My Honors Thesis Proposal Was Approved!

After working very hard on my honors thesis prospectus, I am pleased to announce that I was approved!  Here is a copy of my final prospectus.  This approval means they will help me out a little bit on the funding end.  I recommend that no one try to do revisions while they are actually in the field, but it did miraculously work out for me in the end.

Here is a copy of my approval letter:

Dear Rachel:

We are writing to inform you that your Honors thesis proposal, "A Portrait of Dharamsala: An Honors Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories," was approved on 7/20/2011.  A scanned version of your approved thesis proposal is attached for your records. We are sending the HBLL Circulation Desk your name so you can now enjoy the extended library privilege awarded to an Honors student with an approved Honors thesis proposal.

(What privilege??!  I hope it means a grand tour of the not-so-secret tunnels under campus.)

Dr. Siegfried who reviewed your proposal made these comments: "An excellent proposal. Rachel's previous experience in the first field study program gave her a strong foundation to build on. Her background info and proposed questions are thorough and insightful, and her annotated bibliography demonstrates her familiarity with critical sources."

Honors Prospectus is IN!!!

I am happy to say that thanks to a bunch of great people back in Provo my honors thesis prospectus is now at the honors office awaiting approval.  Here was the latest discussion on it with my mentors.  Now just to figure out my eBook (the next thing I need to work out) and the more traditional format for both my Digital Civilization class and my final thesis:

Professor Bennion:

It is passed so far as I'm concerned.  I put the form in Dr. Dean's box.  I don't know about the filing of an ebook as a final project according to what Honors expects, but Debbie probably would.

Professor Burton:

Rachel:

I agree with Dr. Bennion that this is good to go. Thanks for your patience and persistence in nailing this down. This is still a bit risky as a hybrid project -- but I think you are up to it. I like the way you blend anthropological sources and methods with creative writing and digital media, and your work to date on the blog is on target.

Honors Prospectus Thoughts

I feel like my honors thesis prospectus is currently at a stand still, but here is the last my faculty mentors and I have talked about it.

My honors mentor, Professor Bennion, said:

I think this is almost ready to submit. I've marked a few places where it needs to be clarified slightly.  I think Dr. Burton articulates clearly (as you do in this prospectus) the value of the blog.  You are lucky to have such a devoted mentor, one who has thought extensively about the effects of stories and of the new media.  I'm happy for this experience of working together.  When you revise this, send it to the two of us and Debbie Dean.  Maybe I'll try to print out the signature page and sign it, so that when the prospectus comes, she'll have my signature (I leave this Sunday for England).  Good luck.  You are a clear writer, very quick to see the implications of your wonderful project.

I made the revisions, and am now just waiting for the green light.

Professor Burton, my field study mentor and honors thesis referee, said:

Thanks for this. I saw John's comments and I'm glad you are developing things so well. I have to run right now and can't read your latest draft until a bit later, but I wanted to get word to you quickly about something. My current course has just finished, and we completed an eBook as a group project. You and I spoke about producing an eBook as a potential outcome for all of your work, and that's what I'd like to begin more specific conversation with you about. I think this would solve many of the concerns I had before. I've seen the way that my students used their blogs in a complementary way with the eBook, and I think it's a great combo. Anyway, I think this might be a very good model for you and we could discuss how the prospect of producing an eBook could shape your project, your thesis, etc. Whether it needs to reshape your proposal is another matter, as I think we need to quit revising and just get the thing approved. But those are my thoughts for now.

You can check out our eBook here: http://bit.ly/eBook295

Now that my Spring course is over I'll be able to respond to you and the other students in India with greater frequency, and I'm eager to do so as things are starting to develop for each of you.

I really like this eBook format.  I have yet to really dive into the book that Professor Burton mentions, but I will soon be doing a review on Goodreads.  I'm waiting to hear from the honors coordinators whether this format is okay for my project.

What do you think?

Honors Prospectus Draft 4 (and final?)

And the fourth draft of my honors thesis prospectus!  I've just clarified a few things that Professor Bennion advised, but things are coming to a close.  If you have an comments or places that are unclear please let me know.  

A Portrait of Dharamsala:

An Honors Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories

by Rachel Rueckert

Purpose:

            I propose to continue the research I began in Ghana last summer on a field study exploring the nature of stories and the authenticity of travel experience.  Encouraged by my findings, I have undertaken another field study, this time to Dharamsala, India, to follow up on some of my questions and gather material for a creative nonfiction project.  While my learning experiences in Ghana gave me the necessary foundation, this thesis will focus on my findings in India.  There are two parts of this project I hope to accomplish:

 First, I want to record stories from the population that makes up the unique city of Dharamsala, India through a collection of travel essays that focus on cultural anthropology.  Dharamsala is a Tibetan refugee settlement, home of the Dalai Lama, and a diverse city that welcomes people from all over the world.  In order to represent this location, I hope to blend both personal essay and analysis of anthropological material. 

