12 days ago @drjavafox tweeted that she was 12 days away from submitting her thesis. With that kind of prompt what could @heatherfro and I do but add this bit of silliness to the repertoire:
On the first day of thesis my advisor gave to me: an annotated bibliography
On the second day of thesis my advisor gave to me: two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the third day of thesis my advisor gave to me: three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the fourth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the fifth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the sixth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the seventh day of thesis my advisor gave to me: seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the eighth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: eight computer breakdowns, seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the ninth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: nine formatting issues, eight computer
breakdowns, seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the tenth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: ten appendices, nine formatting issues, eight computer breakdowns, seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the eleventh day of thesis my advisor gave to me: eleven forgotten references, ten appendices, nine formatting issues, eight computer breakdowns, seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
On the twelfth day of thesis my advisor gave to me: twelve hard bound copies, eleven forgotten
references, ten appendices, nine formatting issues, eight computer breakdowns, seven all-nighters, six meltdowns, FIVE REVISIONS! four dropbox folders, three notebooks, two examiners and an annotated bibliography
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
PhD blues
Seriously people, stop suggesting PhD analogies to me. I've already got the twelve days of thesis brewing and then somebody suggested "PhD blues". Then this happened. Entertainingly, when I tweeted it I got one spam tweet suggesting how I can make money, one tweet of encouragement possibly missing the fact the tweet rhymed and one "... is that a song?" So, with many apologies, I give you, the PHD BLUES.
Some people say
That I'm a smart sort
They think I'm alright
When it comes to thought
But what do they know?
I've got them all fooled
I can't write my thesis
I got the PhD blues
Got the phd blues keep me up all night
Got a half-finished thesis I just can't write
I'm all outta money I'm all outta time
If I want my doctorate I must first lose my mind
Some people say
That I'm a smart sort
They think I'm alright
When it comes to thought
But what do they know?
I've got them all fooled
I can't write my thesis
I got the PhD blues
Got the phd blues keep me up all night
Got a half-finished thesis I just can't write
I'm all outta money I'm all outta time
If I want my doctorate I must first lose my mind
Monday, July 30, 2012
Publications
I'm at the pointy end of my degree which means thesis-guilt is working overtime and restraining me from writing many blogposts. However, in the interests of self-promotion, and also in the interests of sharing the process with other students, I am going to write about my publications. After all, it is an exciting thing and my policy is to celebrate everything at this stage in the PhD!
My first two publications were published in the conference proceedings of ISFC (International Systemic Functional Congress) a couple of weeks ago. I've uploaded my papers individually to my academia.edu page and you can check both them and the slideshow I used for the Star Wars-themed paper here:
Paper: "The Jazz is strong in this one: presentation and positioning of knowers in performance student texts"
Slideshow:
Paper: "Instantiation, realisation and multimodal musical semantic waves"
It was great to finally change two of the five "(forthcoming)" publications on my CV to "(2012)". Ironically they're my most recent work and my two forthcoming articles of earlier work will be published after them. But that's the way it works.
As conference proceedings they aren't the most valued form of publication. They were, however, double-refereed (i.e. two separate people had to sign off that they were decent enough for publication) so that adds some legitimacy and helps my self-belief in moments of doubt. They also provide handy bite-sized chunks of my thesis which already I've found useful for my own reference as well as getting my work out there while the thesis is still 'in preparation'.
In case you're wondering at yoda's presence, the conference theme was "to boldly go" and so the proceedings papers are titled "to boldly proceed". As the Star Trek slogan, this obviously is, in fact, at odds with my Star Wars-references and for that I must apologise, but when it came down to it Star Wars was just too useful an analogy for what I was describing. In between the proceedings paper and the slideshow you can almost imagine you were at my presentation - the only things you miss out on are the lightsaber sound effects and the jazz cover of Imperial March. (Check out the Imperial March - it's funky and I had it in my head for days!)
I did consider that perhaps writing these papers was a waste of time that would be better spent working on my thesis. However I found that working in a really constrained text - they are each only about 3000 words long (undergrads - HOW DO YOU DO IT?!) - really helped me get a better grasp on what I was working on in the immense monstrosity that is the thesis. Having abundant room to write about a topic sometimes makes the big picture perspective really hard to attain, so the exercise in conciseness really helped.
Excitingly I should have my first journal article published soon too. I received the proofs a couple of weeks ago and totally geeked out over the design and formatting. It really is aesthetically pretty. When that comes out I'm sure I'll announce here too. Another article may be published online in the next six months, or may take 12-18 months. Ironically that one details my earliest work. Oh well.
