Last week I talked to Lisa Ede about some of my frustrations with working on a thesis with a student. She suggested, for this student in particular, that I ask what her research question is, because Lisa suspected she didn’t have one as of yet. So I asked, and after pointing out of a few places in her introduction where she hints at it, I asked her to talk about it, and as she did, I wrote down some key ideas, which I then asked her to put into a question. Great! We had a guiding research question, that she soon found a place to put into her introduction. The rest of the session went fairly well, and I’m excited to keep working on her thesis. I’m wondering about the reality of her deadline, though, because she wants to turn in a draft by the end of the month, which gives her two weeks to write and organize a lot.
I also wanted to talk to her advisor about her thesis, but I forgot to ask that during the session. I’ll have to email the writer and ask about that.
I’m glad that was a helpful suggestion.
You might want to check in with Dennis before talking to her teacher. That can get delicate.
Lisa
Actually, the writer and I talked and she didn’t seem to think it would do much good to talk to her advisor (I’m not sure if she’s rigtht, but oh well), so I didn’t press it further.