Flying!

Earlier this week, I had my first meeting with my supervisor, Dr. Ben Davies. It was incredibly helpful and he will support me through the process as much as I could have wished - especially because he is interested in the two areas I am focusing on for my first two essays.

He told me to concentrate on only two or three aspects of a problem for the essay - as it's better to explore fewer aspects in more detail than many superficially. This was very helpful as my first draft for the 3,500 word thing was 7000 words. First I am to send 1,500 words, and here's the best part: he said to send bullet points plus a few sections fleshed out so that I could have my whole argument assessed before I send in the final version! In addition, he said that if I send it to him a week before our meeting about it - which is strictly limited to one hour - he will send me back notes on it so that I come to the meeting armed with the appropriate questions and queries so that I can make the best use of the hour.

Since then I have cut the essay to just over 3,500 words and made up the bullet points with fleshed out sections. I'm hoping we can meet in the first week of November about this one and the second week of November about the other one (which I have not started yet). However, I feel more confident as in just under a fortnight I have broken the back of the first essay so I hope I can do the same for the second. In fact, I might be more efficient for the second now that I know what to do.