1. An extensive description of the topic.
2. A working thesis (liable to change).
3. An outline of structure (chapters, sections, etc.).
4. Discuss the existing secondary material.
5. An extensive working bibliography.
This seems reasonable. But somehow the tangible-ness (not a word, but I'm too tired and lazy to think of a real one) of this list forces me to reflect on my current state. And if you don't mind, I'm going to use this post as an opportunity to indulge in some self-interrogation. (This is going to be needlessly dramatic, I promise.)
I'm at a crossroads (ok, drama over). I've been trying to get some traction on my desire to do something on Adrienne Rich. I have a list of "themes" from which I could possibly narrow into a respectable topic. I've been reading criticism on her. I even emailed (whom I believe to be) the leading Rich scholar, Albert Gelpi, formally of Stanford, over the summer just to tell him how cool I think he is, and also ask how to pronounce his last name. And he emailed me back. (It's a hard 'G'.) This doesn't get me anywhere near a thesis proposal though.
On the other hand, my hard drive is full of papers I've written for classes, going all the way back to 2006. Papers I've presented at conferences. Papers I could use as a springboard for something bigger. And the hard work is done for me. I have an argument, at least somewhere to start. You get it.
I feel guilty not starting from scratch. But should I? No one cares, I know that. But I care. I don't know if I'll get into a PhD program, so this could be it for me. I want it to be awesome. I want to be proud of it, I don't want to look back and just remember taking a short cut. It would be so much easier to write. But I'm not sure whether starting from scratch will be that much more rewarding...
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