Courage

Oh, is this another courage post?

Does it require so much courage to be a researcher?

Hope I'm not scaring you.

But doing research, we push boundaries and transverse frontiers. It's a lot of pioneering work.

And I do get tired. I get tired of reading, as the pile of readings pile up and I find I do not have as much time to slowly understand and synthesize what I have read.

My mind feels like a mess.

I am trying to write a research proposal for my PhD studies but all the thoughts and ideas are jumbled up in my mind and I have no discernment have to proceed forward, how to write.

At the back of my mind are many many different journal articles in various stages of progress, all undone.

Is this the life of a researcher?

It is exhausting.

Courage

I don't often praise myself. But today, I want to say that I am very courageous.

It's the third day since I have received that rejection. The day I got rejected, I spoke to some friends and gained encouragement to continue on. Yesterday, I spent the time retrieving the relevant working copy from my computer, and converted all the citations back to Endnote format to aid the change of style for the new journal and I sent an email to a publisher to ask for permission to reproduce some data in that article. I felt that what I am trying to say would be clearer with the help of some figures I had previously deleted as I did not want to ask for permission. So... I am also learning something new about asking permissions and copyrights.

Today, I have re-read my article once. And I have seriously considered the reviewers comments. I understand how they have misunderstood my article, because of the poor way I have positioned my findings in the existing literature and how I had made simplistic links between nationality and attitudes of patriotism. I also did not explain why I did what I did, which caused one of my reviewers to be confused about what I did. So, yes, I find the reviewers comments very helpful. Also, I will work on strengthening my methodology section, to make it more rigorous. Again, because reviewer 1 doubted that I could make conclusions on just 4 teachers in 1 school.

The major parts I need to work on is the introduction, literature review and the conclusion.

I think I am courageous, because if I were Shuyi 1 year ago, I would not have been able to do this exercise so quickly. I would still be wallowing in self-doubt and pain.

Writer's rite of passage: REJECTION

I had thought the most painful emotion an academic writer could experience was "rejected with MAJOR revisions". Now, I know there is an even more painful emotion - REJECTED!

But the strange thing is that after this experience, I feel even more like a writer. I feel like an ordinary academic, one who also experiences rejections. The previous two experiences of acceptance with major revisions were perhaps very lucky or blessed events, where the stars happened to align, and God winked at me, to give me a helpful boost of confidence to continue this journey as a researcher.

But the real world of the researcher is fraught with rejections.

I am hesitant to look at the article again. As I said before, when you submit something, you think it's really good, you're almost blind to its flaws. But now, I need to objectively look at it again, to see the validity of the reviewers comments, convert this article into another style for another journal. I hope to get this done by next week perhaps? Oh, bother, how time flies and it's already approaching December.

It did humble me. I felt there was a lot I didn't know after this experience. That I needed to read more. But maybe I'll start with trying to find out what that other journal we want to submit to is like and read some of their articles.

I need to come up with a strategy to convert this rejected article into a format that is worthy of acceptance in another journal now! But tactically, I have a higher chance now, as the journal we are currently targeting likes this genre of articles.

Patriotism through different disciplines

I just discovered something really fun and wanted to share with you.

Many disciplines deal with patriotism. The first book I found on patriotism was from the social psychology field, later on, I discovered works from the political psychology field. Of course, I tried to find works from the educational field, where I am based mainly at. But other cool fields (sorry I used this term interchangeably with discipline, still rather confused) that discuss patriotism are: political science, philosophy and history!

And what I recently discovered from reading historical research articles is that historians like to see patriotism as a narrative, an ongoing story. They see patriotism as constantly morphing, and political.

This is different from the psychologist who often see patriotism as a trait in a person, that they either have it or do not have. People like Adorno try to measure "patriotism" in people, thinking that "pseudo-patriotism" inclines people towards racism. Political scientists also like to measure patriotism in people using surveys.

Social and political psychologists approach patriotism from the standpoint of identity, patriotism is what is needed for people to feel a sense of belonging, and national identity. It is also a tool used by politicians to rouse emotions and get support for unpopular policies. Being psychologists, they also measure this trait in people using surveys.

Philosophers are the interesting ones. They like to debate whether patriotism is a virtue or vice, whether it's morally obligatory, permissible or forbidden!

Of course, educators, like me, are interested in the process of socialization or initiation into citizenship. How to do you develop patriotism in people. How does loyalty develop? What does loyalty mean? Does it include critique of the nation and government, or only trying to help the students see everything good about them? How does the school develop loyalty in their students?

Isn't this fun!? One concept, but thought about so differently by different disciplines!

EDIT: I just realized I have not included sociological works. I think it's because I am unsure what constitutes sociology. I hope I can find some works from this discipline soon!

If I could investigate any problem in the social world...

... and would be "absolutely guaranteed" I would not fail (p. 21). [I am doing an exercise in a book now.]

I would like to investigate the challenges of setting up a political party and why do people do that? And why do people join these political parties? Why do they join one, rather than the other? Why are the challenges of running an election campaign and contesting in one? Is the lack of resources really an issue personally? What are the backgrounds of these people who join political parties? Are they mostly from the less privileged in society? Is there really no way to strategize, such that the opposition parties can still find a way to compete, despite the uneven playing field? What keeps them trying again and again, election after election, despite the odds stacked against them? For those who only join for a period of time, what made them join and leave? Where are they now? What do these people really hope to achieve? What can of Singapore do they envision we can be? And how to make that transition?

I would like to investigate why do people leave churches, or change churches? Is it merely because God asked them to? Or is it a complex array of factors - discontentment with church, fighting among members or with leaders, disagreement with core values, or loss of faith? And if God asked them to, what are the reasons God asked someone to leave a church they were loyal to? Is it to try and start something new? Is it because the former church is no good? What kind of reasons does God give for asking a person to change his community? And what are these people feeling? Do they still keep in touch with their old friends and family? Or is it a complete disconnect? How do they feel about their experience in the former church? Do they hold grudges against anyone?

