Monday, February 23, 2009

The Elevator Pitch

They say you should have a one-minute, three-minute, and ten-minute answers for the question, "What is your dissertation about?"

I've decided it should be one, three, and ten WORD, that dissertation ideas are best when they are communicable in as few words as possible. It shows you have a doable project with a hook. "Whitman and saloons" or "the dramatic monologue" are good ones I've heard lately. When you ask what mine is about, you get a lot of rambling about genre experimentation and women's experience. Bleah.

So I'm thinking this. One word: "affect." Three words: "affect and genre." Ten words: "Victorians using genre hybrids to reflect gendered notions of affect."

Oh, ugh. I think that last sentence just sucked all the air out of the room. I am not a sexy-concept person.

1 comment:

Jen said...

You could always just throw them for a loop with the old Aerosmith elevator pitch: "Good morning Mr. Tyler. Going... down?" (I mean, isn't that everyone's favorite elevator pitch? Really?)