i need you, as you say, to stowe your crap

 As you can see from the list on your right, progress is being made. Last night I closed the survey with astonishing 355 responses (which will be a major pain in the arse to analyse):

I also met with my supervisor for the second time, we discussed my literature review and next steps. She approved the review (with some minor corrections) and we set up a time frame for the next bit of the writing to be submitted. I now have until November 22nd to work on methodology [1000 words] and the analysis of the survey [1500 words]. This is probably the worst part, as I hate the theory-banging. But it's not too long, so it shouldn't be that difficult to get through. And once I'm done with it, I'll be half way through the total word count :D

All this means a pretty intense fortnight, as I have to combine the dissertation with my other coursework. What keeps me going is the fact that I'll be done with it soon enough to be able to enjoy my last semester of undergrad without having to deal with the dissertation anymore. It's slightly annoying now, when my flatmate (who has until April to write her thesis) keeps counting the days until the Christmas break and I'm trying to ignore how fast the time flies. But I'll be rewarded later with peace and quiet and her freaking out :)

I'm off to write an essay on death in pop culture (I'm a very pop-cultural creature lately) for one of my classes. Wish me luck!

Until the next time,
Joanna

happy thoughts

Things are looking quite great at the moment, I hope in a few years I will remember this feeling of utter joy and excitement I am feeling now.

First of all, my questionnaire got approved by the Ethics Committee in a record time of two working days (and they said it would take a fortnight). I received their decision on Monday, when I was finishing the literature review, so I couldn't post the survey immediately. I finally did it yesterday, I linked it everywhere I could and I sent out a bunch of emails and private messages asking various bloggers from the fandom to spread the word. I was completely unprepared for the outcome. In a day I have received over 150 completed surveys! I'm not entirely sure how many do I actually need (I'll have to ask my supervisor) but still. It's so incredible and totally unexpected I can't believe it. This just proves I was right to choose something I love and am passionate about as my topic - because I knew other people would be just as invested in it. I guess being in the fandom for nine years does that to you.

I also finished the literature review, I sent it to my mum's friend for proofreading and hopefully by the end of the week I get it back to present it to my supervisor. So far that's 2683 words into the dissertation (it will change after the proofreading, I'm sure, but not by much), which is really helpful in making me less paralysed by the thought of writing something so big and important. Deconstructing it and facing it piece by piece is so much easier.

I guess this is me being extraordinarily optimistic. Enjoy it while it lasts :)

Until the next time,
Joanna

P.S. If you haven't seen the survey already (and frankly, it's everywhere :P), check it out HERE. Remember, you'll helping science become more awesome :D

let me sleep

Bad, bad me. Not posting for almost two weeks? What have I been thinking?

Well, mostly I haven't been doing that much. I was working on the Internet survey which I later had to submit to the Ethics Committee which is going to tell me if I can ask the world to do the survey. 

In the meantime I have been trying to do my literature review, which is basically reading a lot about the series, but also about sociology of religion, and taking notes. My set deadline for it (including writing the bit, which is about 2500 words) is next Friday, but I want to send it over for proofreading, so I need to finish it before Monday. Which is not a lot of time considering how much reading I still have left. But hey, I can do it, right?

I've been feeling a bit down lately, it could be stress coming out, it could be the weather (it's very autumn-y outside, and not in a good way. all the grey :(), I don't really know. My sister's been trying to cheer me up over at facebook, my parents are sending me a parcel with stuff from back home, so I'm hoping it'll get better soon. I really can't concentrate on anything feeling like this and I feel guilty for it.

But anyways. The literature review. What's that about? I've looked for anything about Supernatural that would be connected to religion. I had to battle through one particularly shit book, I had to buy some stuff that I wouldn't normally buy (what is it with the prices of even remotely academic books?), I have pdfs upon pdfs of journal articles saved on my computer. A lot of it is only somewhat useful, but that's always something. Hopefully combined together all the sources will be enough to get the work done.

(I'm struggling, I'm sooooo sleepy and it's not even noon yet. The grey is killing me.)

This has been tragically uneventful and uninformative, but that's the way it is. Sorry. Hopefully in a while I will be able to give you something more exciting and useful. Until then,

Peace out.

Joanna

patience, i has it (not)

In my pursuit of written sources about Supernatural which would at least resemble academic discourse, I came across three seemingly interesting (albeit not particularily sociological) books:

• The Mythology of Supernatural by Nathan Robert Brown
• TV Goes to Hell edited by Stacey Abbott and David Lavery
• Supernatural and Philosophy edited by Galen A. Foresman

While I'm still waiting for the last one (which, by the way, was published by Blackwell, so my expectations are high), the first two reached my already. I began today with The Mythology..., which so far is surprisingly underwhelming. I'm about 20% in and really not impressed. I mean, it's a good read for someone who decided to broaden their religious knowledge because of the show, but for anyone with a tiny bit of previous experience in the field the mistakes he makes are surprisingly easy to spot. I mean, it's one thing that he wrote things wrong, but what happened to his fact-checkers? Did they forget how to google stuff? I know, it's minute details, but they make me so annoyed. The bibliography for the book is ridiculously short, so I guess I could've expected it. But in my humble opinion a person who calls themselves a "mythologist" whose work "has led him to do extensive research" in various fields (that's from the book back cover) should not make cardinal mistakes when they can be easily verified using Wikipedia. I mean, seriously. That's just sloppy.

