Copy Editing

It is almost four years since I sat in my dissertation oral exam answering questions on my final year research project. I had obviously bored the examiners, for with about five minutes left the question left the topic, and moved onto my plans after graduation. One of them asked if I was considering a PhD. 


"Good heavens no! Why would I want to do that?" I replied.In hindsight, it might not have been the most subtle reply to the two professors with 80 years combined lecturing experience, but hey, I still passed.


At the time, I figured I still needed my niche within my family - i.e. not having a PhD. And frankly, I was somewhat fed up of university by then, having spent four years there.


I got thinking about this while helping the Dodgess check through her PhD thesis, which she has now printed out 3 times for submission. Each time costs the earth about 5 trees, and almost as much money by the time that binding and posting the thing from Singapore to the UK by courrier is taken into account. It does strike me that my parents had it better with their PhD. Perhaps they have rose tinted specs.


My Dad completed his final write up within a tiny amount of time, and it came to perhaps 20000 works. My Mum's is even better. Having had a useless day proving something that she didn't want to prove, she went to a party, and found that someone was interested in what she had proved. She went home, and picked the proof from the bin et voila, le Thesis est complet.


I have to say that I don't really think that things are bad just for The Dodgess. My elder brother had some almighty wrangles with an almighty univeristy to get his day under robes. His girlfriend wrote her thesis, only to find that the experiments she thought would show something didn't quite. And as for my younger brother, well he hasn't yet started. But I hope that it ends rather more smoothly than it's inception and offer.


So, with all this, do I still feel that my gut reaction was correct all thoses years back. Sort of. On the one hand I have had none of these issues above, but The Dodgess' PhD has been great for me to watch develop. It has taken us to Dublin, Washington DC, Boston, and best of all Vancouver. We have also explored every good music shop in every city we've been to scouring for second hand treasures to analyse.


And for each of the down times (the second list of corrections, a mad Canadian wanting us to sign confidentiality contracts) there has, I think, been an upside. 


So, here's hoping that all the printing is now done. That by the end of the week the last mailing is done, and that we don't have to see 'Ellie' again until she is nicely bound together, and sitting on our bookshelf!