Tuesday, March 9, 2010

My favorite method of "productive" procrastination

...is compiling bibliography. After all, it's a lot more fun thinking about all the great books and articles you will read than it is to actually read them.

You?

(In other news: yesterday it snowed in Exotic Research City. I don't think it should snow in march anywhere that isn't a polar zone. But that's just me.)

10 comments:

AliceAcademic said...

I use End-note, so the bibliography wouldn't be time-consuming enough for procrastinating very much. I'd have to say for me it is the reading itself, because I can't make myself stop when I should, when I've read enough to be able to write. The concept of "focused reading" gets complicated when you are doing interdisciplinary work -- that's my excuse, anyway. I had to ban myself from the library to start writing my dissertation.

clio's disciple said...

Planning courses that I might teach in the future. Or, you know, that I might never actually teach

Good Enough Woman said...

Brainstorming chapter titles!

~profgrrrrl~ said...

I find it very soothing to enter things into EndNote.

squadratomagico said...

It's not just you: It DEFINITELY should not snow in March outside of polar zones!

Anonymous said...

I claim the blog as productive procrastination, because it's a thinking tool, right? No, don't disillusion me.

There has been frost most mornings in Cambridge this month so far. Actual snow only once. I realise the climate zones are not really to be compared, but I feel your sense of ill fit here.

Katrina said...

Not sure where "exotic research city" is, but it's been snowing here in Munich recently.

Kerul said...

Well, don't you have to enter that bib stuff anyway? I get excited about all the interesting stuff to read, then, natch, overwhelmed at the reality of reading all of it. I know I won't read everything I enter, but probably most of it.

But are you aware there's actually a book titled "Productive Procrastination"? How do I know? I wrote it! Literally: www.Procrastivity.com.

Like Alice, I use EndNote, too, and I feel so savvy downloading from research databases...until I see how much I have to correct in EndNote.

Thanks for your humor, Ms. Notorious.

Belle said...

So you've returned from your London sojourn eh? Snow in that area is just wrong. Wrong I say!

I too like your version of procrastination. Organizing biblios (and yeah, I use Endnote too) can be so soothing and salves the niggles of 'aren't you supposed to be writing???' that my brain insists on issuing.

Stay warm. And dry might be good too...

Comrade PhysioProf said...

Drinking MFJ.