I finished the first full draft of my thesis! It feels like a huge milestone, with all the content I want to work with written down on paper. It was a fun experience to get into a flow of writing and single-minded focus. It also felt a little endless, as if I could write forever on the subject and connect it to many many things. This is a little dangerous. I want it to be succinct and readable. I appreciate Sam Kumasaka’s goals on the front page of his thesis site. I feel like the draft I’ve written is opaque and jumbled. I’m looking forward to the feedback from my committee and the process of revision towards a final product.
The first place I want to begin my revision is a full rethink of the organization of my thesis. I currently have a BACKGROUND/THEORY/SITUATED CONTEXT/METHODOLOGY/RESULTS/DISCUSSION organization. It has all my material, but it also might have too much material. Looking at the theses of Aaron Fellows (’16) and Zachary Holz (’12), I see other potential organizations. Like Zach, I have three-ish case studies in the three earthquakes. But I could also organize around the 3 major works. This might be the way to go, and use the minor works as supplementary material. That might give it a little more focus while maintaining the contextual elements. I’m also trying to find a balance and pacing between the theory and the textual analysis. My theory section is less about a restatement of others’ theories, but more of an interpretation of several theories to guide my study. That should be more clearly articulated. I’m anticipating rewriting a good chunk of the paper to have a more linear, efficient line of argument.
But I also want to revel in the language, true to the field of literary criticism which I utilize predominantly. I think the language is really beautiful and rich. I want to show my work and show my thinking. This is how I am successfully persuasive in my English coursework. I don’t want to make claims without substantial evidence. I want to present the evidence. The balance of this is going to be tricky, but I think I need to start by 1) organizing the things I’ve extracted from the texts in a table and 2) selecting the few most important block quotes to include. This will help. As will a revisioning of the bottom of the hourglass to be more broad, slow, and careful. Carefulness is one of my main goals for my revision: both in the sentences I write and the concepts I introduce/explain and the organizing structure.
In other news, I am going to try my own hand at writing a short story about an earthquake for my fiction workshop. I’ll probably upload it. Lastly, I officially accepted an offer to enroll in the Environmental Humanities program at the University of Utah this fall. I’m so thrilled!