Sam’s Honors Thesis

Okay.  I’ve gone through Low’s diary in much greater detail this past week, figuring it would be helpful to look at it more closely since my larger argument and thought processes have really developed over the past week or so.  And going through Low’s diary again has been a really rewarding experience.  It fascinates me but also helps me link a lot of pieces, especially regarding the federal government’s intervention in the Dust Bowl region and how women perceived that intervention and its effects on them.I’ve picked up some new secondary sources that will help with little bits and pieces of my research.  Things that I’ll discuss but not necessarily in great detail.  They’ll just help place my argument in the broader context by connecting it to other historical topics, including the idea of gossip as a means of entertainment and communication.Other than that, I don’t really have anything new to report.  Things are fitting together nicely; as a result, I’m not feeling too intimidated by the writing process.

My advisor and I had a very successful meeting on Tuesday.  We went over my outline (I’ve shifted a couple things around as a result), and my advisor thinks everything is quite well organized.  I’m tackling things thematically; I will thus use my primary documents as support throughout my thesis, as opposed to using one diary for a case study, one set of letters for another case study, and so on.  I’m doing this not only because of my personal preference (when it comes to reading academic texts) but also because I’ll be most effectively able to communicate my argument this way.My advisor is also quite happy with my recent write-ups.  They’re becoming more and more like short papers, with arguments and supporting evidence, as opposed to short overviews of sources and how they communicate with each other.  My most recent write-ups are essentially short versions of some of my chapters.  I’ll just need to expand them.  And I have lots of avenues through which to expand them, so I’m excited.The second half of the week was not at all productive; I left campus Wednesday afternoon for a funeral and just got back about an hour ago.  And, while home, I spent my time with my extended family… schoolwork wasn’t the priority.  Now that I’m back on campus, however, I’m ready to dive back into the work.  I’m feeling really good about my progress and know that I’ll be able to accomplish a lot over the next couple weeks.  I hope to put together a rough outline of my Research Methods chapter(s) this week and go from there. 

This past week has been pretty productive.  I’ve spent a lot of time digging through Ann Marie Low’s “Dust Bowl Diary,” which (to me) is a truly fascinating text.  Low was an incredibly independent and individualistic young woman; she embraced responsibility on her family’s farm and didn’t want to marry unless it was to a man who would help her “get someplace in this world” (Low 43).  While her personal views are not exactly representative of Dust Bowl women in general, the experiences she describes are powerful and parallel those of many other women.  She writes of the hardships she and her female relatives faced while also placing those hardships in the broader context of not only the Dust Bowl but also 1930s America as a whole.

I now have a tentative outline, though I do think the order of topics/chapters will switch a bit between now and my finished product.  I also expect to combine some of the topics and consolidate them into single chapters, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do this until I’m a little further along in the process.  Also, I have yet to review my outline with my advisor.  We had to reschedule last week’s meeting, but we are meeting tomorrow so we’ll discuss it then.

I am also finding more and more avenues to explore regarding women’s conditions and experiences in the Dust Bowl.  Things seem to be going really well right now!

As hoped, I spent a good amount of time this past week organizing my notes by themes and ideas.  This will make it much easier to actually write, and it is currently helping me identify gaps and points of weakness in my research.  Organizing my notes in this way led to the formulation of a broad outline of my thesis, too.

Other than that… I don’t have too much to say at the moment.  My American West professor mentioned the text on which I wrote my book review, which made my day.  Otherwise, things are just plodding along.  A bit slower than I’d hope.  I’m going to try kick up the momentum this week.

And I’m meeting with my advisor tomorrow.  I hope to discuss my outline and how to best organize the actual thesis.  And go over some of my more recent reserach developments.

So… nothing too new here.

This past week was spent focusing on my book review and the text on which I wrote.  I’ve also been digging through Caroline Henderson’s letters in greater depth.  They are so much fun to read but also provide great insight into her life, and the information they provide seem to become increasingly important in my research.

I think I probably need to start organizing my notes by theme.  I’ve been taking notes by text, document, etc., but I’ve reached a point where it would be much more useful to have them organized based on the ideas they cover.  That will be part of the plan for the week ahead.  Having my notes organized in such a manner will make it much easier to write my chapter, too.

I’m starting to feel nervous about actually writing this chapter.  I feel like I still have so much research to do, so many ideas to put together, before I’ll feel ready to write the chapter.  I do have little sections already written (the write ups I put together for my advisor meetings have really helped with this), but actually writing a chapter seems, at this point, pretty intimidating.  And I still don’t know how I actually want to organize my thesis.  I’m also struggling with how much background information I need to include.  I don’t want to spend too much time discussing the Jeffersonian ideal, for example.  It’s one of those things that I feel everyone who reads my thesis will already understand, but I need to describe it so those who don’t will still know what I’m talking about.  And I want to make sure such information is presented in a clear and effective manner.  I just don’t know how great to go into these things that are essential to my thesis but are still on the sidelines.

This past week’s research was a bit slow for me.  I focused primarily on the causes of the Dust Bowl.  Nobody can deny that the removal of the grasses, etc., from the soil, in conjunction with high winds, caused the dust storms.  It is interesting to read about the different ideas (such as failures of capitalism) that are connected to the Dust Bowl.

I met with my advisor on Tuesday, and she really likes the direction in which my work is going.  I’m really excited about my work, too.

Also, I’ve decided on a text on which to write my book review.  It was a difficult decision primarily because my most applicable secondary sources either focus on the Dust Bowl or Women’s History, and my thesis will essentially connect the two.  Granted, New Western History has incorporated Women’s History, but few texts substantivelly cover the Dust Bowl and women.  My book review will be on one of the “Dust Bowl” texts.

