When you are working on a dissertation, there are a lot of things you hear that make no sense in the beginning. One of those things is that you will know when you have done enough research because you will have saturated the topic. Up until yesterday, I did not know exactly what that meant. Now I do. Yesterday I went through every article I have ever encountered and cataloged them. Those that I think I will use in my dissertation, I printed out for further reading and annotating. Those that I did not think I would use were not printed. All of the articles were logged into a spreadsheet so that I have a list of every article I have. The ones I print out will get a detailed entry on the spreadsheet and the ones I didn't print have a brief synopsis. This way I have a record if a) I need to go back to them for some information or b) I need to check that I don't already have that study. I found a whole lot of duplicates, such a waste of time. What I discovered while doing this is that I found the same articles being quoted over and over. And I had all those articles. I have also discovered the leaders in this field as they have authored the most articles. So I am confident that I have completely saturated the literature to this point. I will need to continue to research to keep on top of any new developments, but I thinK I'm good for now.
So that took me all day, I went through 163 articles, but it was totally worth it. Today I'm going to start reading the ones I printed, annotating them and putting them into categories. Yesterday i stated that I would start writing today, and while that was my plan, I'm not sure it is feasible. I'm thinking I may just continue reading and annotating this week and then start writing next weekend. I know I can blast through a bunch of articles today, then if I do 4 or 5 every night I should be able to get through them all by next weekend. Then on Saturday I will sit down and write, write, write. I know myself and I will be able to write if I have all the info in my head.
I did take some time yesterday, because you can only read and categorize for so long without losing your eyes and your mind, and created an inspiration wall.
Up at the top is the type of RV I want to get. Then there is a map of Route 66 and pictures of places all along it. I was watching Hotel Impossible last week and he was traveling Route 66 in an RV and I said, 'that will be our first trip'. So I put that all up above my desk for a little inspiration. I want this and in order to get it I need to finish my dissertation. So this should inspire me to keep working when I don't want to. But I will keep working anyway, because it is not a matter of when I want to, it is a matter of just doing it. I do not care whether I feel like it or not, I am just going to do it every day. There are no options to this. I will be incredibly busy for the next few months and that is all there is to it. No more sitting around playing games for hours on end. No more watching TV all night long. Yes, I will have down time but it will be in short bursts and not all day long like before.
I also have the Phoenix class to teach. I'm still kind of torn on that one, but I'm going to give it a go and see how it is. I now have the class listed so I can start reviewing the materials and lessons so I know what is going on. I think it will be okay. I can work on Phoenix while I work on my dissertation. It will give me an excuse to sit in front of the computer for a few hours each night.
Okay, I was going to walk the dogs but it is raining. I think I'll go through a couple of articles instead.
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