Today I met with my committee chair to discuss exam bibliographies. I was warned that putting together the bibliographies was harder than it seemed. Now I understand that warning. I have three subject areas (Composition Theory, Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, and Rhetoric and Pedagogy of Class (although this is not yet set in stone)) and lots of articles and books I want to read. The problem is that these articles and books don’t always fit neatly in to my three subject areas. There is a lot of overlap. I’m sure I’ll get it categorized to my liking soon enough though.
The process is thrilling. If all goes well, I will be ABD this time next year. That means this summer is going to be full of scheduled reading, annotated bibliographies and notes, and millions of cups of tea (and all of the peeing that goes with that). Also, I am starting to get ideas about my dissertation, something I haven’t worried myself with too much. I figure that after my exams I’ll have a stronger sense of what direction I want to go with all of this. So for now, I’ll just be reading.