A traditionally boring academic post just to prove I'm legit

Well, it's already November. Someone recently told me in an email that the beginning of your dissertation goes ever sooooooooooooo slll-----ooooowwww----llllyyyy. Not a truer statement have I heard lately. I think I will call myself Mary Snail instead of Mary Alice.

The other day my friend Arlene called and said, "Wow, so you've started your dissertation." I said, "No, not really." She said, 'Yeah, you have. It's on your blog. You took out the box and opened it. Boxes are BIG!" I said, "Huh, you actually read my blog?" Ha ha. Arlene is right. Only mothers and dissertators know just how daunting an unopened box can be. So I guess the fact that I have the box sitting on my kitchen table is a testament to the fact that I have begun the process.

I'm also happy to report that today I dusted off my PhD notebooks and started reading through them. Wahoo! Speaking of notebooks, here's a tip for those of you who might be in school. Remember to write legibly. Boy, is my penmanship messy. I used to have beautiful penmanship. My grandmother and mother used to take great pride in my pretty script. My cursive is no longer pretty. It is downright hideous. I noticed my penmanship changing for the worse after my car accident years ago. Must be a side effect of the nasty bump my head took. Ever since then I have trouble writing with a pen. Oh, well. Good thing computers came into being.

Nana and Mom would no longer be proud.
















Another thing I noticed reading over my notebooks is that I don't even remember taking some of these notes. Here's an example--

I have no recollection of drawing this chart. I must say it seems pretty impressive. I don't know about you, but I feel smarter just looking at it. It is about Sociolinquists.

I looked at notes from my Statistics course, my Technology and Literacy course, and my Language and Social Context course. Here are some notes I highlighted (probably only of interest to me)--

• Researchers are narrow. Know your area very well so that you are an expert.




• Working narrowly makes you go deep.




• The more participants in your study the more degree of freedom.
  



• Researchers try to find patterns, make senses, organize.
  



• Truth--search for truth w/a capital T versus small t. Truth for you and me versus truth for everyone.
  



• Why is allegiance to universal truths so deeply felt by some?
  



• Descartes was deconstructionalized--a mistake to separate any person from their historical origins.
  



• Truth--one of the most difficult of all topics to define and explain. Truth is intimately related to questions of meaning and establishing the relationship between the two is difficult. And there is disagreement between searchers of both. There's agreement as to what contstitutes truth: statements, propositions, beliefs, assertions, but how truth is established is debated.
  



• Major theories of truth: Correspondance Theory--holds that a statement is true or false depending on whether the content of a statement or belief accurately matches or represents some state of affairs in the world. Picture theory of meaning--holds that a statement is true or false depending on whether reality matches the picture represented by the belief. Consensus theory of truth--holds that the truth of a statement is a matter of consensus on beliefs and values that responsible people would reach in an ideal speech situation. Coherence theory of truth--judges the truth of falsity of statement in terms of the degree to which its conherent w/a background of settled beliefs. Contextualist theory of truth--claims that truth is not something about which there can ever be an important philosophical theory because truth is just a term of agreement, a statement is justified or regarded as true relative to some particular community or culture of inquirers. Pragmatic theory of truth--truth of assertions is determined by whether they function well in helping us understand the world.
  



• Philosophical hermeneutics--truth and meaning is something that is disclosed in the relationship of interpreter to the object of interpretation.
  



• Conflict arises when it is believed that calling a statement true is to claim that it accurately accounts for and explains events that actually occur in the real world=representation versus accuracy.
  



• human action is considered meaningful in the sense that it cannot be adequately described in purely physical terms.

This note particulary stands out--

• a process of dialogue and listening in which the living word of conversation is privileged.

I really like the bolded sentiment. Conversation is alive and it is truly a privilege to listen and to be heard. :)

I also noticed while reading my notebooks how often I became bored. I must have a short attention span. I like to doodle. What does one do when they get bored? They turn to their Jordanian neighbor and ask how to spell Mary Alice in Arabic--

Isn't my name pretty in Arabic?

And when all else fails when bored, you take nap. Good night!