Skip to the End!

This is one of my favorite lines from my favorite movie of all time, The Princess Bride. Prince Humperdink was trying to make sure the “mahwage” ceremony was finalized before Buttercup was rescued by the Dread Pirate Roberts.

I was reminded of it when Professor Croasdaile used a similar line in response to my plea for help on the Introduction/literature review section of the proposal. Prior to class last Thursday, I had spent all of Wednesday and the better part of the prior weekend trying to get started on filling in my outline of major concepts and topics. This first section was clearly the biggest challenge of the project so far for me.

But, the advice was sound. When I sat down to get started again on Friday morning, I found that putting together the pieces and parts of the sample, procedure and measures was much easier than trying to first be eloquent about concepts and theories. I was able to address the nitty-gritty details (who/what/when/how) of the question I wanted to answer which in turn guided me back to a review of the literature that had piqued my interest in the first place.

After this rough start, I feel pretty good about the draft I’ve just turned in. I do hope to receive feedback on some additional concerns though. I worry about the measure that I’ve created in Appendices A & B. It is adapted from other measures that have been validated separately but never as a whole. How do I express the need to validate the instrument and how specific do I need to be about how that will be done?

I am unsure if I’ve transferred everything that is in my head down onto the paper. Have I fully defined all of the variables for the reader or have I left out points because I just naturally understand them after reading for the past two and a half months? Really, I am having trouble reading it objectively at this point.

My task ahead: let this sit for a while. Then, with a refreshed mind, I’ll hope to be able to process the feedback and finish this proposal in time for the April 26 deadline.

As a side comment, I think the advice to "Skip to the end" is valuable in other settings as well. Sometimes, giving ourselves permission to move on to the people, the details, the process, and the execution lends great clarity to the end goal and desire. Sometimes, not having every idea researched, source uncovered, and thought written out perfectly is the way forward.