need to write my dissertation... completely drawing a mind blank

[OnlyWantsOne]

Any 3rd years around for a mutual hand holding?

Ive got 2 DD, one is 5, other will be one next month - Im able to re do my dissertation (i didnt attend enough lectures as DD was born middle final year)
so I have dissertation and 2 modules to complete (Autobiograpghy and scriptwriting)

Completely drawn a blank about my diss title...

I'm a third year - although our dissertation is only a baby sized one (6000 words). I have decided on my topic and have an idea what I want to research.

What degree are you doing?

English degree although with all my spelling mistakes it would be hard to tell

I'm just stuck to think of a topic. Need to write a proposal for my tutor. Hmmm

my undergrad eng lit dissertation looked at heroism/masculinity - comparing homer with twentieth century literature of war. i loved it.

but most people looked at representations of women in different areas of writing iirc.

do you not have to build on one of your courses? what are your interests? eng lit is sooooooo broad, you mudt have an idea of what you like to look at? sci fi? dystopian fiction? coleridge? romantics? middle english?

I quite like linguistics.

lol at 'quite like'
no burning desire?
what interested you in the course in the first place? (try and recapture some initial enthusiasm for a direction?)

I'm doing education, so I don't think I have much advice I can offer to someone doing English. Although we did an English module on linguistics last year (got a commendation for that one!), and are doing one on Children's literature this year.

madwoman i didnt know what else to do

you are giving english students a Bad Name.

can't help you with linguistics as i abandoned the lang side asap.

any particular courses you enjoyed? what are you planning on doing next? is there any vaguely vaguely vocational you could be looking at to improve your job chances? (however vaguely - my lit dissertation was always a hit in military circles even though it was Arts and Humanities)

right here I am at uni, first day back in a year.

Ive just sat through a lecture with all these bloody kids that have had a decent nights sleep in the last year and all know what they are doing i nearly fell asleep

I have no idea still what I should do for my diss.

Do I just go home and read lots and hope some thing pops out at me to study? Or do I pick an auther and read their body of work and hope the same happens?

Help!!

(plus, when Im at home there is a never ending list of stuff I have to do before I will let myself sit down and read endless books)

I am on a research week this week, and so far seem to be researching, um, mumsnet...

Could you get away with something related to children's literature, Onlywantsone? Which would make your time off "research", clearly...?

only, there must be something that appeals to you? i mean, really, if not, why not just leave now with a diploma and get a job? surely there was something about the course that excited you? at some point?

do you think you've just got cold feet about the dissertation and that's affecting your decision making? or were you really not that bothered? i can't believe you've slogged through two years of study that you weren't really interested in (with kids and rl)?

just think of one single moment on the course when you've internally had a 'ooo, yes!' moment. any at all. in any lecture - discussing any book, chatting with another student over coffee about the course/ wondering why they don't run a module on x, because it would be great.... anything at all - and then try and build on it?

i think it's reasonably common to have a 'wtf' moment, btw. but i'm just a bit worried this isn't a 'wtf' moment, but a genuine not really interested moment...

what are you planning on doing in the summer? what is your aim when the course is over? what job are you going to be looking for?

Linguistics is good and fun and there's lots to do potentially!

Look at concepts like critical discourse analysis and link it into a RL interest?

Something to do with semantics/semiotics?

Phonology? Although I flipping hate phonetics but phonetic spelling could be interesting and the ramifications of abandoning traditional spelling which ties in with morphology. You could find instances if where it hapoens and works and where it shouldn't and wouldn't?

Loan words?

Tons of stuff!

thank feck you're here, frak.

get her excited before it all goes pear shaped.

frak - I do want to do it, I desperately want to get finished :) im not going to quit now after coming this far. I really enjoyed linguistics, perhaps I could look at linguistic feminist theory in relation to a particular text, see if there is some thing underlying that perhaps isnt expected in a text

I would be all subversive and look at misogynistic undertones in supposedly feminist texts. It's qn interesting question though - why are some feminist texts more empowering and what gives others a manhating vibe?!

Wasn't me that was questioning your motivation btw. I just wax lyrical about linguistics

i know.

look at domestic goddessery.

my old tutor was mahoosively into beeton et al and had an astonishing array of domestic self-help tomes aimed at women.

they are fascinating. you could look at thow the language has changed from wherever you start (50's?) to the current day. (i only say that because i really want someone to do a feminist reading of joanna gosling's new book - i still haven't read it and am currently a bit obsessed with finding out where she stands on the feminist angle )

it would be great to read them against the grain. how long is your paper? we could fix you up with a few texts!

I'm in my third year and studying conservation. I struggled to find a suitable dissy theme although the college did have a list of potential research topics which we could take on and follow if we wanted to base a dissy on those. I am looking at one of the more sociological aspects of wildlife engagement now. Can't say I am falling over with enthusiasm for it - it is only 30% of the final year mark, but at least now I have some work under my belt.
And two years of blah amassed as I took a year off to have DD.

I'm in my third year and studying conservation. I struggled to find a suitable dissy theme although the college did have a list of potential research topics which we could take on and follow if we wanted to base a dissy on those. I am looking at one of the more sociological aspects of wildlife engagement now. Can't say I am falling over with enthusiasm for it - it is only 30% of the final year mark, but at least now I have some work under my belt.
And two years of blah amassed as I took a year off to have DD.

red - you need these folk

in fact, you need to live in my town - there is currently a huge conservation angle on the canmore bunnies and the entire town is in uproar. the Town have issued a 'kill the bunnies' contract, and there are children weeping in the streets and conservationalists arguing that not only do the bunnies increase the likelihood of predators coming into town, but they are disturbing the ecosystem. the local newspapers are full of it. a sociological study would be great fun.

op, are you sorted yet?

Thankyou mad, I have bookmarked that to examine later.

Have managed to get two of my four assignments in (nearly 2 weeks early!), and am currently about a quarter of a way into the third. Tomorrow I am aiming to make some sense of my dissertation notes for a meeting with my supervisor next week.

OP - any luck yet?

ZOMBIE
ZOMBIE

11 YEARS OLD