The second part of this project I hope to accomplish is to maintain an academic blog as a companion to these essays both in the field and during the writing process.  My research in Ghana led me to the conclusion that keeping an academic blog improves the authenticity of travel documentation by providing multiple layers of representation.  This blog will highlight some of the limitations of my own subjective experience abroad to better understand the fragile nature of stories.  It will serve as an aesthetic anthropological tool, allow me to document my learning process, and encourage me to connect with others who can give me immediate feedback along the way.

Getting Ready to Submit

After sending the latest draft of my prospectus I received this email from my adviser, Professor Bennion.

"I think this is almost ready to submit. I've marked a few places where it needs to be clarified slightly.  I think Dr. Burton articulates clearly (as you do in this prospectus) the value of the blog.  You are lucky to have such a devoted mentor, one who has thought extensively about the effects of stories and of the new media.  I'm happy for this experience of working together.  When you revise this, send it to the two of us and Debbie Dean.  Maybe I'll try to print out the signature page and sign it, so that when the prospectus comes, she'll have my signature (I leave this Sunday for England).  Good luck.  You are a clear writer, very quick to see the implications of your wonderful project."

Yay!  I have sent off the funding paper and the submission form so it won't be too long now.   I'm uploading my newest draft and welcome feedback.  I'm sure there are a few things I can still work on.  It will be nice to get this out of the way and really focus on blogging regularly again.

Honors Prospectus Draft 3!

Here is a third draft of my honors prospectus based off of some advice I received from Dr. Burton.  The main changes are mentioned in my response to him, but the main difference is that I justified the importance of having a blog in addition to a conventional collection of travel essays.

A Portrait of Dharamsala:

An Honors Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories

by Rachel Rueckert

Purpose:

            I propose to continue the research I began in Ghana last summer on a field study exploring the nature of stories and the authenticity of travel experience.  Based on my findings, I have undertaken another field study, this time to Dharamsala, India, to follow up on some of my questions and gather material for a creative nonfiction project.  There are two parts of this project I hope to accomplish:

 First, I want to record stories from the population that makes up the unique city of Dharamsala, India through a collection of travel essays that focus on cultural anthropology.  Dharamsala is a Tibetan refugee settlement, home of the Dalai Lama, and a diverse city that welcomes people from all over the world.  In order to represent this location, I hope to blend both personal essay and analysis of anthropological material.  Ideally these essays could stand alone, but my presence and personal narration will tie the essays together.

The second part of this project I hope to accomplish is to maintain an academic blog as a companion to these essays both in the field and during the writing process.  My research in Ghana led me to the conclusion that a blogging format and the possibilities this new medium offers enhances the writing process but also improves the authenticity of travel documentation.  This blog will highlight some of the limitations of my own subjective experience abroad to better understand the fragile nature of stories.  It will also allow me to publish drafts, document my learning process, and connect with others who can give me immediate feedback along the way. 

My Response to Dr. Burton

This is the response I wrote to the email from Professor Burton advising me on connecting and my honors prospectus.  

Professor Burton,

Thank you for your email.  After working on my third draft I’ve realized that I have really understated the importance of having a blog as a companion to the conventional travel essays.  In fact, I feel kind of stupid for making it sound like just another way of drafting, especially given my Ghana experience.  My whole project and inquiry conference presentation basically concluded that having multiple ways to represent an experience enhances the authenticity of travel documentation, and that is why I think it is so important to include my blogging in my prospectus—as a way to combat the creative writer that is prone to “romanticize through detachment and isolation” and more.  

I’m sending this third draft to you and Professor Bennion.  Hopefully these revisions have made the blogging argument more coherent.  After I post your email and this response on my blog I will link Professor Bennion to them so he can see where some of my recent changes are coming from.  I’m not sure if you two have had a chance to chat yet.  

I’ll continue on with the posts and work even harder on connecting.  So far I have not had a lot of luck with my first shot at Derrick’s advice, but I’ve found two other sites that might be helpful that I will comment on soon.  

As far as getting into discussions or arguments, how do you propose you get into those?  With the example of Matt, would I just comment on one of his posts and pose the question?  Either way, I’ll start devoting more time to reaching out and commenting on others blogs.  

This week I will also do a critique of my Ghana blog.  I assume this is using the rubric you offered as a page on your Digital Writer blog?

Thanks again,

Rachel

Honors Prospectus Advice from Dr. Burton

After sending Professor Bennion and Professor Burton a copy of my second prospectus draft I received this email back.  It also comments on where I need to improve in the connecting part of this project.

Rachel:

I haven't spoken with John, but I do think some kind of combo of creative nonfiction and blog is possible, and your proposal is getting there, but there are some clarifications needed. Since you are at the end of week four right now, you should probably press ahead as you've proposed in your methods and schedule. I'm happy to see the increased frequency of your blogging and to read the character sketches you've done so far, so press on regardless of proposal issues.