At this point I was going to write about my experience of writing publications, but I think that's best saved for a separate post as it's likely to drag on. In the meantime, check out my publications if you've been thinking, "Sure she can make pretty slideshows, but how good is her research?!"
My first two publications were published in the conference proceedings of ISFC (International Systemic Functional Congress) a couple of weeks ago. I've uploaded my papers individually to my academia.edu page and you can check both them and the slideshow I used for the Star Wars-themed paper here:
Paper: "The Jazz is strong in this one: presentation and positioning of knowers in performance student texts"
Slideshow:
Paper: "Instantiation, realisation and multimodal musical semantic waves"
It was great to finally change two of the five "(forthcoming)" publications on my CV to "(2012)". Ironically they're my most recent work and my two forthcoming articles of earlier work will be published after them. But that's the way it works.
As conference proceedings they aren't the most valued form of publication. They were, however, double-refereed (i.e. two separate people had to sign off that they were decent enough for publication) so that adds some legitimacy and helps my self-belief in moments of doubt. They also provide handy bite-sized chunks of my thesis which already I've found useful for my own reference as well as getting my work out there while the thesis is still 'in preparation'.
In case you're wondering at yoda's presence, the conference theme was "to boldly go" and so the proceedings papers are titled "to boldly proceed". As the Star Trek slogan, this obviously is, in fact, at odds with my Star Wars-references and for that I must apologise, but when it came down to it Star Wars was just too useful an analogy for what I was describing. In between the proceedings paper and the slideshow you can almost imagine you were at my presentation - the only things you miss out on are the lightsaber sound effects and the jazz cover of Imperial March. (Check out the Imperial March - it's funky and I had it in my head for days!)
I did consider that perhaps writing these papers was a waste of time that would be better spent working on my thesis. However I found that working in a really constrained text - they are each only about 3000 words long (undergrads - HOW DO YOU DO IT?!) - really helped me get a better grasp on what I was working on in the immense monstrosity that is the thesis. Having abundant room to write about a topic sometimes makes the big picture perspective really hard to attain, so the exercise in conciseness really helped.
Excitingly I should have my first journal article published soon too. I received the proofs a couple of weeks ago and totally geeked out over the design and formatting. It really is aesthetically pretty. When that comes out I'm sure I'll announce here too. Another article may be published online in the next six months, or may take 12-18 months. Ironically that one details my earliest work. Oh well.
At this point I was going to write about my experience of writing publications, but I think that's best saved for a separate post as it's likely to drag on. In the meantime, check out my publications if you've been thinking, "Sure she can make pretty slideshows, but how good is her research?!"
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Visual Resume
Visual resume: Jodie Martin
View more presentations from Jodie Martin
Why a visual resume? I have made a visual resume to supplement my traditional resume and as a demonstration of those skills which may not come across in the normal CV format. If you'd like a copy of the regular resume, just let me know!
Why a visual resume? I have made a visual resume to supplement my traditional resume and as a demonstration of those skills which may not come across in the normal CV format. If you'd like a copy of the regular resume, just let me know!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Rules for interacting with a thesis writer
Since I posted DON'T ASK about MY THESIS signs all over the place, particularly Facebook, and subsequently added You Can Ask Me About My Health or the Weather, again all over Facebook, I love that people have been pointedly asking me how I am or mentioning the weather rather than ask me about my thesis. It's particularly amusing because the slump which really drove the first poster passed soon after it, so I don't mind too much if people ask. So I thought it was worth offering some more pointed information. Here are some rules I have just made up; the brief version is to stick to number one, but if you feel prepared, you can continue on to the others.
IF YOU KNOW A THESIS WRITER:
1. Don't ask about the thesis between:
six months before it's "due" until twelve months after it was due. An alternative question is to ask "How are you going?" or "How's it going?"; if they want to mention the thesis, they will, but they will be grateful not to be specifically asked for the hundredth time
2. Don't ask about the thesis if:
You're uncomfortable with displays of emotion, particularly weeping, stress and the kermit-the-frog-like waving of hands.
3. Don't ask about the thesis if:
You don't have time for a lengthy conversation. If you're passing in the hallway, or just ran into each other in the street, don't ask. It forces us to say "good" and then feel guilty.
4. If you have asked about the thesis:
And received a lengthy expression of stress, doubt and despair, please listen to our concerns and don't offer sweepingly generalised assurances of "she'll be right" based solely on your good opinion of us. It's possibly true but is easy to dismiss that you don't really know how little we have achieved or how much we have to do.
