thinkPhD

So far, so good September 2, 2006

Posted by thinkphd in : MGT5031, Courses , trackback

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love to write. I enjoy the art of making myself understood through words and their rhythms. There is a permanence and a peacefulness in making my mark on the page.

But - I don’t like to write papers! I am confined to the assignment guidelines and cannot “just write.” In the case of Assignment #3 (Modern and Future Management), I have the page in the syllabus tacked up on my desk, highlighted with green. “Stay focused” - “stay on topic” it says to me every time I look up and see that green.

I think I am a little brain-fried right now because I have been working on my paper almost all day. I spent most of the morning scratching through and eliminating some of my topical ideas (aerospace, internet, satellite TV, telecoms, nuclear medicine, etc.) and narrowing down to one subject. I think it will work for this paper and I have been researching and re-reading Wren through and through to create a backbone for the paper. The paper is skeleton-y and outline-y right now…but words are there on the page in black and white.

The problem is finding current and peer-reviewed articles on “new” industries which have emerged in the past 5 to 20 years. Typically, scholarly papers look backward and analyze, they don’t seem to look at today and analyze. Of course, it is easier for academia to comment on “historical facts.” For industries which are current, many of the sources are current, too, such as magazines. I have been able to find a few peer-reviewed articles and I am hoping that will “work” for Dr. C.

My sweet husband has been very supportive and encouraging all day, bringing me ice cream (with three cheeries on top) and making supper (chicken fingers and fries). He even has stopped a number of times to listen to me as I read a passage that needs some turn of the words to make it clear and concise. He is my proofreader and critic and I grab him and read to him. He doesn’t even complain about it ! The puppies keep checking on me and asking if I want to play or sing, just take my pick.

So life goes on here in the country; me stuck at my desk wrestling with Wren and writing my paper. So far, so good.

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