Considering I haven’t done anything (of note) on my research for over a year, I figured it was high time I got down to business.
A change of personal circumstances is giving me the opportunity to rethink what I do and how I do it – not just regarding my doctorate, but a whole lot of non-doctoral stuff (you know, that personal stuff called ‘life’ that keeps getting in the way of the plans we make).
So, considering how conducting a literature review was/is the psychological stumbling block for me (and a massive block it is, my friends), I’ve taken a few books out of the uni library to scour and gain insight from.
I work in the very scientifically sound principle of ‘osmosis’: if I have the books in my bag and on my bookshelf the contents will osmotically wend their learned way into what I laughably call my brain, without me having to go to all the tedious nonsense of having to actually read them.
Well, it’s my theory and I’m prepared to believe it works. I also believe in Father Christmas and love (as distinct from lust) at first sight, too.
Anyway, the book I currently have in my laptop-toting shoulder bag is John Finn’s helpful book, ‘Getting a PhD: An action plan to help you manage your research, your supervisor and your project’. Routledge published my copy in 2005.
I just hope that I can be focused enough to keep my chaotic life in enough order to balance income-earning with research-conducting; I’d really love to submit by March 2011.
