Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I always knew writing papers on the same topic over and over would have a benefit

I always knew writing papers on the same topic over and over would have a benefit someday, somewhere. It seems the time is now with my masters thesis. I have 3 papers that I have written on my chosen topic. My professor for my class sat in astonishment and was very complementary. She has never seen this happen before. She told me how awesome I am. Those in the class who knew me already smirked and thought that was a typical complement of praise for me, but the others who didn't know me were as surprised as the professor was. It seems I have written chapter 1 and 2 of my thesis (introduction and literature review). I have a great start on chapter 3 (my methodology and data). Chapter 4 and 5 (reflection and interpretations) will come quickly based on the results of chapter 3's data. I formatted my paper today how the professor wanted and did some cutting/pasting. It seems I am already a good 25 pages into it. I could easily finish my thesis in the next 8 weeks and probably set a school record. I am amused, thankful, tickled, and more. Soooooooo crazy!

I know writing a masters thesis is no easy task or feat. I have friends and mentors who have given up at various points (Mel, The Guy, and several friends). I know people who have trashed their papers and started over many times. I know the hours of research and sacrifice involved. I know how so many universities have students take up to 2 semesters and devote that solely to working on it. I know most people are not as fortunate. I can't even explain how this all worked out.

2 comments:

Aek said...

Congrats on already having so much done! :-D Writing things have never really been difficult for me. The most time-consuming part is the literature search and any data collecting I'd have to do.

Then again, I never had to write a thesis.

fan of casey said...

Mike: Maybe with all this free time, you can help your fellow students on their papers -- for a fee of course, it will just be like old times tutoring.