Reading for exams

I just read a post from New Kid on dissertation process and found it helpful--one of my hopes for this blog (I seem to be doing this a lot lately--expressing what I hope to gain by blogging--wierd--I wonder why I'm doing that) was that I would find people who were blogging through their dissertation process and learn from them as I begin my dissertation. I like the idea of public accountability--I think I'll start posting progress, too. Here's an update: still did not write the dissertation proposal. I did write a good solid page along with an extended email to my currently absent advisor. Still, not a real proposal.

So to contribute to the blogging of Ph.D.-in-progress, here's what I have learned while studying for my prelim exams. Disclaimer: I have yet to take exams. Success of this method is not proven. I set a schedule for myself at the outset, allowing reasonable revision of that schedule, but not extreme deviance from the plan. I started out with this schedule: read four items per week. Very reasonable. Very bad way of scheduling. I fell behind and now have to read five to seven items per week to finish. At the semester break I revised my schedule into something that works much better. I have an accountability date set about every three weeks, at which I will have read X number of items. That allows for some weeks with slower progress without the guilt--guilt can be paralyzing! Also, the reality is that every item is not created equal, so when I have spent a few days on one particularly difficult or long piece, I can follow it the next week with a string of easy one-a-day pieces a meet my goal by the accountability date. I have my list posted on my wall in my office with a tally of my progress. This helps by creating a small amount of public accountability, but I have found that the most beneficial part has been that I can see my progress. Because I am not writing and producing completed pieces of scholarly writing at the rate I did in coursework, I feel often as if I am accomplishing nothing. When that hits me, I tally up the books on the list and have a tangible sense of progress. I have factored into my schedule time to work on an article I want to submit for publication and, more importantly, time to work on my diss proposal. This is where things aren't working--the diss proposal is not happening. That's another post.

This method has worked to keep me on task and on schedule as far as how many items I have read. My method of reading and note-taking is a different story. I don't so much have one (but I often pretend I do when important people ask me about it). More on that later, too.

Any comments about reading for prelim exams would be appreciated. I'm not ready for comments about diss proposal. I'm too depressed about it today.