It’s brilliant!

I’ve been really quiet lately — most of the semester, in fact — but today I got proof positive that my efforts have paid off. I’ve mentioned before (including recently) that, as time goes by, I feel increasingly more at home in my new academic discipline (political science). I started the program about 16 months ago with numerous insecurities and doubts, but have steadily been finding my legs, so to speak, and say with all possible modesty that I’m kicking butt in my program. It’s become pretty clear to me (this semester in particular) that I have managed to earn the respect of both the faculty members and my fellow students. That really means a lot to me, particularly since I did start off with so many insecurities.

Anyway, as I mentioned last month, I recently got a paper proposal accepted for presentation at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting next April in Chicago. This is a huge big deal for me, because I’m still a relatively green Ph.D. student and this is probably the most important political science association meeting behind the national one. In contrast to the other (much softer) regional association meetings, the Midwest is highly competitive. Getting a paper accepted was, for me, a major triumph.

I haven’t finished the paper yet, but it’s a topic I initially began researching in my first semester at UTD — presidential commissions. My first research efforts in this area were similar to earlier work done by others… but this fall I’ve been expanding that earlier (primarily literature review) piece into an empirical work. I turned in a “research design” (i.e., my plan for doing the data analysis) paper last Friday and specifically asked my professor to give me some solid, specific feedback about any changes I should make in the way I’m framing the questions.

Her comments came yesterday, and absolutely MADE. MY. DAY. Here’s what she wrote on my paper:

“This is brilliant. I want to see this as a book. I know all the sticky issues about presidential studies, American political development, etc., but this is just a damn good idea. You get this written as a book and go out on the market with a major univ. press book, and you will get a job.”

Her comments echo the conversations all the students are having — what can we do now that will make us attractive candidates when we go out on the job market? Presenting papers at conferences and trying to get them published in (especially the big) academic journals is the most important thing, really, and having this kind of validation still relatively early in my program means a lot.

I’m trying to free up as much time as possible this month for the data collection phase of the project, starting today. I have a ginormous old-edition encyclopedia from which to begin drawing my data — the newest version is a reference book at the library, but since each edition has all historical information, I figure I could check out the 1994 edition and work up through the early Clinton years. I’m a little worried I haven’t thought of all the variables I need, and so I’m a little queasy about starting the data collection work, but hopefully I can get a small sample and do some initial tests before I go too far.

Thanks for reading all the way through — I know this is a bit esoteric, but it’s sooooo exciting for me! 🙂