Monday, August 21, 2006

Onto dissertation research!

How very exciting. I'm off on my first research trip Thursday morning---AKA visiting my parents in C'town---and have spent the past few hours going through my files, checking for archives that I still needed to contact. Fun times. I've also rethought the whole driving to Urbana-Champaign plan, and think the train is a way better option. Way better. I suspect US rail travel will be cheaper than Canadian is---is it?---and I could potentially work on the train. Driving, I can't do this. So, I don't think there will be any US driving in my near future. We'll see.

I've ordered a large microfilm collection from my school's inter-library loans department, and it should be here early in September. Archival documents! I've also jotted down the call numbers for the major government document collections I'll need to flip through in the library, so I should have lots of preliminary research to do in the fall before I head off on my research trips.

Sunday evening I (in HD's car) returned most of my remaining comps books to the library, and it felt good to purge them from my sight! This, and having organized some of my files yesterday, made it only natural that I should be taking my first dissertation steps. I do have to do a proposal at some point, but I'll worry about that in September, after I've met with my main supervisor.

In other news, the apartment is nearly clean. A few more things to do still, though. Wish me luck with this and my other errands.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! You are making the whole history thing sound so exciting, yet again! I never did like history much in high school, though I admit that had more to do with my grades for it, than the subject itself...
Anyhow, I wish I could get myself as excited about MY project! Should I consider writing a blog to help me get in the mood???
Much love to you Jen.
Es.