On methodology, since you are taking an anthropological approach and bringing in Geertz, it would seem you really must problematize your methods and modes of representation. You need to define and call into question the legitimacy and authenticity of traditional creative writing, writing that draws upon (exploits?) a population and potentially misrepresents it. In your case, I would expect this to bring in the relationship between the travel essays and the blog (does the latter help address the problems of the former, or merely deepen the distance from the storytellers?). These are all questions you are up for, especially following your Ghana focus.

Honors Prospectus Draft 2

So here is my draft after taking some advise from Professor Bennion, my honors faculty mentor.  He did remind me that this is a lot to take on.  That worries me, but I honestly don't know how to trim it down or how to crop out anything.  Just cutting out the five pages from the last draft was tough.  The main difference between this and my first draft is that the beginning is more focused into having three parts rather than two separate projects.  I also took out a lot on photography, and my avatars are absent in this version.  I trimmed down my qualifications, my bibliography, and my background and significance section the most.

I'm really excited and optimistic about where this is going though!

A Portrait of Dharamsala:

An Honors Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories

by Rachel Rueckert

Purpose:

            I propose to continue the research I began in Ghana last summer on a field study exploring the nature of stories and the authenticity of travel experience.  Based on my findings, I have undertaken another field study, this time to Dharamsala, India, to follow up on some of my questions and gather material for a creative nonfiction project.  There are three parts of this project I hope to accomplish:

 First, I want to record stories from the population that makes up the unique city of Dharamsala, India through a collection of travel essays that focus on cultural anthropology.  Dharamsala is a Tibetan refugee settlement, home of the Dalai Lama, and a diverse city that welcomes people from all over the world.  In order to represent this location, I hope to blend both personal essay and analysis of anthropological material.  Ideally these essays could stand alone, but my presence and personal narration will tie the essays together.

In order to complete these essays, I will be documenting my travels and learning experience in two different ways, both of which are viable methods to creating my final product as well as different ways of mediating my experience. 

One of these methods, and the second part of this project I hope to accomplish, is to keep a conventional paper journal.  I will be doing daily writing by hand in the field which I will reference in order to write my travel essays. 

The second way I will record my experience, which is the final aim of this project, is through an academic blog.  I am interested in comparing the conventional paper journal with this new interactive form that I believe enhances the traditional writing process and serves as a viable medium on its own.  This blog will highlight some of the limitations of my own subjective experience abroad to better understand the fragile nature of stories.  It will also allow me to publish drafts, document my learning process, and connect with others who can give me feedback along the way. 

By drawing from both of these modes of documentation I hope to add more dimensions to my thesis and have more material from which I will base my travel essays.  I believe that this project has the potential to help others learn more about Dharamsala, show that stories are universally important, encourage people to recognize stories within their proper context, and demonstrate how evolving digital media has enhanced the traditional creative writing process. 

Background and Significance:

Honors Prospectus Draft 1

After hours and hours of work, I am finally posting my first honors prospectus draft!  Right now I am most concerned that the digital media component does not makes sense.  I know that earlier it was evident that I had two different projects, one about mode of delivery and one with creative writing, but do you think that what I am proposing adequately blends the two together?  Should I stick to one or the other?  I'd really appreciate some feedback.

A Portrait of Dharamsala:

A Creative Writing Thesis Prospectus Exploring the Universal Importance and Nature of Stories

by Rachel Rueckert

Purpose:

            This prospectus is a continuation of the research I did in Ghana last summer on a field study exploring the nature of stories and the authenticity of travel experience.  Based on my findings, I have decided to go on another field study to Dharamsala, India to follow up on some of my questions and gather material for a creative nonfiction project.  There are two parts of this project I hope to accomplish:

 First, I want to record stories from the population that makes up the unique city of Dharamsala, India through a collection of travel essays that focus on cultural anthropology.  I hope to have a balanced blend between my personal experiences and the perspective of my informants, but the exact balance between the objective and subjective interpretations of my experience will be determined based on what material I gather.  Ideally these essays could stand alone, but my presence and personal narration will tie the essays together.

My second aim is to learn more about the nature of stories and the writing process by keeping an academic blog while drafting my travel essays.  This second account will highlight some of the limitations of my own subjective experience abroad to better understand the fragile nature of stories.  It will also allow me to publish drafts and document my learning process so that I can improve the conventional writing process through digital media. 

There are three goals I wish to accomplish through this creative project.  First, I hope to help others learn more about Dharamsala and show that stories are universally important.  Second, I want to encourage people to recognize stories within their proper context and scope.  And third, I would also like to demonstrate how evolving digital media has enhanced the traditional creative writing process. 

Background and Significance: