Road to Completion

An LIS Graduate Student's Reflections on Research Writing

Abstract

The article is a self-reflection of the author on his thesis journey. The author wrote about his lived experiences within the context of his enrolment in UP SLIS as an MLIS student who chose the Thesis track option. The purpose of this article was to document his positionality and show how it shaped his perspective on his research topic. The author notes four points of positionality that influenced his perspectives. First, the author noted that he is bound by the structures of UP School of Library and Information Science in the research classes and its programs’ Thesis writing requirement. Second, the author acknowledged that he had experienced a unique approach in his research methods class that may not be the same as what other classes have done. Third, the author has experience with having a “thesis buddy.” The thesis buddy was a classmate going through the same rigors, and they helped each other in their respective theses. In addition, the author also hoped to shed light on what LIS graduate students go through in writing their theses. The author highlighted two challenges: isolation and time and energy management. The author found that the Master’s thesis was designed as an individual endeavor that led to a feeling of isolation among LIS graduate students. The author also found that while time management is indeed one of the main challenges in thesis writing, energy management had more weight in limiting the progress of writing research.