Ending
It comes with a soft sigh, this ending of the writing. There are no bells and whistles. There are no loud cheers to mark the occasion. It ends without fanfare. While this thing I’ve created and puzzled over for quite some time isn’t truly ended, the time of hard confusion, wondering over the writing of sentences and paragraphs to make this dissertation emerge is over. It’s done.
I have written, not without fear, but with hope of completion. Now to edit mercifully.
While one stage of the process is done, the next one soon begins. Now I will trudge through the document checking the citations and references. Why didn’t I keep better track of these as I was writing? This work may take many hours over many days to get everything corrected. Some citations may have me going back to the original sources, checking to make sure it is the correct one. I’ll check to ensure the citations are not some other paper written be the same author. Reading and rereading my references may help me make more sense of my dissertation. As I do this, I’m also thinking ahead and keeping some key points in mind for the dissertation defence event, yet to come.
During this time, I will also read and reread the document to ensure that what I have written makes sense to other readers, particularly those without a full understanding of the content and contexts. Being as descriptive as possible, through a ‘strangers’ lens’ may help others understand what I have written, without presumption of previous knowledge, as warned by one of my committee members. I am also checking and rechecking verb tense and sentence structures to keep a consistent tone and voice throughout the paper – as recommended in the APA guide. Since it was written over the space of two years, I need to revise and rewrite sections in order to bring some cohesion to the document.
How to begin – first, with a printout of the complete document so I can see it in full. For the last month, I have been pulling all the individual bits together, the separate chapter documents and pages, the figures and charts, and connecting the citations and reference listings since these are partial and incomplete. Then, I set out the editing schedule in order to methodically work toward my self-imposed deadline of completion by the end of this month in order to pass the document in both official versions to my supervisor and committee members.