I would like to investigate how employers employ their employees in a variety of sectors and make comparisons. For example, I would like to sit into offices and see how HR personnel deal with resumes, soft copy and hard. I want to see if they read cover letters and analyze them? Do they care whether an applicant is referred by someone credible or a cold case? I want to sit into interviews with the decision makers. I want to see the questions asked by the bosses. After the interview, I want to interview both the decision makers and the applicants. I will ask the decision makers: How do you rate this applicant. Do you think he's suitable candidate for your job? Did you expect him to ask more questions? I will ask the applicants: How do you rate the interview. What did you think your chances are for this interview? I will do many sets of this, then I will compare... I will see how accurate is the decision maker and applicants account. I also want to follow through with both the applicant and employer. I want to find out how the employer eventually selects an employee. I want to know how the job seeker goes on his search and other interviews and if he received many offers, which does he eventually choose? How hard is it to find a job in Singapore? Is it easier if you're confident and brilliant? Is it harder if you're shy, introverted and nervous? If so, how can I have conclusions that can encourage employers not to be so judgmental towards shy-types?

Yes... I guess if I had a free rein in my research, I may pursue one of these three strains of research.

Luker, K. (2010) Salsa dancing into the social sciences: Research in an age of info-glut. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

How to read philosophy?

"... the method according to which you should read a philosophical book is very similar to the method according to which it is written. A philosopher, faced with a problem, can do nothing but think about it. A reader, faced with a philosophical book, can do nothing but read it - which means, as we know, thinking about it. There are no other aids except the mind itself. 

But this essential loneliness of reader and book is precisely the situation that we imagined at the beginning of our long discussion of the rules of analytical reading. Thus you can see why we say that the rules of reading, as we have stated and explained them, apply more directly to the reading of philosophical books than to the reading of any other kind." (p. 284)

Okay, there's this particular book that I want to review, but I am facing some difficulties. I believe I had read it three times, but I am still having difficulty grasping it and understanding it. I think partly is because I read it with a biased mind and with my own idea of how it should be, instead of adopting the author's perspective. I was impatient as well. I did not want to spend so much time on a philosophical book which (I think) doesn't have that much bearing on my main work.

"The fact that philosophers disagree should not trouble you, for two reasons. First, the fact of disagreement, if it is persistent, may point to a great unsolved and, perhaps, insoluble problem. It is good to know where the true mysteries are. Second, the disagreements of others are relatively unimportant. Your responsibility is only to make up your own mind. In the presence of the long conversation that the philosophers have carried on through their books, you must judge what is true and what is false. When you have read a philosophical book well - and that means reading other philosophers on the same subject, too - you are in a position to judge." (p. 285)

Here, I am getting frustrated because three authors are using a different approach to argue for different positions. They all strongly believe in what they are arguing and they are solid in their reasoning. So... the question I have is... Why? Why does the philosopher try so hard to be right? Okay, maybe, I phrased it wrongly. Why do they try so hard to find answers to their questions? Is it true that the questions philosophers ask are more important than the questions asked by anyone else?

 "The philosophers have carried on a long conversation with each other in the history of thought. You had better listen in on it before you make up your mind about what any of them says." (p. 285)

The book is currently really beyond and above me. Should I invest another week to read it? They say books are our teachers, should I invest even more to to be educated by this teacher? Or should I give up, and perhaps wait until I am more ready? Will a time come that I am more ready to engage in this sort of books? Or is the time now? That if I spend some good investment in this particular book, all other philosophical writings will become easier to comprehend in the future?

Adler, M. J. & Van Doren, C. (2014) How to read a book: The classical guide to intelligent reading. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Writing a journal article = Making a good argument

An argument is a discourse intended to persuade. You persuade someone by engaging their doubts and providing evidence to overcome those doubts. A journal article, then, is a piece of writing that attempts to persuade a reader to believe in something. It expresses a point of view intended to influence. (p. 82)

... Don't have streams of data without any argument. Make sure that your ideas about the data are organizing the article, not the organization of the data itself. If you have divided your article into sections that mirror the chapters of your literary subject, or the chronology of related events, or the order in which you came across the information, stop and revise. You should arrange and group the data according to what you want to argue about it. (p. 89)

The Instant Thesis
#1. Although ___________ (general statement, opposite opinion)
#2. Nevertheless ________ (thesis, your idea)
#3. Because ____________ (examples, evidence, #1, #2, #3, etc.)  

I had a eureka moment when I was reading the above text and also reading that first published article of mine. I suddenly realized that it could be the argument that gives the writer a voice. If you are simply stating data and facts and conclusions, that is a report, not a journal article. Anyone can do it, but if you are arguing something, or trying to persuade someone, that is an act of an individual, that is a thinking human voice.

Suddenly, it made sense. I used to like to organize my writing by case studies, or individual by individual, but my supervisor told me that was very boring. On hindsight, not only was it boring, it did not help me argue as well. It is not the best way to position data to prove a point.

This is truly a eureka moment for me. On hindsight, that first article was poorly written because it did not have an overriding message or argument pulling everything together. But I guess the process of writing and publishing it, brought me many gifts, including this newly learnt lesson. So I shall rest my case and not be upset over not learning this earlier anymore. :)

Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Los Angeles: SAGE (this is amazing book!)

a scholar in me

I think there is a scholar in me. When I read this account of Parker Palmer on why he was not suited to be a scholar, I saw in who he was not, who I was.

A scholar is committed to building on knowledge that others have gathered, correcting it, confirming it, enlarging it. But I have always wanted to think my own thoughts about a subject without being overly influenced by what others have thought before me. If you catch me reading a book in private, it is likely to be a novel, some poetry, a mystery, or an essay that defies classification, rather than a text directly related to whatever I am writing at the time. (p. 27)

He goes on to elaborate how so... You know... I don't like fiction books and I like to read what is related to my writing, so I can write it better. But I also like metaphoric language and all... I see a scholar in me.

Palmer, Parker (2000). Let your life speak: Listening for the voice of vocation. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco

Vexing questions, real dilemmas and new territories

"It is a mistake to imagine that writers are experts on the things they write about - at least, it is a mistake in my case! I write about things I am still wrestling with, things that are important to me but that I have not yet figured out. Once I master something, I put it behind me. I lose the passionate curiosity that writing a book requires. I write to explore vexing questions and real dilemmas, to take myself into territories I have never seen before in hopes of understanding myself and the world a bit better." - Parker Palmer, Preface of The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring, 1999

This resonates with how I feel research writing is about, it is like trying to resolve a mystery for myself. Some big cosmic puzzle is troubling me, and I keep trying to find answers for it, and as I seek the truth, I share it with others. There is no pressure to prove something, I am simply exploring, and so there's no fear of arguments against mine...

"Levels of response" marking scheme (LORMS)

I knew there was a historian in me... Today, I was researching to find out more about social studies assessment in Singapore, in particular, the "levels of response" marking scheme... I found out that we use this to mark social studies essays, but why and how?

