Last week I received comments from my adviser on a draft chapter I sent to her. She began her comments with the following sentence:
Although I think there are some big issues to be worked out and this is really a fragment of a chapter, I am really pleased to see what you have written so far.
Although I tried to focus on the second half of the sentence, the first part sent me into a downward spiral of doctoral student angst. After all, I had felt that this was one of the most complete chapters I’d drafted so far. I knew it needed work, but “big issues” and “fragment of a chapter”? I was devastated.
After getting encouragement from my friends and fellow doctoral students on Facebook (thank goodness for virtual community), I faced my fears and read through her comments. It’s wasn’t so bad, after all. She pointed out weaknesses that I already knew were there. Most of the content gaps that she noted are things I’ve been writing about in a separate draft chapter. I have the material; it may just be a matter of rearranging it in the chapters. Finally, she challenged some of my analysis and pushed me to think more about my arguments and interpretations. Of course, that’s exactly what she is supposed to do. And I reminded myself, she did say she was “really pleased” with what I had written. So with that in mind, it’s back to work…
Amanda in Lithuania 
March 11th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
“… it’s back to work…”
“To work” means “to have fun again”?… 😀 😀
If you haven’t seen yet, there will be a movie tomorrow (12 March) 18:40 over LTV, about “the events in Kaunas in 1972”, the name of the movie is “Vaikai iš ‘Amerikos’ viešbučio”, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337383/ , http://www.lfc.lt/lt/Page=MovieList&ID=359&GenreID=454
. I actually don’t like the style of the director, so i didn’t see it, but (on the other hand) i remember 1972 so i don’t need to see it 😉 .
March 14th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
I have seen “Vaikai is Amerikos viesbucio” several times. It’s an interesting film — not really specifically about Kalanta but about young people at that time.