stupid dissertation <curls up and sobs in corner>

[ilovecaboose]

Have to hand in a chapter plan for my dissertation on 10th NOvember.

Can't even start doing that yet as has all gone tits up. Studying childcare manuals from 17th century and looking at how gender roles were taught to children. And ITS NOT IN THERE! Don't mention anything about sex of child. I am buggered well and truly. Haven't got time to start completely new topic.

HAve appointment to see tutor on monday, but can't really say 'have done f*ck all cos nothing in there I need' (especially as my last meeting wnet along the lines of 'I don't know what to do - everything has been written, sob sob')

Plus 2 secondary sources I am reading are shite. They're arguments are illogical and one seems to actually have made stuff up

Argh and I have joint presentation to do on Monday and there is no stuff on teh part I am doing and its not even marked ffs.

And I am feeling really ill and shitty and am working my arse off just to keep my head above water.

I want to get a really good degree (1st if possible) adn I need it to do an MA.

Tis all stress at moment.

Best thing to do now is to have a cuppa for ten minutes and try to relax.
Explain to your tutor that you can not find the relevant information in the manuals and see if she/he knows of any other books which can help you out.
Can you get to a large local library this afternoon?

HTH, and thinking of you while I am trying to get a presentation in order!

thanks - tutor probably be supportive and nice and helpful as usual. She is away at the moment so couldn't see her last week like I really should have.

I love presentations usually (well more honestly I love the sound of my own voice ) but has just come at a crappy time (with very little notice) and it has to be joint - which I hate. It has taken loads of organising to meet up and share out the work. Would have been quicker just to be able to do it myself.

I love uni I really do - I will be so proud of myself when all this is done. Its just the getting there

Good luck for your presentation by the way.

Who suggested you do how gender roles were taught to children? Your tutor? Or did you come up with it yourself?

If you haven't got time to start a completely new topic does that mean you have done something? Can you expand on what you have done? I know nothing about the topic but can you bullsh*t along the lines of "gender roles were not taught to children per se as they were such an ingrained part of the make up of society - patriarchal - blah blah blah - women's roles - no need to educate female chldren as they were going to be wives/mothers - yada yada" and make out that the lack of primary source material actually proves a point about how it wasn't even a consideration - it was just accepted that children would follow expected gender roles.

The secondary sources - say they're illogical and unreliable? Incorporate that in your argument somehow?

I dunno; that might be bllcks. I didn't even know they had childcare manuals in the 17th century.

Who are you doing your joint presentation with? Can you get together with them over the weekend and sort something out?

Agree with jo, though - try not to panic, have a cup of tea and see if you can get to a big library today.

caboose you can do this. you could have an idea, and get to chapter plan in a weekend!!!!

be careful about your subject. maybe it is worth changing it if as you say your primary sources are leaving you with nothing to go on.

honestly, don't panic. think about what you want to write about. what floats your boat. obviously gender roles and conditioning historically. is there any reason why it has to be 17th century? can you spin this so that your idea remains but you get to a period where your sources are richer?

people do whole dissertations in 3 months. you can can can get to chapter plan by 10th november even if you start from scratch now!!!

good luck

Ah, I see you don't want any more meet-ups with co-presenter

second half of 18th, early 19th c = (biological) gender roles big news. Cf e.g. Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex

You're doing better then me - my dissertation titel was supposed to be in a month ago - and I still haven't decided on the subject,let alone a titel, while most of the other students are well under way actually writing their dissertations!!

Thanks for your suggestions

Presentation partner is away this weekend with group of cubs. Has emailed me his side of work though to look over.

Now busy thinking of related topics. Hard cos can't really do anything that has already been written. My primary interest is in gender roles.

Unfortunately childcare manuals run to 176 pgs of A4 for one of them so take time to read. Thank god for EEBO though as have found some related stuff that might be some good (will take forever to go through it though).

Rousseau, Emile (17??)

I've worked in this area, but in a German-speaking context. I'm not sure how far translations etc. are available. CAT me if you like. (But it is 18th/19th c., not 17th).

thanks - unfortunately too late a period for me, thanks for the offer though.

The other thing to do is to go and talk to the librarians at university. I am a university subject librarian and spend a lot of time with students who are convinced that it's all going wrong and they can't find any relevant information.

A well qualified university librarian does not exist to waggle his or her finger or to put books on shelves. I spent ages being trained in the art of finding obscure information in a short amount of time. The most frustrating part of my job is that students just don't realise that I am there primarily to help them with their research.

Apologies if you've tried this route, but honestly a well trained librarian will relish the opportunity to find you what you need. We're all geeks you see (apart from Marina!) Sad but true.

Thanks thats a brilliant idea! They won't be in till monday, but I can see them then.

am gonna get off mn, clean my house (that always makes me feel better) and then get cracking

Hi caboose,

C17 - I'm thinking importance of classical education for (elite) boys must be central? See impt of Greek/Latin, rhetoric etc - preparing boys for a public role, political involvement etc.
Contrasting starkly with the education of 'accomplishments' young women would have received - dancing, drawing, french etc.
Have you looked at Locke and Filmer? Mary Astell should be important too (am thinking of education and social norms dovetailing here)
Though remember the fact that women received no formal preparation for, for eg, political involvement isn't to say that they didn't have any in practice (so runs recent historiography on this - see women like Sarah Duchess of Marlborough etc)
hth - sounds like a great topic imo!

good luck

(would suggest you read Making Sex anyway - it stretches back to ancient Greece and goes up to Freud - good for putting everything into context)

norkmaiden - that sounds great, it would broaden the topic out somewhat. That kinda thing is what I was hoping to find in the manuals, but not so.

hmmm if I broadened out in education literature it would alos give me chance to compare the two.

Locke etc, would be good contrast to puritan ministers.

Thanks

Making sex would be good too if it stretches back - might be good for my sister too who for part of her dissertation has to do a history of childcare theories (she not a historian - but just clashed funnily enough).

Thank you all very very much

(caboose - just remembered Bess of Hardwicke, another v powerful woman from your period, might be worth thinking about?)

sorry, no e on Hardwick, plus she's maybe a bit early for you as an example of a politically influential woman (d. 1608). Will post again if I think of anythign that might help...

Does your college give you access to a journals database ilovecaboose because maybe youd'd find the more gender specific material there instead of in the books?

yeah it does - but not much luck so far

Are you looking at seventeenth century Britain? Or elsewhere? I think there is a Centre for the History of Childhood at Oxford. Might it be worth contacting someone there?

really - sounds good - will have search on internet for it.
Thanks

You're welcome ... (have you trawled through the British Library via their online site btw? And if Oxford has this Centre for Childhood Studies the Bod must be worth a look as well).