This month has been all about my Confirmation of Candidature (CoC). The CoC is the most significant milestone in the first year of a doctoral project. You have to prepare a detailed written report of the project and then present to an academic panel.
Any PhD student will tell you the CoC is hard and intimidating enough at the best of times. And, unsurprisingly, a global pandemic isn't exactly the best of times.
I had initially intended to spend most of my first PhD year working in the archive whilst slowly getting through the key secondary literature, leading into my CoC in August or September. However, the ongoing closure of the State Library of NSW due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant I was unable to access the archive from March. So in the meantime I have been working on my written report. In the end, my CoC was held last week: less than five months after commencing my candidature.
This timeframe was daunting, particularly considering the first few months of my PhD. I wasn't sure I would have enough ready to justify my project to a panel of experts. But the decision was made easier by three key factors. Firstly, before the State Library closed I had seen approximately 10 per cent of the archive. Whilst this was a small sample, I was still able to use these materials to finetune my research direction, test the feasibility of my planned methodology, and demonstrate the potential outcomes of my research. Secondly, my MRes thesis had been about the same publishing house and was based on the same archive. This meant I had already done some of the necessary background reading, allowing me to focus on scholarship specific to this project. Finally, I knew what to expect from the presentation because the capstone assessment of the MRes coursework year is explicitly modelled on the CoC.
I was initially concerned about the sheer volume of secondary literature. My project encompasses a number of disciplines, research fields, and methodologies. As a result, there were several quite complex and distinct ideas to synthesise in the written CoC. My ‘to read’ list was always longer than my ‘read’ list. One of my supervisors pointed out it was not actually necessary at this stage to have read absolutely everything, as long as I was able to point to what I intended to read. That would be enough to signal I had recognised the significance of each particular topic. Hearing that helped alleviate some of my anxiety about the task.
The thesis outline section also proved problematic. Humanities theses do not have a defined structure so it is difficult to know at the start of the project what your chapters might end up being about. My supervisors helped me construct a provisional structure and, more significantly, spoke about the fact that this structure was likely to change. Reminding myself of this flexibility – rather than feeling that I needed to come up with the absolute answer now – was reassuring.
The pandemic meant I had to do the presentation via Zoom. By that time I had considerable experience with the platform as my meetings had been online for several months, and I had presented at the virtual DHRG seminar in April. The new format did still present some technical difficulties. Living in the bush means satellite internet. This is patchy at the best of time and non-existent given the mere mention of rain or cloud cover. I didn't want to risk the connection lagging throughout or freezing in the middle of an answer. I ended up going to a friend’s place, and thankfully the actual presentation worked.
The circumstances meant this change was necessary – and fortunately we had the technical capacity to go ahead with it – but I was disappointed not to be in the same room as the panel. My MRes experience had revealed how powerful and motivating that space can be: you are in a room where a group of academics are discussing your work in detail. It was a shame to miss that experience this time. On the other hand, the online presentation did allow my Library mentor to join the meeting and it was wonderful to have another friendly face in the (virtual) room.
In the end, I passed my CoC without amendments! It was gratifying and relieving to cross that hurdle. The process has allowed me to gain clarity about the direction of my research. The timing also proved fortuitous as the Library has now reopened! So I've spent the past week reflecting on the feedback I received and planning Library trips in a COVID world. Now I can settle back into archival work without worrying about my CoC at the same time.
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