5. Ask about the thesis if:
You are doing or have done a thesis. The sympathetic listener is much preferred. However as one of the community, you are more likely to receive the long version, so return to rule number 3.
THE UNSPOKEN CONTRACT OF THE THESIS WRITER:
If you do not ask me about my thesis, if you don't judge me for it taking longer than it seems like it should, if you give me space to talk about or not talk about my thesis as I wish, in return I promise to broadcast to you and the world when I do submit.
And, as always, PhD Comics has come up with a better way to represent it:
IF YOU KNOW A THESIS WRITER:
1. Don't ask about the thesis between:
six months before it's "due" until twelve months after it was due. An alternative question is to ask "How are you going?" or "How's it going?"; if they want to mention the thesis, they will, but they will be grateful not to be specifically asked for the hundredth time
2. Don't ask about the thesis if:
You're uncomfortable with displays of emotion, particularly weeping, stress and the kermit-the-frog-like waving of hands.
3. Don't ask about the thesis if:
You don't have time for a lengthy conversation. If you're passing in the hallway, or just ran into each other in the street, don't ask. It forces us to say "good" and then feel guilty.
4. If you have asked about the thesis:
And received a lengthy expression of stress, doubt and despair, please listen to our concerns and don't offer sweepingly generalised assurances of "she'll be right" based solely on your good opinion of us. It's possibly true but is easy to dismiss that you don't really know how little we have achieved or how much we have to do.
5. Ask about the thesis if:
You are doing or have done a thesis. The sympathetic listener is much preferred. However as one of the community, you are more likely to receive the long version, so return to rule number 3.
THE UNSPOKEN CONTRACT OF THE THESIS WRITER:
If you do not ask me about my thesis, if you don't judge me for it taking longer than it seems like it should, if you give me space to talk about or not talk about my thesis as I wish, in return I promise to broadcast to you and the world when I do submit.
And, as always, PhD Comics has come up with a better way to represent it:
How a PhD is like the Big Bang Theory
I uploaded this slideshow the other day:
How a PhD is like The Big Bang Theory
View more presentations from Jodie Martin
I originally created it last year at some point, around the same time as I made the "How a PhD is like Alice in Wonderland" slideshow. But I uploaded it the other day as I was talking to a friend who's also working on her thesis. She's just hit the point where she's confident enough to write "This thesis discusses" rather than "this thesis aims to discuss" and "this chapter will demonstrate" rather than "this chapter will aim to demonstrate". So I showed her this slideshow because I've been noticing in my writing too - I sometimes have to consciously cut out the hedging and write confidently. But still as I go back over what I wrote yesterday, I find needless circumlocutions, self-doubting statements and excessive mitigation. So while this is by no means a deep or particularly creative slideshow, it is a useful reminder for me that just because publications read as if they're written by Sheldon, didn't mean the first draft didn't sound like Leonard. Hope you enjoy.
I originally created it last year at some point, around the same time as I made the "How a PhD is like Alice in Wonderland" slideshow. But I uploaded it the other day as I was talking to a friend who's also working on her thesis. She's just hit the point where she's confident enough to write "This thesis discusses" rather than "this thesis aims to discuss" and "this chapter will demonstrate" rather than "this chapter will aim to demonstrate". So I showed her this slideshow because I've been noticing in my writing too - I sometimes have to consciously cut out the hedging and write confidently. But still as I go back over what I wrote yesterday, I find needless circumlocutions, self-doubting statements and excessive mitigation. So while this is by no means a deep or particularly creative slideshow, it is a useful reminder for me that just because publications read as if they're written by Sheldon, didn't mean the first draft didn't sound like Leonard. Hope you enjoy.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Work hard
When I graduate I want this poster:
It was available in red. Blue would be ideal. By Anthony Burrill.
I've been thinking a lot lately about discipline and happiness, about work ethic and procrastination, about what drives us and what drags us down. It's definitely true for the PhD. So I think if you can live up to this poster then you will have lived your life well. So that's what I want on my wall.
And then I should probably pair it with this one:
From Etsy
It was available in red. Blue would be ideal. By Anthony Burrill.
I've been thinking a lot lately about discipline and happiness, about work ethic and procrastination, about what drives us and what drags us down. It's definitely true for the PhD. So I think if you can live up to this poster then you will have lived your life well. So that's what I want on my wall.
And then I should probably pair it with this one:
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