Ciao!: Notecards & bulletin boards

Notecards & bulletin boards

06.23.2005

Sometimes you realize your outlines just aren't sharp enough. So it's back to the drawing board (or, rather, bulletin board). Chapter 3 is completely holding me up, dissertation-wise. Chapter 1 is in a holding pattern, waiting for 2 & 3 so I can finish up the last two subsections (which allude to 2 & 3); Chapter 2 is mostly written (about two years ago), waiting for a chance to dust it off and make revisions & updates. But Chapter 3 is killing me right now.

I think I'll go w/ a notecards & bulletin board strategy again. I've three different (but complementary) theoretical literatures to tie together into a coherent historiography. The first (historical institutionalism) isn't a big deal, it mostly speaks for itself. The other two — Dahl's "demos question" in democratic theory & Anderson's "imagined communities" — are the toughest. Because I don't want to just write a 10-page historical overview of Bolivian history; I need to write something that frames the theoretical contribution of this dissertation.

OK. It's time to take a break. Back to the bulletin board. I need to see all this stuff up in one place, take a step back (literally), and soak it up. Wish I had a larger bulletin board.

Posted by Miguel at 04:26 PM

Comments

How about using Mind Manager? It's a way to plan all kinds of projects. Give it a try, it may very well be what you are looking for.

Posted by: Miguel (MABB) at June 23, 2005 05:00 PM

Thanks for the tip. But for a few things, I still prefer analog. Besides, I've found most mind mapping software just clunky. At least the freeware stuff; I don't want to pay for it.

Posted by: Miguel at June 23, 2005 08:24 PM