I have to suffer through it anyway, but venting makes it slightly more bearable.

P.S. Another annoying thing? It's been three days since I emailed my thesis supervisor and there's still no response. I do love her, but her communication skills are debatable.

post of annoyance #1

Quick advice: before you decide on your research topic, make sure your university can provide you with the books you need. Yes, I am currently composing my literature review and yes, out of many books I could potentially use only one is available in our state-of-the-art library. And only because it's an e-book. I do love my university, but there seems to be no money for any kind of research that would be remotely recent (as opposed to grounded in decades of previous study) in the RS department. Shame on them, I will be huge one day and not thanks to them.

I think I might actually email one of my Sociology lecturers stupidly hoping that she might have some of the books. I can only buy so much myself, especially with the prices of academic textbooks (because everybody knows students are filthy reach, duh).

On a happier note, I believe I finished designing the questionnaire (I sent it to my supervisor and I'm waiting to hear back from her if it's any good). You know, coming up with respectful and inclusive questions is hard. But yeah, hopefully I wasn't too bad at it.

It's about time for me to get some sleep (instead of ranting about books), so peace out.

Joanna

small bump on the road

Sometimes the decission to study the thing you like kicks you right in the arse. It just happens. I agree, it can give you power to do your research, but most of the time you're bound to hit a wall of resignation and despair. 

Currently I'm trying to understand how did I think it would be a good idea to write my thesis on Supernatural? I mean, I did love the show in the past and it is packed with religious themes I can analyse. But. I also stopped watching it for a reason. Because it got ridiculous and boring and clearly the creators hit the point where they were just releasing a product because it would sell, not because they had an idea for it. 

I remember it now, after spending the past three days fast-forwarding seasons 4 to 8. I believe the epiphany might have struck me during this scene (the added text was not in the scene, but it fits quite well - the more I watched, the more my brain died):

I guess my only option for now is to remove myself from the Fandom, become analytical rather than personally involved. I need to forget that the show broke my heart (in various ways, sometimes with the dramatic storyline, sometimes by being so tragically crappy). I am yet to achieve this stage, but I'm hopeful and optimistic about it. I must be.

Anyway, now that I am done with the re-watch, I can focus on the surveys (as I must submit them to my supervisor this Friday). I have to figure out what it is that I want to learn from the Fandom and how should I go about asking for it. After that there might be a post on Questionnaire Design For Dummies. We'll see.

Until then,

Joanna

P.S. I am going to create another tab specifically for Supernatural content, there are only so many gifs I can justify using in the notes :)

it started out as a feeling

Choosing a dissertation topic is a tricky business. Ideally you should find something that's interesting for you personally as well as academically. It can't be too wide of an area, nor too narrow. You need to be able to fit within your department's length without having to cut vital parts out or using elaborate sentences to get to the word limit. Oh, and of course the topic should be somehow connected to your degree. It does help a lot, especially while finding a thesis supervisor. These guys are usually better when they actually know anything on the subject.

How did I go about it? As a known procrastinator and TV series addict I wanted to come up with a topic that would make both me and my potential supervisor happy. For my own joy I needed pop culture to be involved, for the supervisor - some scholarly bits. What's more - as a joint degree student I had to decide which department I wanted to write the dissertation in. I chose Religious Studies for several reasons (the supervisor I wanted, the fact that I could take other classes in Sociology, etc.) and so far my topic is shaping up to be people's responses to religious motifs in Supernatural. Peachy :)

I have 10 weeks to write it - the countdown you can see on the right is set for the submission day, but I need to finish everything (except for proofreading, minor adjustments, etc.) before I leave for Christmas break. I will try to post stuff as I go through the process, I think it will be funny to read it years from now. I might whine from time to time, as I am sure my enthusiasm for the task will not be uninterrupted. On the bar above you can see a tab called Motivation, I will be putting some funny dissertation-related stuff over there, so be sure to check it out from time to time.

This week I'll be working on two things: first and foremost I need to design the questionnaires for the Interwebz People to answer, the other thing is refreshing and/or catching up with the series (just to be sure I know what I'm asking people about). I guess you can expect an entry about that in the nearest future. 

Until then,

Joanna

you say goodbye, I say hello

 

Dear Reader,

I am happy to see you, even though I cannot actually see you. That would be creepy and probably a violation of several privacy rights. Whatever the reason you came, I hope you will enjoy your stay and decide to come back in the future.

As you probably deduced from the title, I am indeed a student – 4th year of Religious Studies and Sociology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (to be precise). Recently I began the final stage of my journey towards an academic degree – writing a dissertation. I admit, it’s nothing extraordinary – people do it all the time, some even more than once in their lives. So why blog about it?

The answer is just as simple as the task ahead of me: motivation. And tracking my progress. And procrastination, I guess. I want to be able to anticipate consecutive stages of the process with joy, not just nausea. I am trying to make it as interesting for myself as possible. I chose an amazing topic (I will elaborate on that some other time), I have everything planned (with a lot of help from my supervisor, who is just brilliant) and I want it to be exciting for the next ten weeks. After all, I am going to immerse myself in the Fandom (and not just any fandom, the Supernatural Fandom!) and for me personally there is no better place to be.

I hope you will keep me company. Bon voyage!

Joanna