After four months of research and procrastination, I have finally begun my thesis proposal. Over the course of three hours, with frequent 'net surfing diversions, I was able to hammer out 382 words that will serve as the introduction to the proposal.
In it, I outline the problem -- what factors can explain China’s attitudes and intentions toward Vietnam over the last three decades -- and discuss why quantitative methodologies have rarely been brought to bear.
It's a good start, but I still have a long way to go. The format of the proposal calls for 18 or 20 double-spaced pages, which will require another 4000 words or so. I don't want to speculate as to how long it will take to complete a first draft. Writing is not hard for me, but I have discovered that other things get in the way of making progress, ranging from family obligations to mindless distractons. And of course, no matter how good I think my proposal is, Harvard's ALM research advisor for the social sciences may take a look at it and tell me to start again.
No comments:
Post a Comment