I had a very productive and satisfying discussion with my supervisor this afternoon. It all went very well, far better than I had hoped. He is such a wonderful and understanding man (I hope he’s reading this…! *grin*).

He was open to the idea of my proposed area of research. While he prodded me on a few areas to clarify how I was going to tackle the more difficult issues, he seemed happy with my present answers, at least enough to let me get on with my work. We also clarified a few matters that were not clear to me and about which I had doubts - the need for a “theoretical” component and the ambit of my research. All in all, we had a very healthy discussion and I think we’re both happy with where we stand.

We’ve now agreed on a work plan for the next couple of months. I will send him a list of material I intend to consult in the next couple of weeks and I report my progress and findings back to him on a 2/3 week interval basis.

I’m of course rather excited about the outcome of our discussion and came out of his room an a high. I’m happy that I now have a more concrete direction of where I am going and that the thesis now appears more “doable” unlike a week ago when it all seemed too fuzzy and too big a project to grapple with. I can now actually picture the final product.

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Doing a PhD is in many ways emotional and psychological suicide (as I’m sure this woman and probably this one too will attest). You’re expected to embrace a finite project for at least a three year period - most run into four or five years - you effectively live with and do the same thing over and over again for that length of time. More importantly you’re supposed to be the chief stewart and the full work-force of how it develops. Thus, whether it fails or succeeds depends largely on you. You try not to think about it at all and break the work into small manageable chunks. However at the same time, the fear that the magnimity of it all will consume you persists. You either thrive on it and stay as far ahead as you can, or you succumb and drop out at some point.

Posted on March 14th, 2005 by jl
Filed under: Crisis !!!