I Defended my Thesis, and I Have Some Thoughts
A few little musings on what was and what will be
My keen-eyed readers may have noticed a recent bout of radio silence from A Reception Collection. As the title of this post suggests, there’s an exciting explanation for that!
I defended my MA thesis last week. It was an intense, but thrilling experience; I had fun, but at the same time, I’m glad it’s over. Defence is something that’s been looming in the corners of my consciousness since I started grad school. I’m still getting used to the feeling of it being in my past, not on my horizon.
I was lucky that my defence wasn’t my first time presenting my research in front of an audience. I gave a public lecture back in January that was based on a chapter of my thesis (go watch it on YouTube if you haven’t already!). I’ve also taken a paper that stemmed from my thesis research to a few conferences over the last several months. If any of my readers are currently in grad school or considering grad school, I can’t recommend conference presentations highly enough. They’re fun in their own right, but they also made me feel so much more comfortable and well-prepared for defence. While presenting at my defence, I felt like I slipped into a confident alter state, like the heroes in the Iliad in battle; I doubt I’d have felt that self-sure without all my presentation experience. Plus, the slides I used to defend were modified from slides I’ve taken to conferences, which saved me a lot of prep time!
Before fully embarking on a thesis, my MA program has students write and defend a prospectus at the end of their first year. This is a circa 10-12 page document, which outlines one’s research parameters and any analysis that’s been done to date. I wrote and defended my prospectus in spring 2024, before my field expedition to Germany. Defending it really felt like doing my thesis defence with training wheels on. It was a shorter presentation, without a visual component and with a much shorter question period. Still, this part of the grad school process was a helpful stepping stone towards the full defence. It helped that my committee were all at my prospectus defence, so, by the time I got to my thesis, I was presenting to a room of familiar faces.
I passed my defence with minor revisions (huzzah!), which means I have a little bit more thesis work to do. However, it pales in comparison to what I’ve already accomplished. The revisions are mostly phrasing and formatting edits; important, but small in the grand scheme of things. I’m really proud of what little I have left to do, not to mention the sheer scale of what I’ve written!
At the time of writing, I’m basking in the glow of Not Being In School. I’ve been catching up on craft projects, spending lots of time swimming outdoors, and making a point to hang out with friends before the inevitable busyness of the fall. Library school is going to be an onslaught, I just know it…
Given that I’m taking four courses while holding down a part-time job, I anticipate a packed semester. However, A Reception Collection will stay running, even if it doesn’t necessarily update weekly anymore. I’ll write for it when I have time, and when the mood strikes me to write for fun. I have a queue running, so there’s always a chance I craft a plurality of posts before I start library school, and pace them out on a weekly basis. We shall see.
I’ve grown quite fond of A Reception Collection; writing for it serves as a much-needed break from my academic pursuits. I started this blog as a sidebar of sorts for my thesis, a place to explore all the interesting findings that wouldn’t make the cut of that text. Even though my thesis is done now, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of modern reception of Greece and Rome. Writing about reception is so fun and fulfilling that I don’t see why I should stop just because I finished a degree. My MA may be (more or less) over and done with, but my reception blogging shall carry on!
whooohoooooo
Many congratulations, Nina! That is such a great achievement, and you have every right to be proud of yourself! :-)