Re-reading my master's thesis as a phd candidate

[adel9216]

Hello,

I am re-reading my master's thesis. I see so many mistakes in the content now that I am a doctoral candidate. It's annoying. I know the point of a master's thesis is mostly to learn the research process (and it is even approximately the same goal for a phd thesis). I got an excellent grade for my master's thesis, but I am a bit embarassed when I am re-reading myself in certain elements in the content.

:(

[Puget]

Is there a question here?
At any rate, I think this experience is quite normal. You're progressing, that's a good thing!
Not exactly the same thing, I often encourage my grad students to re-read their first drafts of submitted manuscripts, painful as it is, to see how they've progressed and also better see the difference between the first and final draft so they can get their less painfully next time.

[traductio]

Hello,

I am re-reading my master's thesis. I see so many mistakes in the content now that I am a doctoral candidate. It's annoying. I know the point of a master's thesis is mostly to learn the research process (and it is even approximately the same goal for a phd thesis). I got an excellent grade for my master's thesis, but I am a bit embarassed when I am re-reading myself in certain elements in the content.

:(

Puget's right.

The lesson I've learned from reading past work is that, frankly, it's never as good as I thought it was when I wrote it. The upside is that I can see progress over time. The downside is the realization that someday, what I'm writing now won't seem as good as I think it is.

But that realization is paradoxical -- it's a lesson in humility about my current work (I've come to see how my enthusiasm for my current project comes as much from the feeling of discovery as is does from the quality of what I'm discovering), but it has also made me a more generous reader, towards others and myself. When I remember what excited me about something in the first place, I can reread my work as if I hadn't already come to take its new ideas it for granted.

[ergative]

I remember reading through my PhD dissertation shortly after I submitted it, and thinking that I was pretty hot stuff.

Then I went back five years later, and woof. There were a lot of things in there that I wince at seeing my students do.

I'm sure that in ten years I'll reread my paper that's just been accepted after THREE YEARS of waiting and revisions (so, PhD-level time scale here), and wince again. (Actually, that's not true; I'm so done with that subdiscipline. I hated almost everything about this project. I'm never looking at it again after copy edits are done.)

[dismalist]

Not quite as drastic emotional and intellectual turmoil as ergative, but, to borrow most of the post:

I remember reading through my PhD dissertation shortly after I submitted it, and thinking that I was pretty hot stuff.

Then I went back five years later, and woof. There were a lot of things in there that I wince at.

I was never completely done with that subdiscipline, but I hated almost everything about that project.

As for the OP's first post, I would say situation normal and, indeed, healthy.

[mamselle]

I feel the opposite.

My MA was published, twice, once in an international encyclopedia in the field and once in a discipline-specific journal.

It still looks solid to me and I am still working from further-developed materials that are more complex but were rooted in that work.

If I'd had the same level of advisement and support in my later work, as I'd expected to have based on my MA experience, things might have been different.

But I've seen good results from that work, too, and still hope to see more.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Eventually you'll get to the point where you re-read a thing you published, or someone is quoting you, and you think: "Holy shit, I wrote that?!"

It's a good feeling, but also daunting, because how will you ever write anything like that again?

And yet you do!

[jerseyjay]

When I looked back on my PhD dissertation a decade later as I was revising it for publication, I thought it had various weaknesses.

When I looked back on the monograph that I published as a revision of my dissertation, I thought it had weaknesses.

Now, when I look back at the book I just published, I think: damn, I wrote it so long ago, I hope nobody asks me any detailed questions because I cannot remember it all.

[Wahoo Redux]

Early on, before I had defended, I got back a reader's report that read "this sounds rather dissertationy," and I wondered, 'How did hu know?'

Now I know.

[traductio]

Early on, before I had defended, I got back a reader's report that read "this sounds rather dissertationy," and I wondered, 'How did hu know?'

Now I know.

One of the reviewers for my second book -- not my diss book, but one I wrote from scratch after publishing my diss book -- described it as too dissertation-y. That really stung.

(In retrospect, the reviewer was not wrong. The revised version of the book -- the version that I published -- is so much better because I took out anything even remotely dissertation-y.)

[Sun_Worshiper]

I'm sure my master's thesis is a mess, but I'll probably never re-read it to find out. I don't even like re-reading my earliest published articles!

[adel9216]

Thanks you all for your comments. At the time, I was told also that my master's thesis looked more like a PhD thesis, but there are still imperfections left in it.

But I feel re-assured, my feeling is normal :) Sign of progress ;-)

[Caracal]

Thanks you all for your comments. At the time, I was told also that my master's thesis looked more like a PhD thesis, but there are still imperfections left in it.

But I feel re-assured, my feeling is normal :) Sign of progress ;-)

The goal was to get it done, not have it be perfect.  You're going to find when you finish your doctoral thesis, that it has all kinds of problems, too. You'll probably be more aware of the issues, but you still won't be able to fix them all and if your advisor says what you have is good enough, you shouldn't try.

[Charlotte]

I take that as a good sign that you are growing! I was decluttering for a move recently and came across papers from some of my undergraduate classes. I just about died of embarrassment. I think most people go through this to some degree.

[larryc]

Burn it and move on.