Weeks 143 and 144: Write quietly

I have completed Chapter 5, and have been working on Chapter 6.

It’s a bit strange feeling to see there the four summary tables that I initially made for my convenience, with no intention of including them in my thesis. But my supervisors approved the idea of including them.

When writing Chapter 5, I first tried to focus on the trees, not the forest, because it was too overwhelming for me to see the whole forest of the largest chapter of my thesis. Now I must step back and get a wider perspective and see the key points, relating the findings back to the conceptual framework.

Early this week, I felt a little bit emotional when I printed out my draft chapters 1 to 5, put them together on my desk, and started writing Chapter 6. This manuscript is what I have been pouring my energy into for the past three years. Maybe I must know many about the field of my research, but feel as if I know nothing.

I don’t even know whether my findings have something significant to say, or not. I only try to be faithful to my research participants and their raw data.