It's been a slow start to the week. I just couldn't get my brain working today. It must have taken me all of 3 hours to write a 300 word abstract on the findings of my MRes research. I want to write a paper, ready for a conference or better yet submission to a journal, focusing specifically on the nature of student academic literacy practices in the web design and development course I investigated, while I have the time.
Browsing over my dissertation the words on the various pages seemed like they were written by an anonymous somebody, because I did not recognise it as being my own knowledge. Surely if someone asked me about my research, in general or the various concepts I used in particular, I would be unable to answer them in any articulate manner. This got me thinking...How the hell will I be able to 'hold' onto all the information I will no doubt gather over the next couple of year and coherently talk about it? I always believed that one's knowledge is consolidated through its practical application. Once you work with concepts they become real for you, once you can apply them to other situations, you see how they can work in practice and through this process your understanding and indeed knowledge is enhanced. So how will all of this work when all I am doing is a theoretical, abstract and internal process with limited practical validation? Am I meant to wait for everything to come to me once I have written the thesis, defended it in the viva, been awarded with the degree and then unleached to the poor unsuspecting minons (no disrespect intended) who think I should now know it all? All these questions and so little answers. Process! I need to allow the process to do its 'thang' and make a self-respecting, knowledge harbouring and sharing academic/intellectual out of me.
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