tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post370191165589765269..comments2023-06-11T02:19:27.429-07:00Comments on Academic Cog: How to Take Dissertation Notes: One Cog's StorySisyphushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-51920037292911031482008-10-08T08:46:00.000-07:002008-10-08T08:46:00.000-07:00Yes, exactly -- and coming into a field where you'...Yes, exactly -- and coming into a field where you're unfamiliar, it's harder to know what knowledge has to be demonstrated, and what has to just remain implicit as a background for whatever you're actually writing.<BR/><BR/>By the way, I kept on reading "arthist" as "arthritis," and trying to recall why you'd be writing about the history of medicine.kermitthefroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742856153167362749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-88972262124168198902008-10-07T18:38:00.000-07:002008-10-07T18:38:00.000-07:00Kermit ---- yes, I noticed this getting a lot less...Kermit ---- yes, I noticed this getting a lot less prominent over the course of my chapters, and it flared up more when I moved into new areas of study (arthist, for example) than the areas I had worked up more of a comfort with. I think it's also exacerbated by the whole interdisciplinary/cultural studies thing as well (which I think you work in too, no?) --- dealing with areas of study that aren't quite your strength or having to fulfill the requirements of evidence for multiple disciplines.Sisyphushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880634753539329199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-26356508265724639902008-10-07T14:18:00.000-07:002008-10-07T14:18:00.000-07:00Oh, your next project does NOT have to be the book...Oh, your next project does NOT have to be the book (indeed, probably it's good to do a wee something (series of conference papers and an article?) off-topic in the next year or two so that you can give the book some time to "breathe" as it were). That was the coolest thing for me about being done (and no, it never does get old): being able to think about something else!Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-27660721395725139732008-10-07T07:18:00.000-07:002008-10-07T07:18:00.000-07:00I have an almost identical system, except I usuall...I have an almost identical system, except I usually print out all those notes (or at least those I think I'll be referring to) and try to make them fit together by using numbers and symbols that I then forget what they mean. But I wonder, in my case at least, whether the overuse of quoted material isn't more related to the genre of the dissertation ("I must prove my knowledge of X field and Y historical background") than to the notetaking process itself. It's so easy -- again, at least for me -- to get into a defensive mode of writing, where there's a felt obligation to use sources simply to prove your familiarity with those sources.kermitthefroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742856153167362749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-89721846585060784342008-10-07T06:52:00.000-07:002008-10-07T06:52:00.000-07:00But the bad part about this method is that you pil...But the bad part about this method is that you pile up a huge amount of quoted material very fast, and then you feel like you have to use it, regardless of how appropriate it is to your argument.<BR/><BR/>this is hilarious and so true to form. it helps when you write it all longhand (it helps me, anyway), maybe because the effort it took to do so was greater, the material absorbs when things take that long to write, processing takes place while compiling quotes. who knows. <BR/><BR/>but the longhand note taking has always worked better for me.<BR/><BR/>isn't it nice that you can now reflect on your dissertating process???gwoertendykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00542058287462910446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7366909960546184927.post-13388019080176438212008-10-06T21:38:00.000-07:002008-10-06T21:38:00.000-07:00Chocolate=Good.Starting new system=Bad.Okay, this ...Chocolate=Good.<BR/><BR/>Starting new system=Bad.<BR/><BR/>Okay, this is what I do: I have an annotated bib that I keep running of pretty much everything I read. When I'm working on a particular article, I usually have an annotated bib on that particular article as well, then I smoosh the one into the other when I'm done or have given up or whenever it seems like I'm not going to finish but I'd better get it all together. I don't want to look in a hundred files, trying to remember which project it was where I read THAT thing. I want it all in one place. I say that, but at times I have gone into an old annotated bib only to find a bunch of notes from cool articles that I didn't put into my larger bib. I find that aggravating. I don't follow my own system well. But what else is new.<BR/><BR/>And so I go back to my initial comment: Chocolate=GOOD. My turn now. (Yes, still pregnant. Due Saturday. I don't care. I need chocolate.)Earnest Englishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01947000435270263070noreply@blogger.com