Dissertation Day Two

I went into writing today with a goal of 1-2k. I ended up writing 2.5k, which I was very happy with. I've kind of been hopping from heading to heading as I get bored with one, but overall I did most of my introduction, including finishing up the background, writing up the research aims, and writing out the research focus (the terminology was the main section I wrote yesterday). I've also written a little bit in methodology, mostly just noting down problems and limitations, as I do need to read a book or two on methodology to fully flesh out that section (Laura is currently looking at a couple, so I'm just waiting for her to tell me which one is the best :P). I also wrote some of the subheadings in the literature review, including 'psychosocial status of queer adolescents' and 'impact of representation on adolescents'.

Near the end of the day, I began working on my survey results overview, which I quickly realized would be the easiest section of the dissertation, as it will largely consist of posting my findings without analysis - after completing a couple of subheadings, I decided to leave it until later, and do some of the more difficult sections first.

The last thing that I did before leaving for the day, and what I think will take me a very long time, is beginning to transcribe the survey results into individual response forms. Avril and I debated for a while whether or not it would be worth my time to do so, but I ultimately decided that since I am not particularly worried about running out of time (since I wrote 17% of my dissertation my first day out) I would do it. I also think it will be very interesting for those reviewing the dissertation in the future, as they will be able to read the entirety of what, say, Respondent 140 said, if they found the part of that respondent's answer that I quoted particularly interesting or controversial.

Throughout the day I was also working on my references - I've decided to just put things in my references as I go along, making a separate pile of works that I've referenced, and then, when I've finished my dissertation, simply copy it and add whatever works I have not cited to form my bibliography. Napier as a whole uses Harvard, and while I have gotten more used to it as the year has gone on, I am still much slower at it than I was with MLA, which is making creating my reference sheet a bit more of a difficult task than I normally find it.

Below the jump, I've pasted the very first paragraph of my entire dissertation (first draft of course) if you are interested!

The 1940s and 50s marked the emergence of literature marketed and directed at a teenage audience, and since the 1960s the label of young adult (YA) literature has been understood to designate literature which both features a teenage protagonist and is marketed to a teenage audience (Jenkins, 1998). However, it was not until 1969 that the first YA novel was published that directly referenced and engaged with adolescent homosexuality, namely John Donovan’s I’ll Get There: It Better Be Worth The Trip (Jenkins, 1998). While Donovan’s novel was celebrated and embraced by certain readers and reviewers, others expressed concern that the novel’s content was inappropriate, and presented a danger to adolescents reading the text (Jenkins, 1998). Such concerns continue to be expressed with regards to YA fiction with queer content; on June 12, 2014 the school board of Cape Henlopen, USA voted to remove The Miseducation of Cameron Post from the district’s summer reading list, citing inappropriate language (Flood, 2014). However, as Jill Guccini, a blogger at BookRiot points out, many other books on that same list contain just as much, if not more profanity than The Miseducation of Cameron Post, leaving observers to conclude that the book was not banned for inappropriate language, as the school board claimed, but for its lesbian protagonist (2014).