Wow. Hard to believe we have already come full circle and completed our first year of graduate school!
Before recapping this semester and the year as a whole, I would like to briefly go over the my committee meeting from last week:
Overall, I thought discussions were productive, complimentary, and critical when needed. It seemed like all of the members were impressed by the amount of research I had collected and the literature I had read and collected as “comparable to that of a Ph.D. candidate.” My method was well understood: material culture as a lens into socio-cultural pastimes. With exception to log structures, I feel every member was in agreement with the appropriateness and usefulness of the objects I had chosen to analyze.
Moving forward, however, the committee did suggest that I will need to restrain and confine my focus a bit more. Everyone was pleased to see that I had taken their individual advice in breaking down topical considerations to a particular set of people and their niches, they insisted, however, that I be even more precise in my focus statement. “It is a MA thesis,” one member admonished me to repeat to myself here on. Admittedly, it was a tad hard to articulate to my members where I was coming from with regards to my argument(s) or premise(s). This was likely due to the size of the committee and some members having to leave early. Nevertheless, I agreed with their points and even anticipated that they would suggest that I continue to hone in on a manageable and more precise focus. I foresee my focus shifting to just German communities as the material evidence I have is predominately German-based objects. Doing so will still allow me to talk about cross-cultural interactions, I am just using these German families/ communities as a topical stage to discuss broader themes concerning NRV social and cultural foundations up to 1810.
I made sure before any members left that I would be sending them draft edits throughout the summer, while I am out doing field work or visiting archives/ museums. In addition, at the insistence of Dr. Puckett, I will be conducting some very brief oral histories of descendants of the NRV first families (Linkous, Price, Harman, McDonald, Kent, Harvey, Ingles, etc.)
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In review, this semester was tough. Very tough. I had expected that my Fall semester would be more like Spring. The combo of thesis proposal writing and a research project of similar length was a daunting task. While I do see the benefit in assigning both classes at the same time, I did feel at times that focus for one was cut for the other.
Looking back at this year, I feel I need to make some continued improvement in my writing. I believe anyone would agree that I digest, analyze and vocally articulate my thoughts quite well. For some untenable reason, however, I seem to fall short when it comes to writing out my thoughts. Among my most commonly committed actions: clause use, long sentences, passive voice, word choice, sentence structure, are the most identifiable writing foibles. I have begun looking at several works that I have been advised to use over the summer.
Otherwise I cannot begin to be thankful for Dr. Jones and especially my group members (Kristin, Betsy) who have been an invaluable resource in identifying where and when I needed improvement throughout my drafts. This semester was a valuable experience and a mile marker that is now crossed. Let the research and editing/ writing begin!