Week 4 Update

Things with my thesis are proceeding more slowly than I had hoped. I've looked into overall format and come up with a plan for how I want my thesis to be laid out and which sections to include. Originally, I had hoped to begin writing this week, but that hasn't happened as of yet. I did, however, begin researching the topic for my first background section, so I'm slowly making progress.

This week I also worked on formatting a poster that I will be presenting at next week's conference. It's interesting to compare the difference in writing style when working on this kind of medium. As a whole, I tried to find the simplest and most concise way to explain my research that could still be understood even when I'm not in front of the poster to explain it. This was a slightly different style from when I was working on my journal paper. In that case, I included lots of background information and tried to explain everything in as much detail as was relevant.

My short term goals for the remainder of this week would be to continue researching my first section and begin writing background info. Hopefully, by next week, I will be ready to begin working on the next section.

Happy writing everyone!

Week 3 Update

At the end of last week I decided on three goals to help me begin work on my thesis: create an outline, look into formatting, and begin writing. Unfortunately, on Monday morning I woke up with a cold, which took me out for a couple of days. It is now Wednesday and I'm not nearly where I wanted to be for this week. Luckily, I don't have any pressing deadlines to attend to, so no harm done. :) So far this week, I have downloaded the graduate college documentation I need to refer to about formatting my thesis. I've skimmed over this briefly in order to have an idea of the major formatting requirements that are in place. In the next couple of days, I hope to begin creating an outline for my thesis, so that I may start researching and writing next Monday. One of the great things about beginning work on my thesis over the summer is that I don't feel overly pressed for time, which allows me to account for things that might come up (such as this cold) without feeling anxious or guilty about pushing back my personal deadlines.