Thursday, December 13, 2012

Life as I knew it...

is all over.
That's right folks.
As of 10:45, Thursday, December 6, I was officially finished with college classes!
Unofficially, I've graduated with my BA in English, emphasis on Literature.

Officially, though, I still have 6 months until I can call myself a graduate.
Confused?

Well, I am in the Honors Program at WOU.
In order to graduate, I have to complete a thesis.
Super fun, right?
And that thesis currently is stuck, awaiting a room of strangers to give my study the green light, again.

Basically, here's the rundown.
The thesis process begins in junior year. 
A proposal must be submitted after a full term of workshopping ideas and writing draft after draft.
This proposal is given to the Honors Committee, a group of professors from various departments on campus.
After the committee receives the proposals, they vote. A proposal must be approved with no major flags raised by teh entire committee - if a proposal fails, the student must give a presentation addressing the committee's concerns.
Once the committee passes a proposal, the actual Honors program has nothing to do with the thesis again until it is time for publication. The student works solely with their chosen faculty advisor(s) to complete the project.
Some projects, such as mine, have an extra step thrown in.
If a project deals with any human subjects, or in my case, analyzes other people's work, it must pass the approval of the university's International Review Board (IRB). 
The IRB requires its own application process, and, again, a group of strangers get to vote on whether or not my project is worthy - in other words, it will not cause any harm to any of the participants in the study.

This is the stage my thesis is stuck at. I am still finishing my IRB application, trying to complete it to my advisors' satisfaction, before I can even submit the application. I cannot begin my analysis until I have IRB approval, which means I am a couple months behind my own timeline. 

Thankfully, having five months to complete the analysis and writing without silly things such as classes getting in my way should be sufficient..... I hope....

For now, it's application writing for now (IRB and full-time job apps...) while celebrating my final term GPA of a solid 3.69. 



(I'll try to be a little more consistent with the posts, but seeing as how I am paying rent for 2 apartments this month, on top of Christmas costs, I can't afford internet at home and have to write while at work. Fingers crossed I get some posts scheduled for you guys this weekend!)

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