From 69918e681ff65a4311c56c0ea7cd72ed8a65bbeb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Joe Carstairs Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2026 16:21:33 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] microlog post: 2026-07-02 --- common/microlog/2026-07-02.gmi | 11 +++++++++++ 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+) create mode 100644 common/microlog/2026-07-02.gmi diff --git a/common/microlog/2026-07-02.gmi b/common/microlog/2026-07-02.gmi new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c99fe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/common/microlog/2026-07-02.gmi @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +Writing is hard! I've just spent 2 days fixing 1 paragraph in my dissertation. The problem was to give the reader good reason to think that the fossil fuel industry exerts a strong influence on the majority epistemology. The end result is a single paragraph with four citations. You'd think that would take half a day, not 2 full days. + +I think what made it hard was that I needed to gain understanding. If I just needed a fact or two, it would have been easier: skim a few abstracts, extract a few figures, call it a day. But I didn't know in advance what fossil-think looks like. I couldn't write a paragraph that was almost done but for a few missing statistics. I needed to know the whens, the hows, the whos. + +What I ended up doing was collecting a score of browser tabs with relevant articles and ebooks (which was easy enough), then going through each one and reading it: properly reading it, for understanding, not just skimming abstracts. + +This worked: after about half a dozen articles, I reviewed my notes, realised I had enough to be getting on with, and wrote up my paragraph. Along the way I gained a (very shallow) understanding of how the fossil fuel industry influences public discourse. + +But: it took a heck of a long time for one paragraph. + +I really wish I had an experienced researcher looking over my shoulder, popping by a couple of times a day, to offer advice. Maybe they would tell me: sorry, that's just how it is, you need to gain understanding and that takes time. Or maybe they would say: you should really be cutting the corner here, let me show you how. It's one of the many things you cannot get from a monthly check-in with a supervisor.