DEA Fail and the Importance of Thesis Advisors

Yesterday, I went to the university to watch a defense of a DEA project (basically a Masters thesis). My advisor always recommends for me to do this (and anyone in our department) because I will have to defend the first part of my thesis this upcoming October. Basically, how it works is that you have to do a substantial research project, writing it out in the form or a research study (with a literature review, methodology, results, conclusion, bibliography, etc) and submit it to the department. Three professors will read it and these profs will form the tribunal that will witness your presentation and ask you questions at the end and you have to literally "defend" your thesis and tell them why you made certain decisions and why you structured everything in a certain way. It's extremely nerve wracking because you have no idea what questions are going to be asked. Also, it's in English which is great for me but for many of my cohorts means it adds another layer of stress since it's not their native language.

Even more stressful, you have to ween down your  100+ page report into a 15 minute powerpoint presentation, making sure that you touch on all aspects of your study. Ahhh!!

It's difficult, to say the least. So that brings us to yesterday. There were two candidates presenting their studies: one Spanish woman who had actually finished with her doctoral thesis already and was only doing the DEA because it was a requirement before you could present your thesis. She was overly prepared, clearly, and had a really interesting study. The second candidate was a Japanese student who seemed very nervous to present. Outside before the presentations began, you could tell that he was trying to keep calm and we re-assured him that he would do fine and not to worry.

The tribunal called everyone in and the presentations began. The Spanish woman started out speaking a mile a minute and giving an in-depth computational analysis of gender differences in chat rooms. It was very fun to watch and well presented and organized. The tribunal asked their questions and gave her some comments about what should be improved, which she took in politely (though surely won't take since she has already finished her thesis)  and then peaced out, leaving the Japanese candidate to his own devices.

He started off putting up a gorgeous picture of a mountain in Japan with on his title card and you could tell that he had put a lot of work into making his Powerpoint look nice. He gave a short intro, which he read directly from a cue card, and then launched into his presentation. When he went to the first slide, I could immediately tell that something was off. Most people only put a few bullet points on each slide, but it seems that he wrote his entire speech in his presentation, which is a big no-no and against the established rules. You must use the Powerpoint as a supplement, referring to it in your presentation but not reading directly from it the entire time. He started reading it word for word and the tribunal gasped and started whispering to each other. This is how the rest of the presentation went:

(It was in Spanish but I will write it in English)
Japanese Candidate: (reading off of powerpoint) The study was one that I did with my first year Japanese students here in Spain in order to analyze their grasp of the.....
Tribunal: Excuse me? Excuse me? Sorry to interrupt, but you can't read directly from the presentation.
Japanese Candidate: Oh, sorry, sorry....(takes out notes and starts reading directly from notes which are the same as the presentation)  The study was one that I did with my first year Japanese students here in Spain in order to analyze their grasp of the...
Tribunal: Sorry....sorry...again, you can't read directly from the notes or from the powerpoint...you need to give the speech in a more spontaneous way referring occasionally to the powerpoint, do you understand?
Japanese Candidate: Oh, sure, sure, sorry. (looks up at the powerpoint, trying to see how he can extrapolate and give the speech in a more spontaneous way) My students of Japanese here in Spain....eh, the study that we did....The study was one that I did with my first year Japanese students here in Spain in order to analyze their grasp of the.....
Tribunal: &^%##@

The poor guy....not only did he completely bomb his presentation, but they stopped him in the middle and told him not to continue. The whole thing was, in a word, painful to watch. They then proceeded to tell him that his study lacked the fundamental organization and statistics needed to be dubbed a "research study" but was more a conglomeration of his observations that he had made of his class. It had no bibliography, no page numbers in the index which just made it overall difficult for the reader to follow. He took the critique in a very elegant and humble way and thanked them for their comments.

The tragic thing is that he had clearly worked so hard on the project, but it was evident that his thesis advisor (who was absent from the presentation) did not even look at his final work. If they had, they would have told him that it was not at all ready to present and not what the tribunal was looking for and there was no way that he would pass. While I genuinely felt so sorry for this guy, it made me all the more thankful to know that my advisor is so on the ball with everything and a total badass when it comes to giving comments and criticism BEFORE I go out there and make an ass out of myself.

To-Do Lists

At the beginning of this year, around October probably, just as I was starting my project, I was feeling rather lost. Scratch that, I was feeling extremely lost, disorganized and without direction. I didn't have any research plan in mind and was basically starting from zero on my project. One of the biggest challenges of writing a thesis or doing research independently is that nobody is there looking over your shoulder or giving you tasks to do and it can be extremely overwhelming. You have to be the master of your own destiny, for lack of a better expression, and take matters into your own hands. 

I remember one particular day I was getting really frustrated. Alfonso, my fiance, was living in Zaragoza at the time, so I called him up to vent. He very calmly asked me, "And what happened to your to-do lists?". I took a step back and realized that he was right. The root of my problems was organization. It's important when tackling a bigger project to make smaller, more manageable goals for yourself while always keeping an eye on the big picture. In college, I was the queen of checklists, and my friends would stare in awe of the different lists on my bulletin board with the neat boxes next to each task. Call me a nerd, but I got shit done because there was nothing more satisfying than checking off the latest project. 

After hanging up with Alf (not to be confused with AfL), I went straight home, got out a few sheets of paper and went to town. Maybe I am a little bit out of control, but here are my current lists:

1. A monthly list with all of the project tasks that I want to accomplish

2. A weekly/ daily to-do list with all of the things that I have to do day-by-day

3. A daily to-do that maps out a schedule. The reason for this is that I am inherently a late sleeper and if I didn't make this plan for myself, I would be in bed til noon and never get anything done!

4. Seasonal to-do lists- things that I want to get done in the summer, spring and winter

5. A master list for my trabajo de investigacion and things that I have to do

6. A list of recordings/ transcriptions that need to be done

Call me crazy, but without these lists, it would be impossible for me to get organized. I might be getting a few raised eyebrows from any Spaniards who are reading this, since the obsessive mapping out of one's life in list form contradicts their basic tenet of "enjoy life....it can get done tomorrow". In that way, living her has mellowed me out (despite the gross number of lists that would point to the contrary) and I don't get too stressed out if I don't finish everything. But trying to live without a planner would drive me nuts- I have tried it before and it just doesn't work. 

Things came full circle a few weekends ago when Alf and I made a trip out to Decathalon one weekend and he expressed his frustrations to me about writing his own thesis, which he needs to finish by June. Being a civil engineer, writing is extremely difficult for him and he found himself in a rut. He pulled out all of the excuses "I just don't have time" and "the project just isn't that interesting to me anymore" and "I just don't have anything to say," which I dismissed, telling him to follow his own advice and get organized. You can imagine my satisfaction when a few days later I saw a to-do list on his desk, complete with check boxes, and him working diligently on his project. 

And by the way...

Blog update (check)

(I couldn't resist)