Today’s post will be relatively short because I’m in the midst of what should be the final major revision of my dissertation. Let’s take a quick look at what I’m doing.
The Latest Revision
I started this latest round of revisions in November, after Brandon and I got back from our belated honeymoon/first-anniversary trip to St. Augustine. Each revision has served a different purpose. The first round took overly long, rambling texts and trimmed them down into something manageable and coherent. The second round filled in gaps with additional research or secondary readings. This latest round is all about making the argument explicit.
I started with the introduction and conclusion. From there, I’ve been working my way through the individual chapters. For each chapter, I’ve started with the introduction and conclusion, the beginning and end. I make sure that they’re clearly stating my argument and that they mirror one another in terms of intent. I then go through the different sections of each chapter to make sure they align with what I set out to do in the intro and conclusion. If something is missing, I add it. Anything that doesn’t fit gets deleted.
Revising Chapters 3 and 4
The month of January was dedicated to revising Chapters 3 and 4, whereas November and December focused on Chapters 1 and 2, in addition to the introduction and conclusion. I’ve always worked on 3 and 4 together because they deal with the same topic, federal community art centers, but from different angles.
I followed the same process as I’ve done with my other chapters. During the first week, I revised the introductions and conclusions for both chapters, reading them side by side to make sure they were distinct from one another. I then spent one week working on the content for Chapter 3, and another on Chapter 4. Finally, I read both chapters side-by-side.
A Head Start on Chapter 5
I got a head start on Chapter 5 with a Brown Bag talk I gave in December. Sponsored by the American Studies program, these talks are opportunities for student and faculty to share work in progress. I used it as an opportunity to preview the talk I’ll be giving on Chapter 5 at CAA in February.
Aside from getting a chance to finish my conference presentation early, the Brown Bag was an opportunity to get suggestions for Chapter 5. Several people offered recommendations for readings and secondary texts, works I subsequently requested.
Chapter 5 Revision
This week I’ve officially started revising Chapter 5. On Monday, I returned to the VMFA archives to look through some scrapbooks assembled on the Artmobiles during the 1950s. Thanks to the newspaper articles preserved in those scrapbooks, I’ve been able to map out specific destinations on the Artmobile circuit during its early years. That means I know not only which towns the Artmobile visited, but where exactly it went went in each community. I’ve also been going through outstanding secondary materials I’ll use to flesh out my argument.
In the coming weeks, I’ll go through the chapter itself and give it the same treatment as the rest of the dissertation.
Technical Matters
In addition to revising the text itself, I’ve been working on proper formatting. Following William & Mary’s formatting guide, I’ve been making sure that my dissertation has the correct margins and the proper labeling for different pages. I’ve also been obtaining high-quality images for the individual chapters, and getting the rights to use them. I’ve also been looking into appendices for all the additional research I’ve done that doesn’t quite fit into the body text itself.
Looking Ahead
While I still have a lot of work to do, there’s no doubt that I’m coming to the end of the dissertation process. Rather than wax nostalgic about the process and lose momentum though, I’ll save that for a future post. For now, it’s back to the grindstone.