What I'm doing: Drinking my second cup of coffee and writing new parts of my East Africa chapter.
Today I rolled out of bed at 7:50. This is quite early for a grad student, but I suppose I need to get used to it since soon I will be a real person with a real job and will have to get up earlier every day. :(
I'm writing the "results" section for my East Africa chapter, which find this both very easy and very frustrating. Here's why:
Essentially, to write a "results" section, you describe, in writing, what you are already showing in figures.
Easy, right?
The problem is that figures (at least good ones) are designed to show data/results/information in the very best and clearest way possible. A well labeled figure stands on its own. So, describing them is a superfluous activity, in my opinion. A waste of my time and the reader's. Now, an interpretation of the figures is vital, but tradition (and my advisor) dictates that this must go in a separate section, and no hint of it should be found in the "results" section. So, if I have a blob of red in figure X, which anyone could see, I must then tell the reader "Hey, there's a blob of red in Figure X, but I'm not going to tell you the significance of that until several pages later. Ha-ha!" Such a waste.
On my agenda for today: Finish the results section. (grr!) Write an outline of my intro chapter. Make a new figure. Finish the geological background section and start the geophysical background section. Also, drink more coffee. Will I accomplish it all? Who the hell knows. Stay tuned to find out!
P.S. 23 years of school, and I still can't spell.
You should also include geological Rorschach blob results, like the splitting headache. Then include a special psychological interpretation section in which you analyze the deranged idiosyncrasies of advisors.
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