Nobody (on Google) seems to know... So I traced it back to its origins... It was designed for GCSE exam for history in the 1980s! Why? It was a way of differentiation by outcome! They wanted a means to use the same question to test students of various abilities and for that to show up through their answers!

Another project...

Writing is so fun...

Just those ideas and seeing how they connect to one another. How they inspire and strengthen, negate and weaken one another...

They drawn upon all your resources, who you are, what you think, what you've read, what you've been through...

I am currently going to write up an article on social studies teacher and high-stakes testing. 

This paper draws upon my current interest in citizenship and social studies education and my past interest in assessment. Also, my experiences with teachers tells me that this is one key issue that constrains them. Also, I have a love-hate relationship with high-stakes examination. I hated it because I felt they couldn't really assess the entirety of what I have learned and forced me to learn to the test but I loved it because they told me where I stood in terms of understanding and I can beat the system. 

I find doing a paper like this or a thesis so much better a way of assessment than tests...

Yes, so I'm bringing together all that I am, to write this paper. Can you imagine how fulfilling that is?

Now, I just need to get down to analyzing the data, which is a massive amount, even though only focusing on four teachers. 

What is a proposal?

Your dissertation proposal is an opportunity for you to present your idea and proposed actions for consideration in a shared decision-making situation. You, with all the integrity at your command, are helping your chairperson and/or doctoral committee to see how you view the situation, how the work you propose fills a need, how it builds on what has been done before, how it will proceed, how pitfalls will be avoided, why pitfalls not avoided are not a serious threat, what the consequences of your efforts are likely to be, and what significance they are likely to have. It is a carefully prepared, enthusiastic, interestingly written, skillful presentation. Your presentation displays your ability to assemble the foregoing materials into an internally consistent chain of reasoning. (p. 5)

Krathwohl, D. R. and Smith, N. L. (2005). How to prepare a dissertation proposal: Suggestions for students in education & the social and behavioral sciences. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press.

Intrigued

I don't know about you. But you know what intrigues me? The lack of information. When I want to study something, but I cannot find much about it... It disturbs me very much.

So it's either that that topic is not worth studying about, so no one wants to do it... OR... I have discovered a huge gap in the field!

So here begins my quest to find articles on teachers as civil servants, whether they face any constraints, particularly when teachers teach somewhat controversial subjects like social studies? ;)

Why should I define my term?

I am always asked how I define patriotism or citizenship. And I always struggle to reply. Because out there in the literature, there are gazillions of definitions, some of them conflicting. I always tell people, the term is defined the way people want to define it, I don't fix the definition... I think... Perhaps I should play the role of a Philosopher and try to define it for myself.

'The nature of citizenship', Aristotle declared, '... is a question which is often disputed: there is no general agreement on a single definition.' Yet the terms 'citizen' and 'citizenship' are in constant use throughout the world today: the concepts are central to everyday political discourse. Is it therefore good enough for 'citizenship' to be a 'Humpty-Dumpty' word, in danger of crashing into fragments while asserting that it means just what it chooses to mean? Surely not. Citizens should know what their status implies; and they should understand when politicians abuse the term by according the whole concept only a partial range of attributes. It is, moreover, important to understand the complexity of the role of citizen and to appreciate that much needs to be learned if civic rights are to be exercised, civic duties are to be performed and a life of civic virtue is to be pursued. The citizen, in short, must be educated; and no teacher can properly construct the necessary learning objectives if semantic confusion surrounds the very subject to be studied.

This is not to argue in a world of richly diverse political traditions that a detailed prescription of universal application is either possible or desirable. Rather to suggest that those who use the words 'citizenship', 'world citizenship' and 'education for citizenship' should be aware of the long history and great wealth of meaning which lie behind them. Furthermore, only confusion and harm can arise from loose employment of the term. If we can but reach an agreement on some definitional highest common factor, political discourse and social education can only benefit from the clarification. To this end the present work is offered as some contribution. (Heater, 2004, p. vii) 

I think one of my goals for my PhD studies must be to come up with an operationally ready to be used definition of patriotism, usable in the educational setting. Yes. Cannot skirt this issue anymore. Difficult to define, so go in and solve the problem, don't avoid anymore.

I just received a book to review (Kleinig, Keller & Primoratz, 2015) and they did define patriotism. Will learn from these philosophers and write one for myself.

References

Heater, D. (2004). Citizenship: The civic ideal in world history, politics and education (3 ed.). Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.

Kleinig, J., Keller, S., & Primoratz, I. (2015). The ethics of patriotism: A debate. West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell.

Word Count Analysis

I thought of doing a little analysis of how an article evolves. This article is still evolving but I am impressed with how it has taken shape so far. You can see the ideal of 6000 words and how I started out with 9540. Also, the most problematic part was the Findings and you can see how it has progressively fall in word count. It fell because of my supervisor's feedback to restructure. So the fastest way to cut word count is to find a neater structure that can contain your ideas. Copyediting will not help much at cutting down the words, it only chips away. So those minor fall in numbers were the results of concision and clarity, the drastic fall was the result of major re-writing. Also, perhaps you can see my struggle with the conclusion, especially at the beginning. So clueless I was, I left it empty. I have consistently found the conclusion one of the hardest sections to write.

I hope this analysis can encourage others who are finding it difficult to write. It's really a matter of perseverance. You keep working at it, and you don't give up, and one day it will be ready to be submitted.

So I am going to give myself some appreciation and validation now (and be self-compassionate). Good job, Shuyi! Nice work you have there. It's not yet completed, but I like the way it's going. :)

Struggles with the third paper

The third paper is much harder to write... It is harder to come up with common themes for four very different and distinct individuals. I struggled so greatly. I thought I could just list them case by case, but my supervisor said that was too boring. It was. It was a chunk full of words. So I re-wrote it into strange dichotomies. There's this inner-quantitative-man in me that likes binaries very much. I have a tendency to do this... My supervisor told me binaries are not themes, themes are focused on a single aspect and don't come in this-or-thats. Today, I tried again... Finally, a semblance of themes. I will need to read through what I wrote and refine it and also adjust my Discussion according to it.

This paper is taking much longer than expected to complete... We were targeting mid-August...

