Wednesday, February 01, 2006

So much for the Jan. 31 deadline ...

Last week I expected to finish the draft of my thesis proposal by the end of January. It's now 20 minutes into February 1, and I am not done, despite a marathon four-hour writing session tonight.

But I am certainly in a better place. I just finished Part IV (Background) which is basically a literature review/summary of the main issues being studied. My literature review touches upon four areas: Sino-Vietnamese relations, international relations theory, Chinese media, and content analysis methodologies. It takes a long time to pick out the most relevant works in each category, summarize them in one paragraph, add my critical analysis, and relate how my own research fills in certain holes that they did not address.

So my new deadline for finishing the remainder of the draft proposal: This time next week. I might even pull an all-nighter on Friday to get the remaining sections and bibliography done.

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