I am closing in on the completion of the academics phase of my doctorate in history. After this class, I have two remaining academic classes, Development of Western Freedoms in the Summer term, and American Entrepreneurship Since 1900 in the first half of the Fall semester. Both look interesting and are within my period and topical interests. Then there is HIST 901 Doctoral History Research. I am looking forward to this class in the second half of the Fall semester. It is the transition point between the academics and comprehensives phases, while simultaneously being a part of the dissertation phase. In the last post, I mentioned this Fall being a soft start to the dissertation, this is why. I will still be a doctoral student until completion of the comprehensives when I will be considered a doctoral candidate. I can’t say I am looking forward to the Comprehensive Reading & Examination classes nearly as much as I am to 901.
One of the challenges for me in preparation for the comprehensives is that I am not a fast reader. I often have to slow down to digest the material and think about it at deeper levels, particularly if it is engaging material. This often requires looking things up tangentially to build a contextual picture. If I don’t stop to do this, my mind will continue to persaverate on the material which is very distracting when trying to push through a section or chapter. At times it requires putting down the material altogether and reset either by reading something else or writing for a while.
On an interesting note, this class requires us to produce a 3 to 4.5-minute discussion thread in video format along with an abstract, source list, and a link to the video every week. I like doing videos, I’m just not sure what form Dr. Schultz wants these to take, talking head, presentation, slides, it’s not really clear. I will have to find out.