However, I noticed I have really grown in terms of receiving feedback. In the past, when my supervisor had once asked me to make drastic changes like this, I actually broke down and cried, because I did not know how to do it. My dear friend, Glenda, comforted me. Back then, I really had no resources to draw on, because I was doing major re-writing for the first time. But today, when something's not right, I just go back to the drawing board, quite emotionlessly and re-structure, re-work and re-write. It has reached a stage that perhaps I am close to calling it a skill I have mastered... The skill of changing the way I think and write, as others and myself wish and dictate. I no longer find that I am restricted to a set of thoughts or piece or writing because of a lack of ability or resources to change.

So this is something worth celebrating over.

*pats herself on the shoulder*

Good job! :)

"I want to enlarge my mental, emotional and/or spiritual horizons."

Something beautiful I read today:

"There are many intriguing questions we might raise about each new person that we meet (and some of our old friends as well), but the most intriguing of all is to wonder how large his or her world is. The obvious answer: "As large as the world that God has made" or "As large as Reality", is rarely the true one. God, Providence or Life has given to everyone of us the power to narrow our attention, restrict our consciousness, and limit our mental horizons, so that each of us can create for ourselves - in effect - a world that is much smaller than the World That Is.

Indeed, we begin with such a world - in the natural order of things. We all came into life as infants, conscious only of a very small world, bounded by our mother's arms, or - at best - not wider than our crib. But all the processes of growth that were implanted in our nature, clearly were not willing to leave the matter there. Life, Providence or God - depending on your point of view - seemed bent upon moving us, willy-nilly, into an ever larger world. Each new week, each new experience, each new learning, accomplished this in us. With the coming of our sight, our infant world grew larger than our mother's arms; as large, in fact, as our room. With the coming of crawling, our world grew as large as our home. With the advent of walking, as large as our yard or our street. In time, as large as our  neighborhood, or the town. The older we grew, the larger the world that we were conscious of was destined to become - the further out our mental, emotional and spiritual horizons were pushed.

Once grown, if our horizons were to shrink, it would only be because we fell ill or fall ill. Whether that illness be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. We all know, for example, when a man falls physically ill, how his conscious world becomes much much smaller. Indeed the sicker he is, the smaller it becomes. His attention becomes restricted, his interests become elemental, the horizons of his consciousness often no larger than his room or (if he is seriously ill) no larger than his body. He loses interest in the world, in the daily papers, in the running of the hospital, and can think or talk only about what is going on in his body and being. He is like a general whose central headquarters are under attack, and who consequently withdraws all his troops from the field in order to defend those central headquarters. Only when this defense has been successful are the troops then sent out into the field again. And so with sickness: one of the signs that our man is beginning to get well is that his energies begin to go 'out into the field' again. He notices now what is going on in the rest of the hospital ward. He begins to complain about his food. He asks to see a daily paper. He is getting well. His world is expanding. And just as this is true of physical illness, and its healing, so it is true of illness that is emotional, mental or spiritual.

If illness is the principal enemy of Growing, and Our Expanding Horizons, Education is its principal ally. For example, through geography, we become conscious of a world as large as the world. Through history, we become conscious of a world as far back as recorded time. Through prophecy, as far ahead as we can imagine. Through philosophy, we become conscious of the unseen world of Ideas. Through atomic physics and science, our world expands to include the sub-particles of our very being. Through astronomy, our world expands to include the universe and the stars. So, one of the reasons you may want to take some further education is - quite simply - because you want to expand your mental, emotional, and/or spiritual horizons." (pp. 117-8)

There are many reasons why people further their education. This is clearly my main reason. Education is healing. Education opens your mind, heart, soul and spirit to the world that sick people hide away from. When I learn about the world, I feel restored, humbled and free.

Reference
Bolles, R. N. (1981) The three boxes of life and how to get our of them: An introduction to life/work planning. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Writing for impact

I used to be ashamed of what I have written... despite the surprise I get when I re-read some of the things I've written. I am surprised because I never knew I had so many amazing idea and I think I write quite well. :) But I want to change this. I want to be proud of the ideas I have and fight for them. I will change them if you can convince me as well. But I want to stand for something first. So here I promote myself:

https://nie-sg.academia.edu/ShuyiChua

Feel free to engage me. We are all intelligent in our own ways. And I would say, even if you don't consider me very intelligent, I am very academically humble, meaning if you are willing to give me any form of feedback, I will consider it carefully and gratefully. So this enables me to learn very broadly and quickly and this makes up for any lack.

Today, I share a paragraph from a book. The purpose is to motivate myself, because I am re-writing an article for publication and if you lose sight of the reason why you do it... It can become a very tiring process. So here I am reminding myself of why I do what I do.

"Writing for impact is trying to change the conversation: pointing out something new and interesting, changing how people think about a familiar problem, refining the field's vocabulary, adding new concepts and tools. The impact of an article is made visible in many ways. People cite your work in their papers; catch you at a conference and mention they read it (i.e., they saw it and intend to read it someday); ask you to peer review manuscripts and grant proposals on the topic, thus proving that no good works go unpunished; invite you to be part of conference sessions and edited books related to your area, thus proving that the rich do get richer; and, at the end of it all, conduct research inspired by yours." (p. 10)

Silvia, Paul J.  (2015). Write it up: Practical strategies for writing and publishing journal articles. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Puzzlements

Researchers are people who are puzzled about something and use rigorous methods to resolve those puzzles.

I cannot help getting this sense when I read research of people and in their research is not just hard, cold stone facts, but soft, experiences from their very own lives.

Why is is that so many witnesses of Israel-Palestinian conflict and Holocaust survivals study patriotism and nationalism?

It is magical to me.

They are truly puzzled why such conflicts exist and how people are capable of such atrocities, and it drove them to seek answers.

My puzzlement also drove me to conduct my masters research. I was sincerely baffled why so many good Singaporeans could not distinguish between a love for the nation, separate from love for the state and love for the government. Why is there in the Singaporean identity, a respect for our leaders and forefathers?

Why are 51, 000 Singaporeans praying for their Prime Minister to govern well?

Why is there such trust in the government?

I am sincerely puzzled.

Maybe, what characterizes people who go on to do graduate studies, and who go on to become academics, is not merely intelligence and knowing-it-all, but humility and lack of knowledge. Because people do not have the answers, and want to seek them... they do research.

If this is so, my utmost respect for individuals in this profession.

Writing is Social

"The best writing is created in community with a strong sense of audience."

"Do not get distracted into reading yet another article when a conversation with someone in your field can better help you to shape your ideas and direction. You should be spending as much time on establishing social scholarly connections as you do on writing, for the best writing happens in active interaction with your potential audience.

