Enrolment extended

Bad news: I had to extend my enrolment one month so I won’t be done until the end of July.

Good news: I now have a complete first draft!  That means there is something in every section that needs to exist.  However, I still have to basically rewrite my discussion chapter after a meeting yesterday with my supervisors and do some extensive revisions of my literature review.  Then, final editing, proofreading, polishing etc.

In exciting news I have a job interview with the National Library on Friday for the position of 21st Century Literacies development specialist.. designing information literacy materials for secondary school NZ-wide.  Would be really fun, but the position is based in Auckland I don’t want to move.

There’s another job coming up lecturing at the Open Polytechnic in Library & Information Studies which would mean staying in Wellington.  Lets hope it works out for the best!

 

The final countdown

Don’t expect to hear from me for a while… my submission deadline is the 28th of June and I am panicking.  So much work left to do!

But, with luck (or hard work), I will be done with this thesis by the end of June.

It also means I will be spending every spare moment I have working on it.  Right now my mom’s suggestion of just having a baby and going on the benefit seems really appealing… though I think I can make out a light at the end of the tunnel.

Until July…

Mega-milestone

I just crossed the 70,000 word threshold on my thesis!!

As you may or may not be aware the maximum length for any thesis at Victoria University of Wellington is 100,000 words.  That’s a limit, not a target.  I don’t want to jinx myself by being too confident, but i feel really good about the progress I have been making lately.

The end is nigh!

My submission deadline is 30 June 2013.

Then I guess I have to find a job or something.

Actually my plan is to stick around NZ a while, I have to wait for somewhere between 8 and 12 weeks for my oral defence, and then I will probably have to do some revisions (hopefully not too extensive) before finally resubmitting and then another few weeks/months before I get my final results.  It’s a very drawn-out, anti-climatic process, and I intend to celebrate at every step along the way!  That’s an opportunity for at least 4 separate parties as I see it-

1. Submission
2. Successful defence
3. Final results
4. University graduation ceremony (probably next May, unless I can get in it under the wire for this December)

Apparently I am not officially a PhD until my thesis is bound and the university library has a copy.  Realistically that probably won’t be before December of this year.  In the mean time, once I submit, I can find some full time work (maybe doing research, teaching, or library stuff?), try to get a few papers published, and apply for academic jobs starting the following August.  Unfortunately, I won’t be done in time to be seriously considered for academic postings starting this August/September, but in a way I don’t think I’ll be ready to pick up and leave Wellington in 6 months.  I still have a massive stash of fabric that I have not had any time to make anything with in ages!

Also I just got my bike rebuilt.  I have 5 more gears now, and I’m looking forward to breaking them on the hills around Wellington!