I'm Still Here...and Time is Ticking!

I see that the last post I made was over a month ago!  A lot has been going on, not only with the dissertation, but from a professional and personal standpoint, too. A girl has to celebrate her birthday, after all.

My thesis adviser told me that the methodology is the most important - all else is secondary.  So, I'm completing three of the five chapters - Chapters 3 (methodology), 4 (results), and 5 (conclusions and implications) - before completing Chapter 1 (which is about 90% done already - the proposal helped to make that happen) and the infamous literature review (Chapter 2).

My friend Kathy H. is finishing her last semester in a post-graduate law program.  She has a paper due on November 13th that is worth 70% of her grade this semester and is scheduled to take her final in mid-December and graduating on December 18th.  I've decided to mirror her schedule, so here is the new:

• November 13th - Chapters 3, 4 and 5
• December 18th - Chapters 1 and 2

I actually wrote the Dedication and Acknowledgement sections tonight after work.  During a customer meeting, I had a bit of clarity around those little details.

More this weekend when I get off the road...

Milestones

On holiday but still thinking about this dissertation.  I decided to give myself some milestones - which were agreed to by Dr. Z:

My proposed schedule is this:

• Proposal (version 3) submitted to Dr. Z by 20 August
• Proposal approved by Dr. Z and sent to Dr. S for his approval by 31 August
• Chapter 1 (Introduction) completed - 22 September
• Chapter 2 (Lit Review) completed - 13 October
• Chapter 3 (Design and Methods) completed - 3 November
• Chapter 4 (Results) completed - 24 November
• Chapter 5 (Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations) completed - 15 December

As Dr. Z pointed out, "it mostly hinges on [me] being able to complete it."  True enough.  But I'm certainly going to give it a go.  We planned this holiday around what was supposed to be a celebration of this thing being finished.  I'm so ready for it to be done.

Don't Stop: Keeping on Track

I lost three days this week to business travel (again!), but I'm trying to keep on track.  

I took a lot of notes over the holidays--which feels like a hundred years ago--from Dissertation and Research Success (Buckley and Delicath).  I forgot about a completion plan timeline they suggested, so I've begun to create one with daily and weekly goals.

I think I know why I tucked it away in my mind.  The task is rather overwhelming and a completion plan only makes that nasty fact real.

I awoke this morning with the tune "Don't Stop" by Jeffrey Osborne playing in my head "ear worm" style.  Oddly enough, that song was released in 1984 when I was in my final year of my MBA program.  Even though Dr. S won't return my proposal for another two weeks, I'm just plowing through as if we were good-to-go with Jeffrey Osborne's song cheering me on.