I took a dinner/TV/Dr. J break after getting in from the library and then got back to cleaning up the work I did at the library. I completely underestimated how many sources I gather today--it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 200. So I had to get all of those into Endnote properly and then update the ernomous bibliography. I think all the source work is complete now for you know who, and I swear if anybody asks me for more "cites," they may catch an elbow. I thought the first bibliography I submitted was solid--40+ pages of sources that I really worked hard to get. But somebody didn't agree--or at least thought it would be "great to see more." Now that the bibliography is over 60 pages--that should be enough right? Geez. I mean am I really supposed to reference every work known to woman on every topic that is semi-connected to my diss?! That's what I feel like I'm being asked--sorry, recommended--to do and it is so annoying. But whatever, I'll just cut out a bunch of footnotes come publication time. For now it is just about appeasing the powers that be.
I spent so much time on the durn sources today that I didn't get to finish the introduction. Tomorrow--intro and conclusion get what is hopefully the final clean-up before the defense. Boy does my brain hurt.
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4 comments:
I guess people have different theories about bibliographies. Many people I know only include works that they actually consulted, paraphrased, quoted. (Works Cited). I notice bibs in the neighborhood of 20 pgs.
I tend to overdo it, but the other day my chair also asked for more about one topic. So, I went and got out 7 more books on this topic. Did you bring your laptop to library or ? How did you record all the books/notes you got at library?
In science we also only reference the works cited. I can't imagine a 60 page bibliography!
Would you believe that every work in the bib was actually consulted, paraphrased or directly cited?! I don't think there is anything in there that I haven't laid my hands on/skimmed/touched/quoted from in some way. I did take my laptop to the library and basically just pulled off entire shelves of books and typed away as much as I could. I would then look in those bibs and see if there were other sources I could track down. I should have put them into Endnote properly but I did it kinda quickly and sloppily since I had so many books to get through. Then I also went through a bunch of articles online--that was easier in terms of copying and pasting but still time consuming.
I've always been pretty exhaustive in my bibs and since I'm using Chicago, my CoChair likes to see footnotes for EVERYTHING. Basically after every sentence she wants a footnote (except in my own analysis). So for example, if I were writing about Martin Luther King and happen to mention that his wife was also very involved in community work--my CoChair would recommend sources that have explored her activism also--her argument being "how do you know that"--so then I have to go track down all these sources for these little bits of information. Since there is a lot of history, biography, political theory, African American/women's studies, and press report stuff that comes before my analysis in each chapter,I have to--excuse me--it is recommended that I reference all the work I pull from. I do pull from a lot but that exercise yesterday was ridiculous. Hopefully it will satisfy you-know-who.
But this is why the freakin thing just keeps getting bigger.
mon, i know how you feel. i was especially overwhelmed in preparing the bibliography for my comps--each committee member had a suggested list. now at the dissertation stage, i feel the need to run down every item i find that may be related to one of the larger points i'm discussing. my advisor usually encourages it, but i think she's relenting. at some point during a well-documented chapter, she found one un-sourced thing and said, "this is probably common knowledge. i guess we can take your word on it."
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