Let me start by saying that I literally spent ten minutes trying to figure out how to update my blog.  The new site looks great, but I really cannot navigate it!  I ended up using a link in an old e-mail to actually get to this page (meaning the “write” page).

Technology.  Definitely not my forte.

I accomplished very little this past week with regards to my thesis.  I met with my advisor on Tuesday and we reviewed my plan of action for the next couple weeks.  This past week was devoted to LSAT prep.  The test is now over (Yay!) and I’ll have much more time to focus on my thesis, which I am so so excited about.  This upcoming week will be dediated to secondary sources (it almost feels like I’ll never get through them all).  Hopefully I’ll have worked my way through all of them by the conclusion of Fall Break.  Then I’ll be able to focus on primary documents.  Dig through diaries and the like.

While I did very little thesis-related work this past week, I did gain an increased understanding of the historiography relating to my topic, especially that of the New Western History.  I am able to place my work (broadly speaking, that is) in the broad historical picture.  Figure out how the changes in women’s rolse, as well as in views of women and femininity, fit into the New Western History.  And how these changes fit into the shift between Old Western History and New Western History.

Overall, I’m feeling quite confident that I will accomplish a lot over the next couple of weeks.

I’m pretty happy with my progress over the past week, especially considering my primary focus was on LSAT prep (I’m taking the test on Saturday).  I’ve picked up some great Western History texts (as mentioned in my last post) and have really enjoyed going through these secondary sources.  Trails:  Toward a New Western History, edited by Patricia Nelson Limerick, Clyde A. Milner, and Charles E. Rankin, has been especially helpful.  It consists of a collection of essays written by the leading Western historians that address the New Western History, how it differs from Old Western History, and how the history of the West has shifted throughout the years.  This text is going to help me better shape my argument and place it within a broader historical context of the American West.

On a more logistical level… I’ve always been very old-fashioned in that I tend to write everything by hand.  I always hand-write papers and then type them.  I handwrite reserach notes.  It’s caused some problems… especially considering the fact that I have tendonitis in my right wrist and am write-handed.  So, based on the sheer amount of notes I have been taking and all the notes I still have to take, I’ve decided to cross over.  My thesis notes are now all typed and, from now on, they will always be typed.  I’ve also reorganized the printed out copies of my notes, and the articles, etc., of which I have hard copies.  I have moved from file folders in a drawer to an expanding file portfolio.  This will allow me to more easily take my notes and documents with me, carry them between Swem and my home and the like.

I’m ready to continue digging through my sources and further expand my knowledge of Western History… particularly as it applies to women and the Dust Bowl.  I’m meeting with my advisor on Tuesday.  (I’ll be sumbitting a write up of some of the past two weeks’ notes to her at that time.)  I’m going to try to dedicate a good amount of time to my thesis this week, though I’ll definitely be focusing on my LSAT prep (only five days left!).  Once the LSAT is over, however, I will have much much more time to focus on my thesis… and I am really looking forward to that.

I met with my adviser earlier this week, and the meeting went really well.  I gave my adviser my first “write up” regarding the research I’d done during the previous two weeks.  While I spent a lot of time reading through primary sources, I focused on both primary and secondary sources covering background information, primarily how women ended up in the West and Midwest in the first place.  Studying late nineteenth and early twentieth century female homesteaders, both married and single, offers great insight into problems faced by women during the Dust Bowl (as well as how women responded to those problems).  Also, understanding issues and incentives that pushed people from the East towards the West contribute to a greater understanding of the women that inhabited the areas directly and indirectly affected by the Dust Bowl.

Anyway… my advisor was quite pleased with my write up.  I also gave her copies of my expanded primary and secondary source bibliographies, and she suggested I pick up some additonal works by Western historians in general.  Though these works may completly ignore women, the texts will still offer me a greater understanding of the historiography of the American West.  (She suggested the same regarding Women’s History as well).  I have already checked out some of these texts from Swem and requested the others through ILL, so hopefully those will be available for pick up tomorrow or Tuesday.

Also… is it horrible that I’m already really looking forward to actually writing my thesis?  I still have a lot of research ahead of me, and I don’t exactly have an outline yet, but I’m really looking forward to the writing (though I’m thoroughtly enjoying the research elements, too).  I just really love writing… which will definitely be helpful later this semester and in the Spring!

It has been one of those weeks where I’ve literally felt like I’ve been constantly running from one meeting to another, and, unfortunately, those meetings have not been thesis related.  Despite a busy schedule I have made some progress in my research.  I’ve collected additional sources.  I’ve gone through some scholarly articles.  And I have been focusing on Caroline Henderson’s “Letters from the Dust Bowl.”  These letters (one of which I’ll be bringing in as a sample primary document) illustrate one woman’s perspective regarding living in Oklahoma during the 1930s.  She discusses topics ranging from housework to farming to weather conditions, all of which are elements I plan to explore in my thesis.

I’ve put together a list of things I hope to accomplish this week (regarding my thesis).  (And this week is much more “free” than the past two have been… which means I’ll be able to accomplish a lot.)  I hope to finish going through Henderson’s “Letters” as well as read through a dissertation regarding farm women in the Great Depression.  I also plan to explore the farm revolt of the 1930s to see if I’d like to include it in my thesis.  I’m sure I’ll at least touch on it in my thesis, but I need to find out how active women were within it and how great an impact it had on women’s lives.  I’d also like to spend some time looking through Mary Knackstedt Dyck’s Dust Bowl diary.