Woops

Oh poop. I forgot again. The worst part is, I forgot because I've been being so productive! This weekend, I have done lots and lots of reading for Milton, read half of Burmese Days by George Orwell, and nearly finished my prospectus. Yay! I spent all Friday afternoon and all of Saturday in the library, camped out on the floor in the Milton section on the fourth floor. I went back over the literature review of my old prospectus from last semester first to see what needed to be updated. Then I compared what I had there with what I had written for that annotated bibliography essay. It's funny how our writing improves over time without us really even knowing it's happening, isn't it? I mean, that old prospectus? No. Just no. But I could definitely work with that annotated bibliography essay. So I found some more sources in the library, re-skimmed some of the sources from the old prospectus, and I think I have something to be proud of for class on Monday.

Additionally, I am apparently a total masochist because I told Dr. Dobranski that I would have my prospectus to him before Thanksgiving, so good job, me. So now I'm trying to focus on my methodology and summary of argument. In looking over Dr. Samuel's notes on my draft from last semester, I am noticing that she wanted much greater development of my methodology section. I'm planning on really using a formalist, text-driven approach with an emphasis on historical context. What is that?
New Historicism? And since theory is not my primary goal, should I just concentrate on my source material? For example, I will of course be working with contemporary secondary sources, but I also am using EEBO to interact with some of Milton's contemporaries. As for the Summary of argument, I think I have that figured out, and if it's totally unfeasible, Dr. Dobranski and I can discuss that over a pool of my tears.

Finally, I wanted to note that in reading all of these scholarly articles both for my thesis and my other classes, I've started noting various formats that the authors use--like where their theses are, how they interact with secondary sources, how they state a problem, and how they provide context. Yay for learning useful things!

Introduction

Ok. So I’m a bit worried about the introduction to my thesis. My main objectives in the thesis are to prove that Adam and Eve establish a familial relationship with the plants in pre-lapsarian Eden and that the plants are more heavily punished than the humans in the post-lapsarian world. However, I honestly couldn’t tell you how I’m going to prove that yet. I can point to textual evidence in Paradise Lost, but I don’t have any critical basis for my claims yet. How am I supposed to write a thesis statement with authority if I do not yet have that authority? Do I just kind of lie and fake it? Or do I admit that I’m not sure about it yet, but I hope to explore this idea? And how do I convey that without “I” statements.

The other thing I’m wondering about is how much to include in this introduction. I know we talked about this in class, but do I just say, “In the seventeenth century, there was a popular critical debate concerning the idea that Nature was in a state of decay (see Godfrey Goodman and George Hakewill).” Is that really good enough? Do I then simply elaborate on them in my Literature Review? I guess this is going to be my plan and if it’s not good enough, then oh well.

I think once I’ve drafted my Literature Review this will make more sense to me. Then I will be able to organize my research more fully and perhaps get somewhat of an idea about how the larger project might unfold.

Pain in the Neck

It has literally come to this. I spend so much time at the computer that my neck is stuck. Literally stuck. I am writing this while waiting at the doctor's office to get this checked out. I haven't slept in twenty-four hours and I don't think I will ever move my head again.

They're calling me. I will update further later.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

I can't write. No, really, I've lost the ability. I'm sitting here trying to put this annotated bibliography together and I feel like it's a total failure. I have a paragraph on each source but I can't figure out how to put them together. I mean, some of them are in conversation for real, and some of them aren't but they do speak to on another. It just feels really contrived.

Ok I finished it and sent it. It's not bad, although the "conversation" that I'm interested in doesn't even have ten players in it. That's why it is so interesting to me. How often to you find somewhat unexplored territory when you're studying Milton?? So anyway, I found some other sources about Nature to include in my annotated bib/essay, but I kind of just had to explain how I was going to bring them into the conversation. So I hope that's good enough.

The rest of my weekend includes even more work to freak out about!!! I have a ten-page essay for Dobranski (terrifying), reading, reading, reading, and I have to make up an essay assignment that has multiple steps for an imaginary 1101 or 1102 class. I think I'll talk about that since I'm worn out on Milton.

So I'm thinking my writing assignment could be to take a picture of an object or a place that is important to you. Then bring that picture or the object (if it's small enough) to class. Then there could be a class period where we talk about these objects and descriptive words, etc. Then they could go home and write a 2-3 page description of the object or place. Then we could have peer review and then a final draft.

I don't know. That is awful. I have an 1102 text book in my car, so maybe I'll look at that for ideas.

This just in:

Why graduate student MG can't write:

Because I seem to have forgotten how. I have written one of ten required pages and I have been sitting at the computer for three hours. Kill me now.