The more you participate, the better your experience of writing will be. This is partly because others give you ideas and language. But it is also because you must relate your ideas to others' ideas. You must know what theories professors in your discipline are debating, what their primary research questions are, and what methodologies they consider appropriate. You can only know this if you are an active member of the community." (p. 7)

Hey! This book is good!

Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Los Angeles: SAGE.

Serious work-in-progress

I am working on another article out of my Masters thesis. This is going to be a tough one. I have a word limit of 6000 words and I have put together a shitty first draft of 12000 words. This means I need to cut down my content by half! :O

I feel a sense of achievement as I chip away at the massive stone. With every draft, I try to make it clearer, more compact, more analyzed and more to the point. So welcome to my world of heavy re-writing and editing! This is why I feel that anybody who is hardworking can publish! :D You don't have to be a genius to succeed, if you're hardworking. 

The Importance of First Understanding Before Critiquing

"Every author has had the experience of suffering book reviews by critics who did not feel obliged to do the work of the first two stages (meaning analysis of the book). The critic too often thinks he does not have to be a reader as well as a judge. Every lecturer has also had the experience of having critical questions asked that were not based on any understanding of what he had said. You yourself may remember an occasion where someone said to a speaker, in one breath or at most two, "I don't know what you mean, but I think you're wrong."

There is actually no point in answering critics of this sort. The only polite thing to do is to ask them to state your position for you, the position they claim to be challenging. If they cannot do it satisfactorily, if they cannot repeat what you have said in their own words, you know that they do not understand, and you are entirely justified in ignoring their criticisms. They are irrelevant, as all criticisms must be that is not based on understanding. When you find the rare person who shows that he understands what you are saying as well as you do, then you can delight in his agreement or be seriously disturbed by his dissent." (p. 144)

Adler, M. & Van Doren, C. (2014) How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. New York: Simon & Schuster

I love this book. I am so humbled by it. I learned that I have been leaving life wrong in some sense. I learned that I can be so quick to comment and tell others what I think, that I have neglected listening carefully to what they say. I have not truly understand. This fault of mine is even more apparent in the academic setting. So I am going to learn how to read and how to understand and how to critique.

I thought of sharing with you a list of my favourite books that have helped me very much in my development as a thinker-writer (and now, I shall add -reader). I love to read such books.

The next time I attend a talk/presentation. I must first make it a point to understand from the speaker/presenter's point of view first, before I make any comments.

Where I am now...

I felt very flattered to be asked to do a book review. My boss told me they usually get grad students to do it because we are familiar with the surrounding literature and perhaps we are poor, so we need that free book. While it's true, I could be better spending my time writing more, I was very excited about this opportunity. Because I've learnt from my writing partner the importance of reading.

We cannot critique fairly, unless we first understand what the writer is meaning to say. And in my hurry to write, I may not read very carefully. Sometimes, I even read for what I want and after grabbing that information, I may not return to that article/book. So what I hope to do is to read carefully, and first understand, before making a judgment.

This was why I was so excited about the Book Review. Though technically, the rewards it might give me is merely intrinsic and not extrinsic. :) I don't mind, if I pick up the skill of understanding and critique.

I also want to write another paper from my Masters thesis, taking another angle. I hope third time writing, it might be a smoother and more logical and coherent process. 

This will be a busy period. Cause we are also organizing a conference from 2-4 June. Let's see how things go. 

Revising the Thesis

Yay! I got back my reviewers' comments on my thesis. Boy, they are good and spotted many areas of improvement. Now, I need to strike a balance between justifying why I don't want to make those changes and making them, because of the time pressure there is to quickly submit this revised thesis and get my degree.

So... I'll give myself a deadline. By this Sunday, I will put a stop to the editing I am doing. I am told not to spend so much time on this... But in my heart, each piece of work is so important to me, that I really want to make it the best that it can be... But... I have more important things to do, than improving this work.

So I must learn to balance this.

Okay, Shuyi, deadline's on Sunday!

Idea

Patriotism is surely a social concept. If not, why is it always associated with other concepts like racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia?

I must write an article about civic patriotism one day, especially the social aspect of patriotism.

Conceptual Framework

I like this definition of a conceptual framework by Miles and Huberman (1994):

A conceptual framework explains, either graphically or in narrative form, the main things to be studied - the key factors, constructs or variables - and the presumed relationships among them. Frameworks can be rudimentary or elaborate theory-drive or commonsensical, descriptive or casual. (p. 18)

Reference
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

I feel so embarrassed

I feel embarrassed for my nation.

I feel embarrassed that we so neatly categorized the future of our nation, our students into three neat groups or streams.

And we give each group different opportunities.

I feel so embarrassed.

That regardless how that student in the lower stream dreams of being a politician, that chance will almost never be given to him or her, unless he or she goes to an opposition party. And even so, risk being mocked for not being one of those "rags to riches" cases or not having stellar qualifications.

I don't know how to explain to my friends from around the world, why it's like this in my country.

Yes, Goh Keng Swee felt this was the way to ensure no wastage of talents, to make sure each group of people maximize out what they can do best.

I feel so embarrassed.

I feel so embarrassed that qualification, or being book-smart, is so important in my nation, when there's so many other ways to measure a Man.

Embarrassed that there's almost no way of elevating yourself, in terms of being a politician, if you are poor in English, poor in Math or poor in Mother Tongue. You will be classified as one of those who don't have the ability, and didn't work hard enough.

How do I explain this to people?

This is just the way it is?

I'm sorry, I cannot change it.

I was born into this. And I only can perpetuate it.

Holy Manuscript

My supervisor told me that the manuscript we are working on is special. We first submitted it on Christmas. And we are now targeting Easter.

Honestly, I didn't even this of this.

This fact has caused me more guilt than glee.

I've been working through my holy festivals... And you know, writing is hard work. Especially for someone like me, where it doesn't come easy and polished. You know the amount of effort I have to exert? (But writers of how to write books tend to say that it's like that for most people... If you need encouragement, hope my example encourages you, I'm not one of those who write technical scripts easily.)

I only can pray now for God's mercy on me and His help. It's not exactly a situation I want to be in. And this weekend is not exactly a very free weekend either. And also, I remind myself, dedicate this paper to Him.

I wanted to dedicated it to LKY, who just passed away on the 23rd of March. After all, this paper is about Singapore, who according to popular perception, LKY built. Dedicate, as in, let the remembrance of this individual drive my writing.

