#literature dissertation

[feminist-study]

Dissertation time 14/04/22

It's getting closer and closer to the deadline for my His Dark Materials Diss & I feel like I have so much to do!

Just finishing a draft of a chapter on Mrs Coulter and I can't wait to start my conclusion 😁🤯😄

[junketss]

Taking a break from my hiatus to say I got a first in my dissertation! I'm graduating with a first 🎉 Can't wait to start my masters at Queen Mary in September.

[feminist-study]

Another evening dissertation session

You know you've found the perfect subject to write on when every time you approach it you're truly excited and can't wait to get started; when you can spend hours reading/researching/writing and it only feels like seconds.

(You can definitely not notice I'm completely entranced with analysing marisa coulter for half my diss- you could quite possibly write books on her 😂😂)

8th Dec 2021

[feminist-study]

Late(-ish) night dissertation work! Can't wait to begin writing though just soooo many thoughts on the masterpiece that is His Dark Materials!

(also if series 3 of BBC/HBO adaption is released soon I'd be very grateful 😂)

[feminist-study]

SHOCKED TO SAY THE LEAST

so i've been working on a dissertation thesis on his dark materials & decided to do a comparison between how many times "Mrs. Coulter" vs. "Marisa" is used.

"Mrs. Coulter" is used 488 times"

"Marisa" is used 19 times.

Makes my point (and Pullman's I guess) but only 19 times is she called by her first name over all three His Dark Materials books....... was expecting a low number but wow! I AM SHOOK!

[feminist-study]

I have 2 versions of His Dark Materials a hardback omnibus (printed 2018) and then three individual paperbacks (printed 2019) as I seemed to have misplaced the copies I had growing up.

Anyway... noticed Mrs coulter has "dark hair" p.40 in the 2018 omnibus but "fair hair" p.42 in the 2019 paperback of Northern Lights. Wondered what everyone else's copies (and what versions they are)?!

Definitely another point to be made in my Mrs coulter section (at this point my Diss is 2/3rds Mrs coulter/marisa content 🤣)

[feminist-study]

It's Dissertation Time!!

Look at these beauties I was given for Christmas🎁 They'll make great pals for writing about His Dark Materials 😍. Let the dissertation writing process begin 😊📚

[junketss]

Dissertation?!

So it’s time to write your undergraduate dissertation and it feels mammoth? (Please note: I’m currently a literature student so this isn’t that great if you’re doing research)

I’ve added my own tips in the read more bit but feel free to add your own. And remember...

Okay, first things first, work out what you want to do. This sounds silly if you’ve got to the writing stage but have it written down. Make sure you have the following:

Primary texts (obvs a literature thing) 

Critics (I really found reading critics and getting an idea of what people have previously discussed was really helpful for working out what my own argument was supposed to be)

Research questions/aims. What do you want to look at/argue. Dissertations may give you free range but you won’t have an argument if you don’t have research aims.

PLAN! I can’t hesitate to say this PLAN! Even if you’ve never planned before at least make sure you have a basic idea of what you want to write for each bit. I made a broad plan for what I wanted to discuss and then sorted those bits into a more detailed plan. The detailed plan included:

Textual quotes

Some analysis 

Critics

I didn’t start writing until I’d looked through all my critics and texts. Obviously, this is up to the person and some people find it easier to get started straight away. I was quite lucky that I planned so much that my first chapter plan became my whole dissertation plan. 

Keep writing! Believe in yourself. Also if you don’t feel like writing don’t force yourself. At the same time don’t leave it to the last minute. 

Other Top Tips :)

Make use of your supervisor. I have been to see mine so much and he always makes my rubbish make so much sense. 

It sounds hard to do so but don’t panic! It’s not as big as it seems at first. 

Find reasons to enjoy what you’re doing. This is something you’re going to be working for a long time. If you hate it now, you’ll hate it even more the further you get into it. 

Use dropbox! It’s so so good. You can access all your work in the same place and you won’t have to worry about it. (or any other form of backing up e.g. USB/emailing to yourself)

Make sure you have a dedicated folder on your laptop for your files.

Keep all your references in one place. Preferably, create a bibliography and add to it whenever you use a new critic.