to study. Oh well, it's better than nothing.

I'll also start teaching the linguistics course this week. Soon, I'll pilot my tasks (excited about it!), and at the end of the semester I'll have collected my data!!! Finally something achieved!

Tomorrow, I'll start working on the things I had promised to do long time ago. This time I have no escape. Wish me luck though :)

Editions, editions, more editions

I met my supervisor today to show him my tasks and my introduction. And his feedback is:

- Add more sentences to TT
- Revise the RQs
- Add a few paragraphs to the introduction related to L1 transfer

He also gave me three books to read and use in my intro/literature.

Not too shabby, eh?

I'm hoping to do all this before next Thursday and have a meeting with him again on Thursday and maybe discuss how I should go about the literature review.

See you probably next Thursday (Sept, 3).

Tasks revisited

Hello after a long time! Today I met my supervisor and we discussed the PJT. I told him about my doubts and finally we came to a decision on how to go about it. I will redo it. Good thing is I will just crop some things and no further additions! And we also decided how to make the TT.

Then, we talked about the RQs - need to revise and rewrite them. I told him I'll do everything before Monday so we can meet again on Monday to look at the final product. At the weekend I'll be working on the tasks and research questions. I feel better now. But also a little nervous because I'll also show him my introduction. That means editions are coming up.

PJT, done

It's been some time I haven't written anything in my blog. This was bothering me, because not writing anything here means not doing anything for my thesis (I'm glad this blog serves its purpose). I've been working on the PJT for some time now. But whenever I sat down to work I was discouraged and feeling at a loss.

Finally, today I've finished it. But I'm not happy because I still don't feel confident about it. There is something wrong in it and I don't get it.

I guess my supervisor is on holiday out of town (I saw it in his facebook status message). So, I won't bother him now. I'll show him the task when he comes back.

And I can't work on my last task (TT) now either because it depends on the PJT.

I don't even know what I should be working on now.

PS: I started work and soon I'll have crazy busy times at work. I feel miserable.

Meeting with my supervisor

I met him today in the morning (I'm so happy he is not on holiday!). We talked about the GJCT. He wanted me to make a few minor corrections. And about PJT he cleared my doubts. He came up with new ideas though. Anyway, we'll see how it'll go.

I'm lucky to have him as my supervisor. He's always generous to me and understanding. I don't remember a time I left his office unhappy. Whenever I walk in desperately, he cheers me up and makes me believe that I can do it.

I know not everybody is as lucky as me!

Tomorrow I will start working on the PJT.

PJT, no no!

For a few days, I haven't done anything. I sent my GJCT to my supervisor and he didn't reply. It gave me a good excuse for not working. But today I forced myself to work on my PJT. As expected, I couldn't do much. It's too difficult and I'm lost. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. So, I sent an email to my supervisor asking for a meeting this week if he's in town. I hope he is! I really need his help.

Until then, bye.

Chapter 1 Introduction

Since I can't start working on my PJT (I'm subconsciously trying to put it off as much as I can), I started writing my first chapter today.

Let me start by saying I hate writing literature reviews and introductions. I could only write two paragraphs in like three hours, not productive enough I know. Even just making a reference list alone takes so much time for me.

Well, tomorrow I will hopefully continue writing my introduction. First, I was feeling good about starting writing. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment, but then I remembered I will have to send it to my supervisor and he might want me to change everything I've written so far (all this effort gone puff). Just the idea of this gave me the creeps. So, I guess I won't send it to him right after I finish it. I will wait for a while. Maybe it will feel less painful then.

EDIT: Ok, I was feeling uneasy all day today. Something was bothering me, and I knew what it was. It was my conscience. I got back to working on my introduction. I more or less finished the first chapter. The rest can only be completed after I finish the whole dissertation. Now, I'm done. Do I feel less uneasy? No, something is still eating me inside. *sigh*

GJCT written

Luckily, my supervisor replied to me in an hour yesterday. So, today I sat down to write my GJCT. I need to go over it again with a fresh mind later, but to save time I already sent it to my supervisor to review.

When he replies, I will start to write my PJT this time...which gives me nightmares. It won't be as easy as GJCT. But I have to do it anyway, right? So, I will.

Right now, just waiting for my supervisor's reply. I did enough for today.

Verb list

I made the verb list my supervisor had asked me to do and sent it to him today. I can start working on my first task (GJCT) after he replies. Hopefully he will reply before next week.

I also formulated another research question as they wanted me to.

All is fine.

1st progress report

I presented my first progress report today. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Well, at least it was all constructive criticism.

So, now the whole design of my study changed. They wanted me to add a new research question and in order to answer that question I need to create a new data collection tool. And to do all this, I need to teach a linguistics class at the department in the first semester which is ok.

So, my work plan is:

1. Make a list of all the verbs I will use in my tasks, categorizing them as intransitive, transitive, alternating, and what not. My supervisor wants to see this list first so after he gives permission I will sit down to create my tasks. I'm planning to make this list on Thursday-Friday and send him by the weekend.

2. Right at the beginning of the semester, I will pilot these tasks. After revising what's necessary, I'll give these tasks as a pretest to my students.

3. During the semester I will teach the linguistics class.

4. At the end of the semester I will give the same tasks as a post test.

My next progress report will be in January. So, by the end of January I'm hoping I will have collected my data. And who knows maybe I will have written a few sections in literature review.

Sounds good, eh?

See you after I make the list!

Ready for tomorrow? Yes, baby bring it on!

Ok, here I am! Ready to write my dissertation? Almost.

Where am I? After a year off in the states, I'm back in Turkey. Honestly, although I tried hard (well, maybe not that hard) to work on my dissertation while in the states, I almost forgot what my dissertation topic was. But thank God, people at the Social Sciences Institute and my jury committee are there to remind me that I am still a PhD student.

Last week was a hassle. I had to solve some bureaucratic issues because the lovely secretary of the institute, who will be called `The Bitch` from now on, threatened me by kicking me out of the program if I don't present a progress report this week.

So, tomorrow I will be presenting what I have done so far to my jury committee. What bothers me most isn't the fact that I haven't done anything so far but the fact that I was late in organizing this meeting. One of the members in my jury committee is sure to give me a hard time. I'm ready for that!

Why I set up this blog? To keep the log of my PhD work in the hopes that it will motivate me to work harder. Although it feels like I will never be able to finish my PhD, now that they have reminded me I'm a student, I feel a little bit closer to the end. At least now I can imagine myself working like crazy. Yes, I can see it ahead. I don't know if I'll be able to finish it by the end of next summer as I was planning (planning? No, wishful thinking rather) but at least I can imagine myself working on the conclusion part (ha ha!)

Ok, tomorrow will suck but I'll definitely be back to tell you how it went.