But, I think the guy that really loves me and really knows me, is not LKY, but Jesus. Jesus knew Man intimately and each one is dear to Him. LKY only knew some of his loved ones, most of his Singaporeans are probably abstract to him, only some are concrete... But Jesus, knows each one of His human beings in a concrete fashion. :)

So yes, I'm not in a nice or comfortable position, but I will make the best of it.

Writing

The thing about writing that I think we don't often talk about it the use of "tools", which I mean how sometimes an idea comes to me and I quickly latch on to it, and it leads to other ideas, but later on, I delete the first idea as it is not as relevant to my work as the ideas that followed it.

I rely a lot on tools actually. I write a lot, but I also delete a lot. It's like an expletive paragraph or sentence.

I recently read this:

We can hardly talk without the expletive, for it gives us time to shape our thoughts. But when we write, and therefore have time to revise, we ought to cast away unnecessary baggage, and that often means the expletive. We are not suggesting that you never use It is or There are - they have their uses. You just should not overuse them or fall back on them to avoid a little extra effort or thought. (Packer & Timpane, 1986, p. 219)

I'm reading up on "Writing with Economy" now...

It's something I strongly believe in... That as writers, we can respect our readers' time and energy, by writing as clearly and directly as possible. I would like to invest as much effort on copyediting as for this purpose. I believe it's not enough to have good ideas, but you need to express them well and in a timeless manner as well.

Packer, N. H. & Timpane, J. (1986) Writing worth reading: A practical guide. St. Martin's Press and New York: A Bedford Book

(This is actually surprisingly a book I really like. Not a sit down to read finish it book like Wolcott's but a now and then I need a little probing and direction, I refer to it type of book.)

Metaphor for Writing

I found a helpful metaphor that seems to nicely describe the stages of writing. It's by Carol Rosenblum Perry (2011) in her book "The Fine Art of Technical Writing".

1. Order - The Skeleton: Constructing a Stable Framework
2. Conciseness - The Body Mass: Making Every Work Count
3. Vigor - The Muscle Tone: Empowering Your Words

Perry conceptualizes writing as a living creature, like us, and all parts must work together in concert "to convey meaning and ensure the ultimate goal: clarity" (p. 19).

I am currently reworking on the skeleton of the manuscript. I am reconstructing the structure because the reviewers have asked of me many things and I find that the current structure cannot contain what they are asking of me. I am expanding the structure in some places and unfortunately (or fortunately?) have to also restructure other places in order to work in the reviewers' suggestions. To me, this is the heaviest work I have to do. Because in order to rework the skeleton, I also have to do much reading and re-reading of new and old literature but also have to go back to my data to bring in more nuances into my writing of the findings and discussion.

Once I get this out of the way, I can work on conciseness. Actually, I will probably start working on conciseness tomorrow, even though the skeleton is still not fixed, because the word count is bulging already, and I don't feel comfortable expanding anymore as I have exceeded my frame. I actually enjoy this conciseness part of writing the most... :)

The part that I may have most problem with is the last point of vigor. My English is not very good. LOL. So I sometimes (or oftentimes) lack the skill of making a sentence more powerful. I tend to write in very simple and short sentences, if you have not already noticed. So... probably when the time comes, if there is enough time, I will be relying more on Perry's book to work on my muscle tone.

An Old Paper

I don't really like to get into the specific of definitions. I don't really like to read Philosophical papers. I get confused when this person thinks this way about this, that person thinks another way about this and so on... It's easier for me to just adopt the manner of thinking aligned to what I want to say...

But the reviewer challenged my avoidance of this issue... There was a particular paper that I downloaded some time ago that addresses this. But I had a reluctance to read it for the reasons I mentioned above. This morning, I was reminded of this paper. 

And I began to read it... 

To my delight, I understood it and why it was written. It was written, precisely, for people like me who are confused about the difference between "critical thinking" and "critical pedagogies"... It was written to clarify the great mess that was created when each scholar defined these terms according to the argument they wanted to make or their own understanding, creating so many subvarieties and nuances.

They wrote to bring order to the mess. They talked about the mess.

Thank you for doing so. :)

I must face my own mess soon. Knowing how you managed this mess, will help me manage mine better.

Touched

I have one motivation to do a PhD. It's something written in my confirmation report: She has shown an awareness of what Masters work entails and exceeded the panel's expectations for Masters level work.

I have goosebumps as I type this.

This sentence is very special to me, because it proves that from reading someone's work, you can tell the quality of that person's work. It's beautiful to me because the other way to know the quality of someone is to hear them market themselves, like hear the person say, "I'm so good etc." But I am not very good at marketing myself. I much prefer showing it or proving it through my actions.

I just thank God that quality can be discerned in more than one way.

I know I have such a long way more to go and there's so much improvement that still can be made. In fact, I'm currently challenged and at a level that I feel if I breakthrough, it will be a big upward surge forward. But it's not a place I like to be in because I don't know how to solve the problem before me.

Life is like this, isn't it. You get tested and tested and tested again. It's uncomfortable, but if you hold on there and don't give up, and you breakthrough, you would have really grown.

Terminology

"... Unless the reader comes to terms with the author, the communication of knowledge from one to the other does not take place. For a term is the basic element of communicable knowledge.

A term is not a word - at least, not just a word without further qualifications. If a term and a word were exactly the same, you would only have to find the important words in a book in order to come to terms with it. But a word can have many meanings, especially an important word. If the author uses a word in one meaning, and the reader reads it in another, words have passed between them, but they have not come to terms. Where there is unresolved ambiguity in communication, there is no communication, or at best communication must be incomplete.

Just look at the word "communication" for a moment. Its root is related to the word "common." We speak of a community as a group of people who have something in common. Communication is an effort on the part of one person to share something with another person (or with an animal or a machine): his knowledge, his decisions, his sentiments. It succeeds only when it results in a common something, such as an information or knowledge that two parties share.

When there is ambiguity in the communication of knowledge, all that is in common are the words that one person speaks or writes and another hears or reads. So long as ambiguity persists, there is no meaning in common between writer and reader. For the communication to be successfully completed, therefore, it is necessary for the two parties to use the same words with the same meanings - in short, to come to terms. When that happens, communication happens, the miracle of two minds with but a single thought.

