promovenda
Just thrilled to be a
Senior member
Posts: 943
Lost in the library
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« on: January 28, 2012, 07:16:40 AM » |
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I covet your wisdom, O Forumites.
I've been working away on my PhD dissertation (humanities field) for several years, and am about to turn in the second full draft to my adviser. In other words, adviser has seen the first whole draft and given me feedback which I have now incorporated. I hope that I am almost done. I am a mature student and already teaching in another institution; I would like to "phinish" soon. I'm still interested in my dissertation topic, though, and already have my "second book" project partially completed as a byproduct of the research.
One dissertation loose end was a document purported to exist in a foreign archive, mentioned obliquely in the footnote of a secondary source without many details. Adviser told me that I really needed to pursue it. Long story short, I have found the document. It is long [approx. 100 pp.], handwritten very illegibly in an archaic script, in a language that is not one of my best. It predates the primary sources I used by some years. No one else has written on it. I believe that the content would be vital to my topic.
I'm incredibly excited to have found it! On the minus side, however, I can't really read it. Maybe given enough time I could, but I think a conservative estimation of decoding and analyzing it would be a year or more. At this point, with the dissertation all but done, should I take more time to work with this new source (thus delaying my finishing)? Or should I mention it in as much detail as I can in my text but leave it for someone else to analyse as THEIR thesis or dissertation? But, I'm incredibly curious as to its content. I might be able to get a native speaker of the language to transcribe it for me, but I'm fairly poor and couldn't afford to pay the person what they would deserve. Or, I could work together on it as a post-PhD project together with a scholarly native speaker friend, in which we would produce an edition of it together [friend doesn't get any money, but might like the project on his/her CV, as it is not that far away from his/her own research interests].
I haven't talked to either the friend or my adviser about this, which I will do soon. I thought I would ask you all first: what would YOU do? Thanks for your advice.
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"You're a wonderful bartender, Promovenda. The hamster bestows one of his special nibbles on your ear."
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hegemony
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« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2012, 07:25:53 AM » |
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I would turn in the dissertation without mentioning it. Just pretend to yourself that you found it after you had already submitted.
Once the dissertation is off your plate, you can reassess this document at more leisure. If it's a hundred pages long, it could easily be its own book. I don't think paying a native speaker to do the transcription for you is going to fly; how could you be sure it was accurate? Involving your friend or another reliable collaborator might be the best path forward. If it's really that fantastic a find, it might be the kind of thing you could use to land a grant. Then, if you have enough command of the languages and skills involved, make it its own book. Then you can revise your dissertation to take it into account, and publish that too. Rule 1 of productive scholarship: never collapse two projects into a single book. Transcribing and translating and dealing with this document is its own project. So take the time to do this properly, and don't put the dissertation off because of it. That's what I would do, and I think that's what you should do.
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Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.
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zharkov
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« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2012, 07:56:59 AM » |
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I guess -- or assume -- that this new doc supports or makes your work more comprehensive, but is not the keystone of your whole argument or research question. So my take would be to mention it, maybe provide a brief except (a quote or two), about in the place where you use the secondary source. And in the "future research" section of your diss, mention that more work needs to be done with this new doc.
In any case, I think the key is to get your advisor to buy into your not using the new doc thoroughly (let's call it).
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__________ Zharkov's Razor: Adapting Zharkov a bit to this situation, ignorance and confusion can explain a lot.
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seniorscholar
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« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2012, 10:36:12 AM » |
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I would turn in the dissertation without mentioning it. Just pretend to yourself that you found it after you had already submitted.
Once the dissertation is off your plate, you can reassess this document at more leisure. If it's a hundred pages long, it could easily be its own book. I don't think paying a native speaker to do the transcription for you is going to fly; how could you be sure it was accurate? Involving your friend or another reliable collaborator might be the best path forward. If it's really that fantastic a find, it might be the kind of thing you could use to land a grant. Then, if you have enough command of the languages and skills involved, make it its own book. Then you can revise your dissertation to take it into account, and publish that too. Rule 1 of productive scholarship: never collapse two projects into a single book. Transcribing and translating and dealing with this document is its own project. So take the time to do this properly, and don't put the dissertation off because of it. That's what I would do, and I think that's what you should do.
+1 -- very smart advice. |
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larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 18,288
Eschew the hu.
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« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2012, 12:57:38 PM » |
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I would turn in the dissertation without mentioning it. Just pretend to yourself that you found it after you had already submitted.
Once the dissertation is off your plate, you can reassess this document at more leisure. If it's a hundred pages long, it could easily be its own book. I don't think paying a native speaker to do the transcription for you is going to fly; how could you be sure it was accurate? Involving your friend or another reliable collaborator might be the best path forward. If it's really that fantastic a find, it might be the kind of thing you could use to land a grant. Then, if you have enough command of the languages and skills involved, make it its own book. Then you can revise your dissertation to take it into account, and publish that too. Rule 1 of productive scholarship: never collapse two projects into a single book. Transcribing and translating and dealing with this document is its own project. So take the time to do this properly, and don't put the dissertation off because of it. That's what I would do, and I think that's what you should do.
+1 -- very smart advice. +2 |
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glowdart
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« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2012, 01:11:16 PM » |
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I would turn in the dissertation without mentioning it. Just pretend to yourself that you found it after you had already submitted.
Once the dissertation is off your plate, you can reassess this document at more leisure. If it's a hundred pages long, it could easily be its own book. I don't think paying a native speaker to do the transcription for you is going to fly; how could you be sure it was accurate? Involving your friend or another reliable collaborator might be the best path forward. If it's really that fantastic a find, it might be the kind of thing you could use to land a grant. Then, if you have enough command of the languages and skills involved, make it its own book. Then you can revise your dissertation to take it into account, and publish that too. Rule 1 of productive scholarship: never collapse two projects into a single book. Transcribing and translating and dealing with this document is its own project. So take the time to do this properly, and don't put the dissertation off because of it. That's what I would do, and I think that's what you should do.
+1 -- very smart advice. +2 Three. You've found your third book project. Congrats! |
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