It doesn't seem to matter where I am, I will always think I would be more productive somewhere else. When I'm at diss camp, I'm thinking that if I get home to my own little cozy writing nook, I'll be way more productive. But then when I get home, the boyfriend wants attention, and before I know it, three hours have gone by and I have not even touched my dissertation. And of course then I'm yearning to be at diss camp.
I wrote through most of yesterday evening and got some more of Section VI done. I finished Subsection A this morning. Tonight I plan on reading and taking notes on the Byers article, and my goal for tomorrow is to finish writing Subsection B. My goal to finish Section VI today didn't happen. This freaking Davidson and Noble article--I've read it probably three times now and still can't wrap my head around what exactly their argument is. I just know it's dumb, and I hate that I had to waste so much time trying to make sense of it enough to write about it.
I. Introduction
II. Pre-World War II
III. Post-World War II
IV. 1979: Contemporary evolutionary cognitive archaeology begins
V. 1980s: A Piagetian framework
VI. 1990s in Europe
A. Davidson and Noble's depictive origin for language
B. Byers
C. Mithen's Prehistory of MindVII. Minds and brains of hominins
VIII. A coming of age in the US
IX. New approaches of new millennium
X. Introduction of neuroimaging techniques
XI. Summary
So hey, here's a random question that has been bugging me for a while. What type of voice should a dissertation have? Is it typical for it to be in first or third person? I am currently writing in third person, which I find rather difficult sometimes because I'm not always sure how to interject my opinion on certain matters, and I feel like the dissertation almost belongs to someone else rather than me. But I have always been told that scientific writing should be in 3rd person because it's more formal and objective sounding.
ReplyDeleteThis might be specific to discipline, but in English it is okay to use first person. There aren't a lot of "I argue" statements-- but they are there especially when it is necessary to insert an opinion. I wonder if you could use something like "this researcher" or "this project" to frame these claims: maintain that objective voice and find a way to take some ownership of the project. I bet a good rule of thumb would be to check out some of your adviser's articles and see how s/he handles situations like that.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that that article is giving you so much trouble! One thing to try might be to look for a review of that piece or to check out how other people cite that work.