A term can be defined  as an unambiguous word. That is not quite accurate, for strictly there are not unambiguous words. What we should have said is that a term is a word used unambiguously. The dictionary is full of words. They are almost all ambiguous in the sense that they have many meanings. But a word that has several meanings can be used in one sense at a time. When writer and reader somehow manages for a time to use a given word with one and only one meaning, then, during that time of unambiguous usage, they have come to terms.

You cannot find terms in dictionaries, though the materials for making them are there. Terms occur only in the process of communication. They occur when a writer tries to avoid ambiguity and a reader helps him by trying to follow his use of words. There are, of course, many degrees of success in this. Coming to terms is the ideal toward which writer and reader should strive. Since this is one of the primary achievements of the art of writing and reading, we can think of terms as a skilled use of words for the sake of communicating knowledge." (p. 96-98)

Adler, M. J. & Doren, C. V. (2014) How to read a book: The classic guide to intelligent reading. New York: Simon & Schuster

This is why definitions are so important! And perhaps also the literature review... So you have the chance to clarify to your reader what exactly do your terms mean. Because for the rest of the article, you are using those terms and if the reader has something else in mind, you're communication is going to have some problems. 

The reviewer asked for my voice. He (or she) wanted me to articulate my own views on how "critical patriotism" might be like in Singapore. He wanted to hear my voice. And he asked me to "clarify the epidemiological tradition of "critical" and get into the roots of the version of "critical" that should or could accompany "patriotism"". 

I'm wondering if my issue is with terminology. That I need to tell my readers what is my personal version of critical patriotism, and define it well. I wonder if by doing this, I have settled the issue with my voice and also the issue with the definition. Is it true currently everyone has their own meanings of "critical" and it's not really clear which type of "critical" goes with "patriotism". 

Oh Lord, give me wisdom!

How to receive feedback of reviewers objectively?

1. Remind yourself that your best efforts are only "best" at the time you submit that manuscript, and you would have new views by the time you are ready to revise it.

2. Remind yourself that your mind is limited. No matter how many times you might have checked your work, you will have blind spots. And the reviewers' role is to serve as the person to point out the blind spots in your writing and thinking.

3. Know that the job of the reviewer is to be expert readers so their objective is to make your manuscript better. It is to your advantage that any work of yours which gets published is of very high quality. Your reputation is at stake! So be grateful for people who check your work and give suggestions to make it better.

4. Remind yourself that the main goal is not publication, but publication of high quality. It is better to have a few impactful works than many poorly written pieces.

New Manuscript to Revise

I submitted this article in December...

Now it's March, and I'm reading it with a cringe again. It's amazing how much an individual grows in the span of 2 - 3 months.

So with this perspective, let me welcome those three reviewers comments with great delight! Because, remember, Shuyi, it's not about publishing many! But it's about publishing something worthwhile and impactful and helpful for society. With this is mind, it's alright if it takes a longer time to get something published, so long when it does get published, it is of a quality beneficial to those who will read it, rather than cause others to cringe as I have.

M pointed out to me that the feedback was "thoughtfully and professionally delivered" and "the quality of the feedback is very good" as it was "thorough and specific" and "further, they have acknowledged the good work you have put, and with specifics too."

M's comments made me went back to the feedback and read the strengths of the articles. As a typical Chinese, I normally ignore praises and fixate my eyes on criticisms. But I shall change this too and receive with gladness these positive feedback before I zoom into the areas for improvements.

Field notes

I like this advice on field notes a lot and wanted to share it with you:

There is a balance to be struck with writing up field notes. For some observers, note taking is one (and perhaps the only) activity in which they feel they are really doing research. They may be tempted to over-write because of the satisfaction note-making brings. I worry about them less than I worry about those who resent the time they must devote to writing and who procrastinate, thus making the task increasingly formidable. If you are one of the latter, I suggest you try to discover how short you can make entries that nonetheless satisfy you for their adequacy, and then find a way to maintain that level of note-making as part of your daily routine (e.g., finishing up yesterday's notes while having your second cup of morning coffee).

However you approach it, you must make note-making sufficiently doable that you will always do it, rather than ever put it off. It may prove to be a chore, but it need not become a dreaded one if you follow the simple rule of keeping your entries up to date. There isn't much sense to going out and getting more information if you haven't digested what you took in last time.

Recognize that regardless of how much you write, most of what you observe will remain what Simon Ottenberg calls "head-notes". But some observations will make it into written jottings, whether simple or elaborate, and those jottings will prove invaluable. Your elaborated note-making also provides a critical bridge between what you are experiencing and how you are translating that you observe into a form you can communicate to others. Make a practice of including in your notes not only standard entries about day, date, and time, accompanied by a simple coding system for keeping track of entries, but also reflections on and about yourself - your mood, personal reactions, even random thoughts. These may later help you recapture detail not committed to paper but not lost, either.

Note taking is not the only kind of writing for you to consider at this stage. There is something temporary about any kind of notes that effectively says the real writing will come later. What is to prevent you from doing some of that real writing as fieldwork proceeds? Instead of putting everything in an abbreviated note form, take time to draft expanded pieces written in rich detail in such a way that they might later be incorporated into your final account. Disabuse yourself of the idea that as long as you are doing fieldwork, note taking is the only kind of writing you should do. (pp. 92-93)

Reference:
Wolcott, H. F. (2005). The art of fieldwork (2 ed.). Plymouth, UK: AltaMira Press.

Cynicism

Cynicism is an idea that captures me. M recently shared that "cynicism can sometimes be a protective mechanism". Cynics see every government action as a threat. Cynicism short-circuits critical thinking. Cynicism is an attitude that is heavily loaded with negative emotion, whereas critical thinking is more objective.

I recently read from this book:

... Whether this is a correct assessment is debatable, but what is salient is that such notions especially among the young are likely to breed apathy and alienation, which are detrimental for a country's well-being. As the decisions made by governments materially affect all citizens, politics should matter to everyone. Unless people take an active interest in politics and are vigilant, governments can abuse their authority. Cynicism is a weak defence when faced with the ills of politics and can be dysfunctional in the long run (Sridharan, 2008, p. 3).

Wow. Cynicism may be a very human and natural response, but it is not the best response. It is like a person who was cheated by one person and ended up with a conclusion that all people are cheats. Sure, it is a protective mechanism to prevent oneself from being cheated again, but it's not the most helpful action. It would make more sense for the individual to take a step back and see that there are both wicked and kind people and many other types in between, and one may have been cheated once, but it doesn't mean one stops trusting people, but it could mean one should exercise caution and learn how to discern. One doesn't have to close one's heart completely.

