Thesis research is going pretty well. We're at the point in the semester where things are moving very quickly, so it feels like I've accomplished a lot yet have so much left to do. I know for certain that there are two more sections I need to research and write. One is on the National Museums Scotland because I felt I needed to discuss at least one more cultural institution in addition to the National Library of Scotland. The second will be about about what community/grassroots organizations are doing to revitalize Scottish Gaelic. My idea there is to compare and contrast their efforts to the public policies, government initiatives, and national institutions. What are local and national entities doing similarly? Differently? Are they yielding different results? Are smaller, community-oriented groups better poised to engage with the surrounding public and the language?
After completing these sections, I'm hoping to step back and look at everything as a comprehensive whole. Right now, I dive in deep into each section and focus solely on that. As a result, the suggestions and recommendations I'll be giving in my conclusion aren't anything concrete yet. I'm worried about the hypothetical nature of my ideas/suggestions and I keep wondering if it will be enough. But, as I've said, my plan is to re-read everything once each section is finished and then synthesize all of the questions and new ideas I've been coming up with, gather them all together, and discuss them in the conclusion. Moving forward I just need to remember to be confident in my work and that it's exciting to be working with a relatively new topic area that has its unknowns.
Lastly, I'm working on the preliminary poster draft. The biggest challenge for me is actually the images because I'm not physically producing anything or visiting any places that I can photograph. My images will probably be screenshots of relevant sites, like the Library's digital collections, and charts/maps. I was thinking it would be fun to put in a little picture or snippet of my family's crest or tartan but I don't know if that's too irrelevant. You have to balance personal interest/passion with a certain level of objective detachment when it comes to research.
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