Misadventures in Thesis Writing Part I

This is officially my first Post; this piece has been lying in my documents for a long time... just managed to stop procrastinating, found the perfect background for my posts etc etc.. So never mind the date of the event, hope you enjoy reading about my 'misadventure' as much as I enjoyed being in it and writing it......

2 August 2009 ( My Masters days in Michigan State University)

About a month back, 2^nd July to be exact I was told by my research committee that the work I had done was good and I can safely start writing "A gigantic tale of sophisticated scientifically worded experimental data/analysis /the works which includes maybe 50% work what I did and 250% what others in the field have done" in other words 'My' thesis.

My committee members during the committee meeting told me that I would have to submit my thesis to them 2 weeks before my defense so that they will have enough time to push it (my thesis) till the end of those 2 weeks and read it just before my defense but wait I am rambling here.....I would have to submit my thesis to them 2 weeks before my defense so that they have an idea of what I am going to talk about and basically change the black ink magically to red illegible marks complete with their own set of arrow heads.

My overworked brain[....coz I was thinking what I am going to wear for my defense + when will I next play baddy + when will I hit the mall next ...etc.. :)] quickly calculated that I have less than a month to write my thesis (My deadline to defend is 31 August as I am a summer graduate).

Finally today after submitting my thesis (1 day after the deadline.... Indian to the core) to my advisor I told him that we are already past the deadline to submit to the committee if I have to defend august end (so basically do not make any corrections)……....My advisor then launched into a small folk tale called "the tale of the late submittal"...which described a certain PhD committee member who got the thesis of a PhD student 'three' days before his defense....and guess who the committee member was.... My advisor!!!

So the moral of this tale was that since my 50 odd page 'masters' thesis was a 'very short piece of information' and would not take more than 2 days to digest by the members (hmmmm......) so I can safely submit it to the committee 5 days before my defense....

Anyway the first tiny step into the "Legends of the Hidden Degree" is done.... next I will wade through a mystic river of red ink with my faithful Acer and then face a room full of 'James Bonds' of microbial diversity to defend my 50 pages, 1 year of research.... :)