Reference
Sridharan, K. (2008) Political science: An introductory text. Singapore: Mc Graw Hill

Writing the literature review

Among the many advice I've seen on writing the literature review, seldom do people remind you about currency. It is actually important that the resources you referred to in the writing of your article/thesis/book are current. I think this is why a book for every generation on the same topic is reasonable and logical. It is why we don't often read out-of-print books and why publishers don't reprint them, because they are meant for an audience from the past and the knowledge which supported those books are no longer as relevant for today's audience.

So I am going to quote from one of my favourite writing books called Writing Literature Reviews by Jose L. Galvan:

When you have finished reading the articles you have collected, you should re-evaluate your entire reference list to ensure that it is complete and up-to-date. A literature review should demonstrate that it represents the latest work done in the subject area. As a rule of thumb, use a 5-year span from the present as a tentative limit of coverage, keeping in mind that you will extend your research further back when it is warranted... However, remember that the reader of a literature review expects that you have reported on the most current research available. Thus, you should make it explicit your reasons for including articles that are not current (e.g., Is it a landmark study? Does it present the only evidence available on a given topic? Does it help you to understand the evolution of a research technique?). (p. 42)

Reference:
Galvan, J. L. (2013). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences (5 ed.). California: Pyrczak Publishing.

It's "over"!

I submitted my thesis for examination last Friday [23rd January]. :) A lot of people congratulated me and were truly happy for me. However, perhaps because of the way I timed the writing (having started writing in June 2014), and having gone through many drafts (sort of), the feeling of completion was so so (Sorry to use such a neutral term. I guess you would have expected a more emotional term.). [Imagine if I had done the writing at the last minute, I think I might possibly felt more adrenaline and euphoria after completion.] I just knew I had a few individuals in particular to thank but more importantly, I had to thank God, which I did by attending a Mass and praying to tell Him how thankful I was (not that you need to attend a service to pray and I'm not a Catholic).

I actually look forward to receiving feedback from the examiners, as (as expected) I'm still not quite very happy with what I submitted. It looks structurally alright, it's been copy-edited, but... yes, I think it can be more coherent. But perhaps the strength of it is it is rich, flavourful and deep, because of the strong social science bent I took to present the arguments. I pray the examiners will like what I have written and it would be a piece of writing that will add to their fascination of this world.
 
I'm tired.

Actually, I really am.

I don't feel like working anymore.

Sorry, friends, I know I'm usually less emotional in this blog and more intellectual. But, I guess I need somewhere to release these emotions.

But I'm glad I got it all out on paper. Imagine if you don't complete your thesis, you spent of yourself so much, yet you come away with nothing, no benefit to yourself, no degree, no benefit to the "world" as there's no product for people to read and learn from or critique. That is definitely worse off. So despite how negative I'm feeling now, I thank God for bringing me through this process and seeing it to completion. I kinda knew all along this was a work of grace. Thank You.

Where do ideas come from?

I get my ideas from many places. Sometimes, actually many times, from scholarly articles. But many times more easily from unrelated books. Sometimes I chanced upon a sentence from a book, and immediately I get a sense of how I can write a particular idea or topic or thesis according to its structure or the concept. :)

Also from movies. :) I try to watch movies related to my work because it gives me an experience I never had before and I tend to learn better from something I can relate to. 

When I'm looking for something, seeking to understand something, I find it everywhere. It reminded me of a quotation from the Alchemist:

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream. (Paulo Coelho)

I t    I think this is one of the ways to keep your your sanity when you're doing graduate study. You cannot get stuck with stale ideas or it quickly becomes a burden. You need fresh ideas from various viewpoints all the time. 

Dissertation Abstract

Approaching the end. I have not written the summary/abstract of the whole thesis. Spent the morning tidying up the Conclusion.  I hope to get it done by today, as I want it to be ready for proof-reading by supervisor and a professional by Monday. One of the feedback given to me by my supervisor was that I should put in more direct quotations from the interviews in the Findings section. Alas, this aspect I have procrastinated for so long and still have only done in bits and pieces, but looks like I would sacrifice this if I have no time. I already first worked on the more important Conclusion section. Next up, I need to work on the Abstract, which is very important if you read what I typed out below for you.

But as for now, I think I should stop. On my way to church. I guess I should start preparing this heart to be at peace and ready to enter into God's house of prayer, instead of coming in with my thoughts still on my work. I will spend the coming moments thanking God, for His help in provision of many ideas that I could have completed the Conclusion section in the morning. I have been struggling with that for the longest time.

“Too often, writing this brief but important statement is left to the last minute, at which time the author dashes off a hasty synopsis that needs instead to be concise, highly informative, and carefully written. Having to encapsulate one’s major professional preoccupation of the past months – or years – into the inviolable word limit of an abstract for a journal, or of one’s dissertation study for Dissertation Abstracts, can seem like the last straw. Fortunately, it is about the last straw, a signal to celebrate that a major effort is finally nearing completion. As with anything you write, give time and thought to preparing your abstract, review it editorially, try it out on others, and ask someone to read it aloud to you. An abstract affords a valuable opportunity to inform a wide audience, to capture potential readers, and to develop or expand your interactive professional network. Whether others will pursue the reading of your complete text may depend entirely on their assessment of this tiny sample of your writing, including its style. Once again, emphasize problem and content, not fieldwork techniques.”

Writing Up Qualitative Research by Harry Wolcott, 3^rd Edition. (p. 134)

Restructuring

Restructuring is painful and a big risk.

I have this chapter on the context of Singapore and because of the repetition and lack of parallelism, I had been feeling very uncomfortable with it. Even though it's written down and vetted through to be alright with my supervisor.

I decided to take a risk and restructure that chapter today. Because of this move, while difficult, in terms of trying to create a new structure, yet it feels better. It's risky, because while the structure is there, I have yet fill in the gaps and make the whole coherent. I couldn't do that immediately because the restructuring process used up quite a bit of my attention and my brain has maxed out. So I spent 1 day doing that. Is it worth it? I don't know... So there's the risk there...

The last time I did a major restructure was in writing a paper with my supervisor which I submitted on Christmas Day...

Perhaps it's owing to inexperience, or lack of content and methodological knowledge, but yes, I do find myself having to make major changes of what I have written. And it's difficult to do so.

An update... Been stuck on the first few chapters of the thesis. Actually the real problem of the thesis lies in the next sections of Findings/Discussions/Conclusions... I will need to work on them soon!